Come With Me to Gethsemane

I am at that age where I start repeating myself and today will probably be no different.  This time of year I am always pondering the fact that without a Good Friday service, we go from the "hooray!" of Palm Sunday right to the "HOORAY!" of Easter.  That grieves me a little each year about this time. 

Instead of listening to Christmas carols, I'm sitting here listening to Lenten hymns and the songs of Good Friday.  Oddly, one of my favorite hymns is among them, "Go to Dar

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Getting Our Hands Dirty

This Friday, (03/13) come on out to the church at 8:30am as we do a little Spring cleaning and sprucing up.

There will some cleaning to do in the church, but also some outside work cleaning up the garden beds and maybe even pruning some bushes and trees.

Lots of hands make light work.

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Readings For March 1, 2026

We are pushing further into this Lenten season, now entering the second week.  I’d argue the Gospel lesson includes one of, if not the most famous lines of Scripture.

Here’s what the lectionary offers us this week:

Words of the instructor from my Old Testament course run through my head as I read the OT lesson for this week.  Abraham was blessed to be a blessing.  It truly is how we should think of ourselves, that when

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In My Heart There Rings a Melody

The title of this piece is the title of a hymn in the hymnal we use on Sunday mornings, but it’s a touch more literal as I type this.

This morning, I was looking over some of the material for our combined Ash Wednesday Service (coming up on February 18th) and the Scripture sang out to me.  Not sure if it happens to you, but for me often I will read a line of Scripture only to immediately hear a song ringing in my ears.   That was the case today.  The recommended Psalm for

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Readings for February 15, 2026

I have gotten way out of the habit of starting the week with you in Scripture, so let’s get back to it.   We start with Transfiguration Sunday or “The Last Sunday after Epiphany.”

Typically this is a place where you find my first blush look at the Scripture, but I have to admit that I have been working about a half week ahead, so for a couple of the texts, I have looked at them prior to this morning.  Anyway, here’s what the lectionary serves up for us this week:

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Power of Prayer

Earlier this week I had the chance to take part in something that is not in my regular routine.  I have been invited for the past five months or so to attend a prayer meeting with other pastors in the area.  For whatever reason, something has come up on those days, and I have not been able to attend…until this week.

There is something powerful about being in a place where numerous people are praying privately and corporately at the same time.  When moved by the Spirit, diff

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Peace Be With You

Growing up Lutheran I am very familiar with, "Peace be with you" and the appropriate response of, "and also with you."

It is hard for me not to think of that every Advent season when we get to the candle representing peace.  Just like this past Sunday, wedged in between Christmas songs, we will sing a regular ole' hymn.  As I spent some time deciding on "Wonderful Peace" for this coming Sunday, I also spent some time searching for it being sung in a church setting to get a

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Monday Morning Observations

Sometimes it’s nice to get a little affirmation that you might have pulled something worthwhile out of the Scripture for Sunday morning.  As I was getting a first look at this week’s text, I glanced at the notes from one of the Bible’s on my desk regarding what I had preached on yesterday.  The note said, “Did you notice the Pharisee used “I” five times in two sentences.  Jesus was condemning self-centered, prideful praying.”  All those “I’s” had stuck out to me as you kno

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Newsletter October and November 2025

Here is our October and November Newsletter! 4th_Quarter_Newsletter_2025

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A Story For All Ages

I thought I would share the "Story For All Ages" from this past Sunday, along with the song that we played.

Christopher Duffley’s mother was addicted to drugs.   As a result he was born very early, weighing less than two-pounds.  His weight was a full pound less than Cardie when she was born and if you’ve ever seen pictures, it is hard to imagine a child any smaller. 

The mix of prematurity and drugs left Christopher blind and with significant delays in most every other aspe

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If I Could Only Keep Three Bibles

Tim Wildsmith, who does a YouTube channel all about Bibles, recently did a video with his wife where they had to answer the question, “If I could only keep three Bibles, which would they be?”

Folks probably think I have a lot of Bibles, but I assure you Tim has exponentially more, making this exercise incredibly difficult to the point he chose five.  I thought it would be fun to think about it myself and to get all of us to think about the Bible or Bibles that we own and w

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Readings For August 24, 2025

For my money, the lectionary we follow as Church of the Brethren gets a little odd this week.   Without going too much in the weeds, there have been two options most weeks for the Old Testament lesson and the Psalm.  Last week, the lectionary we follow chose Jeremiah as the OT lesson (which we used).   This week there’s an option to continue in Jeremiah or go with Isaiah, oddly we abandon Jeremiah and go with Isaiah this week.

So, here is what we get:

Isaiah 58:9b-14 Psalm

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Readings for August 17, 2025

Back from vacation and back into the Word.

The lectionary for this 10th Sunday after Pentecost gives us the standard fare with the Epistle coming from Hebrews and the Gospel continuing in Luke as it has been since the middle of June.

So, here it is:

Jeremiah 23:23-29 Psalm 82 Hebrews 11:29-12:2 Luke 12:49-56

We don’t get to read from Jeremiah much, though some passages in this book are quoted often throughout the year.  Two points come through upon the first reading of this s

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Readings for August 3, 2025

Another week where looking ahead might have helped me out.  Good stuff as always from the lectionary this week.  It’s the Eighth Week After Pentecost or “Proper 13” if you’re into that sort of thing.  Here’s what we’ve got:

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23 Psalm 49:1-11 Colossians 3:1-11 Luke 12:13-21

Sliced and diced; that’s really the only way to put the OT lesson this week.  Many of us are familiar with the way it starts, “vanity of vanities…all is vanity.”  It was the

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Readings for July 27, 2025

Let’s get things started with the Scripture readings for the week.

The lectionary pushes us a little further into Luke and sticks with the Epistle out of Colossians, where we’ll hang out one more time next week too.

Here’s what we’ve got:

Genesis 18:20-32 Psalm 138 Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19) Luke 11:1-13

Bargaining with God.   This bit of Scripture out of Genesis always captures my imagination.  Can you fathom a relationship with God, where you are in a two-sided bargaining

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