Dinner with Jesus The Resurrection story of the journey to Emmaus invites us to consider a question: how is it that we recognize the Risen Christ? Cleopas and his companion walk beside Jesus, talking to Jesus about Jesus, and somehow do not recognize him. At least, they don’t until they share a meal and recognize Jesus as he blesses and…
“Doubt, Certainty, and Faith” On the first Sunday after Easter, we often hear the story of Thomas after Jesus has died and then appears to the disciples. Over the centuries, because of this story, Thomas got nicknamed “Doubting Thomas,” though the Gospel writer never called him that. What if we looked at this story with fresh eyes? What might this…
Kings of Many Kinds: Palm Sunday Palm Sunday begins our Holy Week as we journey with the disciples of Jesus through the last week of his earthly life. The triumphal entry into Jerusalem is a celebration of Jesus’ kingship, and a foretaste of Jesus’ triumph over death. But it is also a warning – many of the same crowd that…
All Around, Every Day: Greg Boyle, Las Patronas, and Saints Everywhere We misunderstand sainthood if we imagine it’s about a few exceptional followers of Jesus doing extraordinary things. As Paul reminds us, the saints are all of those who commit themselves to the Way of Jesus – loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves. As we wrap up our…
Voices from the Fringes Voices that come from the fringes of our faith can be easy to ignore. After all, aren’t the important voices the ones that we all know? But sometimes those voices from the periphery are vital. We’ll learn a little bit from the Desert Mothers of the 4th and 5th Century, and hear the story of Public…
A Discomforting Gospel Sometimes we find comforting saints as companions for the spiritual journey – the people whose stories resonate with ours, who inspire us, and who we think “They’d be fun to meet!” And sometimes we encounter the prophetic saints of the Church, the ones who stand on the fringes of acceptable society. And they can make us uncomfortable.…
Resisting Empires Two saints of the 20th Century, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Oscar Romero, offer us a challenging perspective – that faithfully following Jesus will often put us in conflict with the powers of the world. We might be tempted to withdraw from the world to keep ourselves safe, but these two servants of Christ show us another way – learning…
How Big is Your Neighborhood? Gospel Lessons from Mr. Rogers and Ms. Rachel The season of Lent is an invitation to introspection – taking an honest look at ourselves and being open to the Spirit’s work to draw us back toward God. But interior spiritual work can become navel-gazing if we don’t have good partners to guide us. And so…
All the Light We Share Transfiguration Sunday celebrates the moment when Christ is transfigured before three of his disciples. In that moment, Jesus the itinerant rabbi is revealed as the divine Christ. As followers in the Jesus Way, we are invited to allow Christ to be revealed in us. What would it look like in our world if we who…
Salt, Light, Justice, Peace Christians don’t get to sit it out, hoping that our worship pleases God while people are harmed, or hungry, or hopeless. Read Isaiah 58:1-12 and Matthew 5:13-20 in preparation for the sermon, “Salt, Light Justice, Peace.” The livestream will be available on February 8 at 10:30 or any time after. The bulletins can be downloaded from…
Dancing Our Prayers We have the honor and privilege of hosting Dancing Our Prayers, from the Yakima Nation. This is a team of Native teens who travel locally, regionally and nationally, sharing their culture, spirituality and way of life. Dancing Our Prayers is part of the Mending Wings Program that also hosts the S.L.A.M. trips that our students have attended the last…
Where God is Leading Where do we think the Spirit is leading us? What do the next 5 years hold for LOUMC? We can’t really know, of course. But we can use our experience and wisdom to see some possibilities, and we can trust that if we seek to follow the Way of Jesus. Join us in worship as we…
