07 Jul

From the Pastor’s Desk: Years and Miles

Milestones are important.  Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations and the like not only mark significant events, they offer opportunities to prayerfully and thoughtfully consider the arc of our lives as we remember them year after year.   I am in a reflective mood today.  This week marks my...

01 Jul

From the Pastor’s Desk: I’m back!

July 1, 2020 Dear Friends, I am back.  My four-week, nine-state, 3800-mile road trip is complete.  I spent two weeks in Arkansas with my mom and brother and two weeks in Denver with my daughter.  I did a LOT of yard work in those four weeks, enjoyed...

10 Jun

From Gene’s Desk

Given the technical glitch with viewing last Sunday’s service on Sunday, Sermon Talk Back @ 11:00 am via Zoom focused more on the continuing conversation about race than the sermon itself. Of the nine people in attendance, a few folks had read the sermon, so a few...

26 May

From the Pastor’s Desk

May 26, 2020 Dear Friends, Our lives continue to be impacted by COVID-19 in so many ways.  Our concern for those who have been made seriously ill by the coronavirus or who have died from it, leaving grieving friends and family behind, is top of our list,...

19 May

From the Pastor’s Desk

May 19, 2020 Dear Friends, You know that saying, “You live by the sword, you die by the sword”?  I’ve pretty much always felt that way about technology—when it works, great, but when it doesn’t, we’ve become so dependent on it that it can really disrupt our...

12 May

Called to be Prayerful and Wise

May 12, 2020 Dear Friends, The novelty of the novel coronavirus has completely worn off.  We are all “over it.”  The problem is that COVID-19 is not finished with us.  Not by a long shot.  Like you, I am soooooo tired of being cooped up, tired of...

06 May

Operating From Our Weaknesses

Dear Friends, In every person’s life there are moments that are so momentous, we never forget them.  Often, we can remember very specific details about these experiences—a smell, a sensation, a conversation, a look—that remain embedded in our memories, almost frozen in time.  For me, the...

29 Apr

Happy Birthday, Calvary!

April 29, 2020 Happy Birthday, Calvary! On Saturday, my church will commemorate its 72nd birthday.  In our Coronavirus-laden reality, we won’t get to share a cake (chocolate, of course.)  Or sing together.  But, we will still be celebrating, just from our individual homes.    As I reflect on...

21 Apr

Don’t Let the Psalmist Sing Alone…

Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation. Great are the works of the Lord,  studied by all who delight in them. Full of honor and majesty is God’s work, and God’s righteousness endures forever. God has...

15 Apr

Easter & Emmanuel: God is With US

April 15, 2020 Blog Post On Sunday we celebrated Easter, the highest and holiest day on the Christian calendar.  It was, without question, the strangest Easter I’ve ever experienced. Unable to be in the church sanctuary, separated from my congregation, devoid of the soaring sounds of...