Sermon Text: Luke 2: 22-40 Here we are, on the 27th of December, and much of the world has already moved on from Christmas. I already saw a commercial with a person throwing their tree into a wood chipper, declaring the end of Christmas and 2020. But for the Church, we’re only getting started. Long …
Sermon text: Luke 2: 1-20 Here at Zion, this video worshipping process is still new enough that we keep surprising ourselves when we stumble across something cool. Earlier this month it happened again when Ryan Custead, our Director of Faith Formation and Outreach, the guy who records and edits all of our video worship, when …
Sermon text: John 1: 6-8, 19-28 On September 9, 1965, Commander Jim Stockdale was shot down while flying a mission over North Vietnam. His ejector seat landed him in a small village where he was immediately captured, beaten, and made a prisoner of war. He spent the next seven and a half years of his …
Sermon text: Mark 1: 1-8 This week I attended an online workshop—it was a five hour Zoom meeting with 40 some pastors from around Pennsylvania. I’ll be honest with you, my expectations were low, but I was pleasantly surprised by our presenter. She was very knowledgeable, personable, polished, and dropped lots of little theological bread …
Sermon text: Mark 13: 24-37 The Necessity for Watchfulness. In my Bible that’s the heading they give to part of our Gospel lesson. The Necessity for Watchfulness, or maybe Jesus would say, “Waiting is Essential.” The problem is, and we are all deeply aware of this, watching and waiting stinks—they are intolerable acts of cruelty …
Gospel Text: Matthew 25: 31-46 When I was in elementary school I had one of those Magic Eye books. Do you remember those? They were huge in the 90s. the first three publications spent a combined 73 weeks on the New York Times best sellers list. Those books contained these large, colorful patterns and if …
Sermon text: 25: 14-30 Back in January of this year (do you remember that little sliver of pre-Covid time) we gave very family at our Epiphany service a check for $100, $250, or $500. We called the project Joyous Generosity. That moment seems so long ago, but we did it, and the people of Zion …
Sermon Text: Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25 It has been a while since we’ve checked in on the Old Testament story, we took a few weeks off from the narrative and now we are all the way at the end of the Book of Joshua. The very end. In fact, we’re looking at Joshua’s farewell speech …
Sermon text: Matthew 5: 1-12 Europe has no shortage of beautiful churches and cathedrals that you can visit—these gorgeous buildings older than our country, where people have been worshipping God for centuries. In these grand spaces your eyes are typically drawn up, up at the stained glass, up to the ornate woodwork, up to the …
Sermon Text: Exodus 17: 1-7 Last week the Israelites complained for food. This week they complain for water. Tune in next week to hear how they need a new Xbox and a car. In all seriousness, the Israelites are in trouble because they’ve been traveling through the wilderness and now they are camped at a …