Sermon text: 1 Corinthians 6: 12-20 It was a beautiful January morning as I made my long and arduous daily commute between the parsonage and the church. Hollidaysburg was bustling around me as people were commuting to their jobs as well. With my eyes I could see the sun gleaming off of the courthouse clock …
Sermon text: Genesis 1: 1-5 and Mark 1: 4-11 In late May of 2019 we hosted an event at church called Paint and Sweets. One of our members, Tabitha Shimer, donated her time and supplies as she taught 22 people how to paint—specifically how to paint a vase of lilacs. It was a wonderful night, …
Sermon text: John 1: 1-18 Christmas is more than a season, it is a way of life. Now, for many people, I am certain that Christmas is a way of life, at least for the month of December. Can you imagine if Christmas extended beyond January 6—beyond the church’s twelve days, or if it was …
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 …