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We begin our 5-week series called “from DIY to renovation by Grace” this week.  Throughout the series we’ll explore what it means to recognize, name and claim God’s Grace in our daily life.  Our worship series will be rooted in the Ephesians 2.   Ignatius of Loyola, a sixteenth century priest who lived in Spain and founder of the Jesuits, composed a process of spiritual discernment for Christians who are seeking to find out what God intends for them.  According…

In the beginning was the word, scattered everywhere. Then the word was assembled with experience, colored with the red of blood and the black of eyes, and the word became a sentence and the story took shape. The question posed to the magi was not what gifts do you bring? but good or bad, either way, can you bear the story? It is a question best borne with song. That is why the angels sang, and so must we. from…

The English word “Epiphany” comes from the Greek word epiphaneia which means “appearance” or “manifestation”. On Epiphany we celebrate the moments that God becomes known to us.  Our worship this week will be rooted in Matthew 2.1-12.  This ancient story of the wise ones bringing gifts to the baby Jesus points to God making God’s self known to humankind. What good news have you witnessed over this Advent and Christmas season? Are there some specific attributes of God that you…

Every day for twelve good days embody love in simple ways: share food, write cards, befriend the poor, do someone else’s dirty chore, stand up for justice, sing a song― let all you do for twelve days long be what you give and do and are for Mary’s child beneath the star. Let each day be a Christmas prayer of joy and thanks and loving care, each day, though it be bright or blah, a day of gratitude and awe:…

Christmas isn’t over yet. We have twelve days in which to let the child be born in us anew, to let the holy light shine through, twelve days to love and give our gifts, to say or do some thing that lifts another’s spirits, or their load, or shines a light along their road, twelve days to fight the world’s pull to be asleep and comfortable, but be awake in trust and care because the Holy One is near, twelve…

  Christ is born― the Prince of Peace, reigning in your heart and throughout the universe; the Word made Flesh, Light of Life, shining from deep in your soul. The Beloved will never leave your side, never disdain your place in life, never abandon your darkness or leave you in your suffering. Christ is born, and Love is in the world. Christ is born. The tender child is yours. Gently care for him. Steve Garness-Holmes, 12.25.12

 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb.  —Luke 1.39-41 A holy life, a divine presence grows within you. Blessed are you, and blessed is the fruit of your soul. And blessed is your trust that what in silence and mystery God has spoken to you will be fulfilled.…

There is a place in scripture that says “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1.46)  We should hear this as a put down on Jesus.  Thinking that any significant teacher, preacher, rabbi, could come from such a small village of no acclaim was unthinkable.  It would be like saying “No one expects anything good to come from Needles or Cool!  Get real!”  This is a judgement on a town and her inhabitants.  So, when we pause to consider…

We move into the last week of Advent as we WAIT WITHin the words of Micah 5.2-5. “The speeches of the prophet we know as Micah are believed to refer to events around the eighth century BCE, a time of great unrest and turmoil for the northern kingdom and Jerusalem because of the domineering strength of the Assyrian nation. The people to whom Micah’s words were directed had no chance to match the warring might of their neighbors. Micah insisted…

In the Bible it says:  “What has come into being in Jesus was life, and the life was the light of all people.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it”  (John 1.3b-5)   But yesterday for many of us, it felt like the darkness won.  For awhile it was dark for us all.  For many of us it feels dark still.  So what will be your next step? Is it okay to stayed glued…

“Isaiah’s language in 12:2-6 of the wells of God’s salvation speaks both to those who suffer water’s absence and those who feel drowned in the waters of destruction. God’s salvation flows and overflows, fulfilling the deepest need of parched souls with the very presence of God in their midst…..Water is a common motif in the Hebrew Scriptures. There are narratives of God’s miraculous provision of water for desperate persons (Genesis 21:19) and communities (Exodus 17:1-7). Water is often used as…