Cheryl

The Kingdom Parables teach our souls to love the “both-and,” thein-between, the mystery that is God revealed in the ordinary, Emmanuelwith us, grace even in the grit and grime of the very ground we walk on andlive on.

The mustard seed and the bread yeast parables indicate that growth of the kingdom isn’t up to our control at all – we just have to let go and let the growth happen organically, naturally, spiritually

It may seem like power to resist is limited, but Esther shows a model of working with what limited power is available.

Those who follow Jesus have to stand up, to speak out, to be the change we want to see in the world. The choice to follow Christ isn’t comfortable. But every generation has faced the same choice: Seek to save your life only to lose it or willingly lose your life to save it.

We are the ecclesia, the ones called out by God, the ones sent out toserve, to bring healing and the prophetic word – the parrhesia that is notjust the expression of our own core truths, but the core truths of God’srealm.

Cowboy Church was celebrated Sunday June 7th with cowboy prayers and Western metaphors. Worshippers came forward for communion – cornbread, instead of the usual wheat bread. The sermon explained the concept of the Trinity from Wes Seeliger’s 1985 book “Western Theology,” which compared Settler mentality with Pioneer mentality.

Unity in Christ does not mean uniformity. Unity in Christ means the compassionate presence of the Holy Other abides in us and dwells with us.

Together with the vision of those familiar hands, I hear Grandma’s voice, humming andcrooning the words to the old hymns that she knew by heart, hymns that were still as newand fresh to her as her own childhood, but were as old and outdated to me as Grandmaherself.

The grace of getting old is getting nearer to God. And the enlightenment that comes from the awareness that God has always been near to you, from birth to old age, God is with us.

A sermon on the theme of soil and water stewardship.