“In Faith and Truth” September 22, 2013 Psalm 113 1 Timothy 2:1-7 Charissa Clark Howe “Faith” and “truth” are nice words, aren’t they? They’re the sort of words that we put on nick knacks and t-shirts and candles because they are just so danged inspirational and fuzzy.
September 15, 2013 1 Timothy 1: 12-17 Luke 15: 1-7 Rev. Catherine Purves I don’t expect that any of us would rank ourselves among the foremost of sinners. We all probably assume that we are around the middle of the pack when it comes to sin. Surely, it is the murderers and the terrorists who should be considered the foremost of sinners. The least sinful are the saints and martyrs. So, there are…
September 8, 2013 Jeremiah 18: 1-11 Rev. Catherine Purves Perhaps the most shocking revelation in this brief passage from the book of Jeremiah is God’s twice repeated statement, “I will change my mind.” It is an unnerving word of the Lord that pulls the rug out from under us. In an unpredictable, dangerous, and changing world, most of us long to cling to a God who is unchanging, whose will never wavers, whose…
September 1, 2013 Luke 14: 1, 7-14 Rev. Catherine Purves Weddings are tough. I’ve been involved in more weddings than usual this summer, helping with the planning, if not actually officiating at the services. In my opinion, when it comes to weddings, the devil is in the details. It’s easy to be driven to distraction by the multitude of little decisions that have to be made. Nothing is easy, but perhaps one of the…
August 25, 2013 Luke 13: 10-17 Rev. Catherine Purves It seems appropriate somehow that last week our young and athletic Student Intern would have preached about how the life of faith is like running a marathon. Now that your old minister is back we are just trying to stand up straight, and that seems to be plenty challenging. But in order to run, you do, first, have to be able to stand. “Stand…