As we gather on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we listen to the visitation story of the angel to Joseph in the days leading up to the birth of the young Christ child. The in-breaking of Immanuel (God with us) was a miraculous birth and a great wonder to experience, but for Joseph, the divine event caused a great predicament. How could he continue to maintain his relationship with a young woman who was with child, and this child was not his? The divine visitation promises Joseph

As we gather on the Second Sunday of Advent, we hear once again from the prophet Isaiah. The prophet is speaking of the time of God's glorious redemption and restoration of all creation, and the peace and unity that will be present everywhere. In our daily lives, we can struggle to imagine, or even hope for, such a peace-filled life, but the prophet points toward the future that God intends for us. We will discuss the elements of the prophet's vision of a return the to "goodn

Welcome to the season of Advent! As we gather for the first Sunday of Advent, we will read and reflect on the words of the prophet Isaiah. These words from God, spoken by the prophet, are dated in the years prior to the exile to Babylon. The times were filled with tension and the anxieties of war and the challenges of life. These comforting words were a reminder that God was not far away and would send divine aid to the people of God. Throughout the history of humanity, the p

We gather this Sunday for the last Sunday during the season of Pentecost. This long season comes to an end, and we reflect on "end-things" in our belief that Christ will come again. We mark the end of the church year, and begin the season of Advent in just a few days - the season of active waiting. As we end this year and anticipate next year, we read from the prophet Jeremiah and hear the prophet's words about the changing of our world, brought about by the saving action of

As we gather in mid-November, we should be mindful that we are quickly coming to the end of the present church year, which comes to an end on November 23, 2025 (two weeks!). As the church year comes to its end, our Scripture lessons begin to reflect on what the end of our waiting for Christ's return might mean for our lives. With that in mind, we read and reflect on a bit of Paul's Second Letter to the Thessalonians, where we discover a vivid description of the struggles of t

We will not gather this week for our Scripture Reflection series due to our other Adult Education Series gathering, but this Scripture for the week is the Gospel reading of the Twenty-six Sunday after Pentecost, which may be found and read by following this link: HERE . Jesus meets the repentant tax collector, Zacchaeus, who has been searching for Jesus among the large crowd. Zacchaeus has spent much of his "comfortable" life living by the riches that come with the brutal job