2013
Immanuel In Distress
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
The Lord be with you. (and also with you.) God is with us in this season and every season. But in these short days and long nights, it is especially good to remember that God is with us, as we gather for worship, as we gather with friends and family, as we sit alone and […]
Come Unto Me
Speaker: Michelle Burkholder
On this the fourth Sunday of Advent, we light the candle of joy and we begin the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Since the weather prevented us from being able to sing the Messiah together at the beginning of this month we will, in part, celebrate by singing several selections from that great work […]
The Mysterious Blessing of Life
Speaker: Boris Ozuna
This week I struggled in trying to put all my thoughts in order. Last time when I stood here and brought the message, I had it clear: “I’m going to talk about the social movement that is happening in Montes de Maria, Colombia, the struggle for land and the march of hundreds of farmers asking […]
Waking To Mystery
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
I like to read mystery books. As a young girl I read a lot of Nancy Drew, then moved onto Agatha Christie and Sir Conan Doyle. Now I have discovered author Laurie King who has invented a smart, athletic and very young wife for Sherlock Holmes, who sleuths alongside her famous husband. But mystery in […]
New Earth or Signs from Heaven?
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
It’s been a year of Luke. I don’t know if you have noticed but the lectionary gospel readings this year have been from the gospel of Luke. All year we have been reading parts of Luke, and now we have gotten to the end, not the end of Luke, that would be death of Jesus […]
Holy Wrestling
Speaker: Michelle Burkholder
The story of Jacob wrestling with God is one that I have felt drawn to many times in my life. I can’t count how many times I have found myself awake in the middle of the night with either my head full of thoughts or my heart disquieted for one reason or another and as […]
Holy Humility
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
You remember the old Christian Peacemaker Team slogan – “Getting in the Way.” In March 2003, my friend Weldon Nisly made the bold decision to get in the way with a Christian Peacemaker Team in Iraq, just as the war was starting. As their three car convoy sped through the desert toward the Jordanian border, […]
Living Gratitude
Speaker: Michelle Burkholder
In today’s lectionary texts we are confronted with a whole bunch of people living in less than ideal circumstances. The Jeremiah text is written to the people of Israel who have been deported from their home and promised-land and find themselves living as exiles in the foreign land of Babylon. This is a whole community […]
Just Doing Our Job
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
On a day of celebration like this, I marvel at coincidences. It just so happens that the lectionary epistle for today is from II Timothy. It just so happens that these verses from II Timothy are often used for occasions such as the one we celebrate today, the commissioning for ministry. In many ways, the […]
Somos Vigias de la Esperanza, Pontifeces de la Paz
Speaker: Ricardo Esquivia
Note: Each section is first written in the original Spanish, followed by an English translation. Cuento: Muchas de las situaciones que vivimos no las planeamos, algunas nisiquiera las buscamos. Simplemente aparecen, así como en este cuento, producto de la emergencia. De seguro muchos de ustedes que hoy están aquí han llegado a la iglesia Menonita […]