2015
Freedom Bound: The Path Of Hope
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
You already know this but your pastors are a lot like you, quite human. We get angry, sad, sick, (cough, cough) joyful, excited and overwhelmed. In this liturgical season of advent, economic season of Christmas, political season of elections driven by fear and globally the season of terrorism, more fear and climate change – it […]
Freedom Bound: The Path of Mercy
Speaker: Michelle Burkholder
Just this year, one of the younger members of our congregation asked me what mercy means. What a wonderful and surprising question. I wanted to jump right in and give an inspiring answer that was encouraging and easy to understand. Instead I found myself bumbling over the concept and offering complicated examples of what it […]
Freedom Bound: The Path of Justice
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
It is advent again. In this congregation it is a bit like what Jesus says about the fig tree in the passage from Luke: Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. Here, in this space, […]
The Royal Banquet
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
Welcome to this Christ the King Sunday. Three years ago we celebrated it as Christa the Queen Sunday. And in fact we do have Christa with us this morning. Christa, the feminine Christ, pictured here not as the crucified one but as the risen one. Several weeks ago I decided it would be meaningful (and […]
Moses & Super Grover 2.0
Speaker: Michelle Burkholder
I am going rogue on the lectionary today. Instead of the suggested scripture passages for this week – I decided it was time to share with you all some of the ideas from my grad school thesis. My thesis entitled: “Seeing, Revelation and Prophetic Witness: Moses Narratives as a Case Study for Theological Encounters with […]
We Need Jesus, Y’all
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
The gospels give us a lot of stories about Jesus healing people. It can be one of the most exciting things about Jesus. Jesus makes blind people see, deaf people hear, disabled people walk. At the same time, it is one of the most confounding things about Jesus. How can someone walk again with just […]
Into The Lake
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
Once he had a family, but that was before. Now there is no place for him. Everyone has had to distance themselves from him, his violent threats and outbursts are too dangerous, even for those who love him. He has exhausted his family and friends, used up every last grace they might have for him. […]
The Living Church
Speaker: Michelle Burkholder
The earth and everything on it – The world and all who live in it – Belong to YHWH. As we worship together today, on World Communion Sunday, we are gathering together with people of faith around the globe to celebrate our oneness in Christ. It is a oneness of hope and a oneness […]
The Taste Of A Spark
Speaker: Michelle Burkholder
We are in a season of transitions, of newness, of celebration as school starts up again and fall brings about a sense of renewal. We are celebrating going back to Sunday school this week as we just resumed Sunday school this morning and the classrooms were once again a buzz after spending the summer in […]
Dear Dr. King
Speaker: Cynthia Lapp
Dear Dr. King, We received your letter written from a Birmingham jail cell in August, 1963. It arrived a lifetime ago, more than 2 lifetimes of Michael Brown, more than 3 lifetimes of Tamir Rice and Emmett Till. Even though I was just an infant when you wrote, it seems you deserve a response, especially […]