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Staff Trax

Real Freedom

We have much to celebrate this Sunday, October 28. First, 10 of our teens will affirm their baptism and accept responsibility for the vows that their parents made. Secondly, we will also celebrate the Reformation of the 16th Century Church. Legend says that on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle Church. The theses were 95 statements against certain…

Is it ironic?

Mark 10:35-45

A request from James and John

James and John, Zebedee’s sons, came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”

“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.

They said, “Allow one of us to sit on your right and the other on your left when you…

What do you believe?

Our ninth graders at Salem have spent the last month or so writing their statements of faith. They will share them with us during services on Oct. 21, in preparation for their confirmation the following Sunday. One of these amazing kids happens to be mine, and she has invited me on her journey to discover what she believes, and how to put it into words.

Have you ever attempted to share…

A Kingdom for Everyone

As I noted last Sunday, we are in the midst of reading through a portion of Mark’s Gospel in which Jesus is trying to teach the disciples about how God desires we live and care for the world. This series started with Jesus predicting his death and resurrection, but the disciples didn’t understand and instead of pursuing what that meant, they began arguing among themselves about who would be…

No Loopholes

October is here! And for me, when we get to October, I immediately think about confirmation. Our tradition here at Salem is to celebrate confirmation on the last two Sundays of October, so this month there will be a lot of activities with the confirmands. One of the activities for me is to read through all of the sermon feedback booklets. Although it is time-consuming, I love doing it…

Don't Be A Stumbling Block

For the past several weeks we have been reading about how Jesus has been trying to teach the disciples about God’s way of thinking and turn them away from human ways of thinking, but he hasn’t been very successful. Our story ended last week this way, “[Jesus] sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he took…

Being the church

Mark 9:38-50 Common English Bible (CEB)

38 John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone throwing demons out in your name, and we tried to stop him because he wasn’t following us.”

39 Jesus replied, “Don’t stop him. No one who does powerful acts in my name can quickly turn around and curse me.40…

… and a child shall lead them!

I love that our youth are leading worship this Sunday with this scripture from Mark 9:37: “Whomever welcomes one of these children in my name welcomes me … and the One who sent me.”

Our church works hard at being welcoming, and if you want to see that in action, come on Sunday and watch our youth joyfully lead worship. They have been encouraged since they were little to stay in…

It's Time to Follow

Three weeks ago we heard John’s Gospel’s version of Peter’s confession of faith. This week we hear Mark’s version, when Peter says, “You are the Messiah.” If you remember in John, Jesus’ words about eating his flesh and his blood offended many of his followers, and so many of them left, but when Jesus asked the twelve if they, too, wanted to leave, “Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord,…

Who Are You?

There is an old story about a wealthy man who owned his own business. Each year at the annual company picnic the man would spend most of the day going around and talking with his employees and their families. One year, as the day was coming to an end, the man finally wandered into the food tent to get some food. As he went through the line, he was handed a plate with a chicken leg, potato…

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