Posted by jmarple |
It’s hard to believe that we are coming up on a year together! Last year, my first event as your pastor was to attend Synod Assembly with Joyce Benedict and Renee Loya. It was one of the most Holy Spirit filled events I had been to in quite some time, and I was so proud to have been a part of the election of our now-bishop, Rev. Dr. Donna Simon.
The work of a Synod Assembly is hard and…
Posted by hlewis |
This June is my 16-year anniversary of becoming Salem’s worship and music director. This Sunday, as we honor our graduates, I’m thinking about how old my kids were when Salem became our church family: Casey (graduating from college) was in first grade, and Brandon (graduating from high school) was 2 years old. Whoa.
We are celebrating 15 fantastic graduates this Sunday: six from high…
Posted by svanbaale |
This Sunday is sometimes called “Good Shepherd Sunday.” The Gospel is John 10:1-10, which uses the imagery of sheep and shepherd. The Psalm is Psalm 23, which starts with the familiar text, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
In the Gospel Jesus says he is the gate. He is the way to the Father. Anyone who enters through the gate will be saved. And once the sheep are in the…
Posted by jmarple |
As I write this, we are two weeks away from Good Faith Network’s Nehemiah Action meeting. It will be held Tuesday, April 28 from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Leawood campus of Resurrection: A United Methodist Church (formerly known as Church of the Resurrection). It is not too late to let me, Renee Loya, or Chris Wise know you are coming.
I’ve spent some time thinking about why the work of Good…
Posted by hlewis |
David Hellwege built this beautiful cross for Salem in 2017. It is hand carved to hold 190 taper or tealight candles, and we use it for prayers and memorials on All Saints’ Sunday and Good Friday. I like this description of a candle: it connects your space to celebration and memory, to relaxation and peace. I can tell you that one of my most meaningful moments in Holy Week is when the Good Friday…
Posted by svanbaale |
Yesterday was April Fools’ Day, a day known for playing pranks and jokes on others and often yelling “April Fools!” at the end.
Who can forget the April 1 a few years ago, when it was not only Easter Sunday, but there was a light snowfall early in the day. It seemed like a joke from Mother Nature. It doesn’t snow very often on Easter, known as a springtime holiday.
It seems…
Posted by jmarple |
I once had a member of a previous congregation tell me “I don’t come to the services during Holy Week … it’s just too hard.” It wasn’t hard from a transportation or time aspect. It was hard from an emotional standpoint. This person didn’t want to witness (again) the trial, torture, and state sanctioned execution of Jesus. They chose to be at Palm Sunday and skip to Easter. And in some…
Posted by hlewis |
If you know me, you’re probably not surprised that I am an extreme optimist. I look for the good in people and situations. This can be … ahem … annoying, as I like to “romp through my field of daisies” instead of looking at things in a more realistic light; I leave that up to my auditor husband!
God obviously created us to be different from each other, and I find it so interesting…
Posted by svanbaale |
The psalm this Sunday is most likely a familiar one — Psalm 23 (“The Lord is my shepherd …”. This is sometimes known as “the funeral psalm” because it is read at so many funerals. It is recited at graveside funerals not just in real life, but in movies and on television. Many people who are not at all knowledgeable about the Bible can recite this psalm by heart.
It is a psalm…
Posted by jmarple |
Shortly after marriage, Chris and I moved to Wichita Falls, Texas. Chris had gotten his first teaching job and so we moved someplace where we knew no one. Our first task: find a church. Since it was Texas, our options for Lutheran churches (at least in that part of Texas) weren’t great. So, we settled at Faith Lutheran. Our first Sunday was our pastor’s first Sunday. Quickly after arriving we…