Lessons: 1 Samuel 3:1-10(11-20) 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 John 1:43-51 Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17
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First Sunday after the Epiphany by The Rev. Martin Elfert
Lessons: Genesis 1:1-5 Acts 19:1-7 Mark 1:4-11 Psalm 29 This is the very beginning of the Gospel of Mark – the shortest of the Gospels, the oldest, the one written in the roughest Greek, and the one told with the most urgent excitement. Mark tells us the good news like an out of breath childContinueContinue reading “First Sunday after the Epiphany by The Rev. Martin Elfert”
First Sunday after Christmas by Matthew David Morris
Lessons: Isaiah 61:10-62:3 Galatians 3:23-25; 4:4-7 John 1:1-18 Psalm 147 Why does it matter? Why does the story of Christmas matter? If you braved the ice for the late service on Christmas Eve, you may have heard Fr. Martin pose a similar question. I, myself, did not make that treacherous drive through the icyContinueContinue reading “First Sunday after Christmas by Matthew David Morris”
Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve by The Rev. Martin Elfert
Lessons: Isaiah 52:7-10 Hebrews 1:1-12 John 1:1-14 Psalm 98 So. It is the end of 2017. We are in the Pacific Northwest. This is a time and place in which many of us are indifferent to church or ambivalent about church or allergic to church. And yet it is Christmas Eve and we areContinueContinue reading “Fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve by The Rev. Martin Elfert”
Third Sunday of Advent with Christmas Pageant by The Rev. Martin Elfert
Lessons: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 John 1:6-8,19-28 Psalm 126 Rejoice always, Pray without ceasing. I grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia, in that part of the world that is sometimes called Cascadia and sometimes called the Pacific Northwest. (The latter name is testament to the gravitational pull that the United States exerts onContinueContinue reading “Third Sunday of Advent with Christmas Pageant by The Rev. Martin Elfert”
Second Sunday of Advent by The Rev. Dick Toll
Lessons: Isaiah 40:1-11 2 Peter 3:8-15a Mark 1:1-8 Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 We are experiencing Advent….the preparation for the coming of Jesus. We hear from John the Baptist during the time when the Roman empire was causing great unrest, torture, killing, and brutality to the people who lived throughout the region but especially in the Galilee. ContinueContinue reading “Second Sunday of Advent by The Rev. Dick Toll”
First Sunday of Advent by Robb Beck
Lessons: Isaiah 64:1-9 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:24-37 Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18
Last Sunday after Pentecost: Christ the King by The Rev. Martin Elfert
Lessons: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 Psalm 95:1-7a Ephesians 1:15-23 Matthew 25:31-46 We have just heard what Paul Nuechterlein calls “The smallest huge translation mistake in the Bible.” In the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the one that we read together on Sundays, we hear: All the nations will be gathered before him, and heContinueContinue reading “Last Sunday after Pentecost: Christ the King by The Rev. Martin Elfert”
Thanksgiving Service by Matthew David Morris
Lessons: Deuteronomy 8:7-18 Psalm 65 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 Luke 17:11-19 I begin this homily by giving honor to the Chinook, Clatskanie, Cowlitz Kalapuya, Sillamook, Siletz, and Yakama people, and to the many other tribes and bands of First Nations people whose original lands we occupy in Oregon. Their stories and histories are a part ofContinueContinue reading “Thanksgiving Service by Matthew David Morris”
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost by the Rev. Martin Elfert
Lessons: Zephaniah 1:7,12-18 Psalm 90:1-8, (9-11), 12 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Matthew 25:14-30 * When I was ten or twelve, a series of books called Choose Your Own Adventure were a pretty big deal with my classmates and me. The Choose Your Own Adventure books were paperback thrillers: the “Adventure” part of the title referredContinueContinue reading “Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost by the Rev. Martin Elfert”