Galatians 3: 26-28, emphasizes that we are called to see all people as beloved. Paul says there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, but all are our siblings in Christ. To bring all people into community is the fundamental work of Christ. As Christ revealed God’s love for us, we must see that racism is a sin that separates us not only from our brothers or sisters but from God.

Our prejudices affect our understanding of the world and, lamentably, our God. In Mark 3: 20-35, Jesus calls us family in its most inclusive meaning, challenging the limit of common understanding. If we set aside our prejudices and celebrate our different perspectives, we can better help each other and do the will of God.

This week Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss Pentecost, a thanksgiving celebration fifty days after Passover, where the gift of the Spirit empowers understanding among diversity. As a church, we are foundationally called to value the diversity of voices. A year of pandemic separation informs this profoundly, calling us to celebrate in great joy, without reserve, our God-given differences.

Pastor Kris and Shelley continue discussing John 15, the abiding bonds of friendship, and today, the joy God intends for us in community and friendship. Jesus, in pastoral care for his disciples, calls them friends. Jesus's command to love one another in friendship is central to our faith; our ministry is about relationships, and Jesus walks with us in expressing care, concern, and support of others.

God is love: 1 John 4 centers this discussion, where Pastor Kris uses the word abiding–an uncommon, peculiar word in an acquisitive, active world–to highlight the steadfast love that God reveals to us in Christ. The author of John winnows God's holy essence to love, abiding love. Love to be seen and shared in our kindness, compassion, care, and listening. May you find abiding joy in loving your brothers and sisters as you love God.

Today, Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss how the familiar story of Jesus's entry into Jerusalem at the festival of Passover compares with Pentecost as the birth of the church as a political body where Jesus's followers publicly rose to endorse Pax Christi over Pax Romana, setting in motion the events of two millennia.

A year after the pandemic’s official declaration, Pastor Kris and Shelley Groh invite Dr. Allison Salituro to discuss the pandemic’s effects in the brightening light of hope. Amidst the distribution of vaccines, we confront what may be long-term effects. Things will be different. Notably, we may be surprised how mental health concerns linger on and … Continue reading "Episode 53: One Year Later"

Many of us quietly fear we are unworthy of God's love for who we "really" are. Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss gifts of emptiness as a place of accepting God's love in times of darkest mystery. The scripture highlights that it is within Jesus's forsaken cry from the cross that we find the gift of emptiness: not that Jesus found God but God found Jesus, remaking the story of humankind. Lenten emptying gives space for God, who loves us beyond our wildest imagination, to find us.

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss 1 Corinthians 13:8-13. Assured that God's love for us never ends, can we accept the gift of life's uncertainty? In our Lenten journey, can we receive mystery as a gift, not a problem to be solved? Can we then fill the void of certainty with trust? In faith and gratitude, can we find the gifts of this dark wood?

Pastor Kris and Shelley discuss 'thin places' in Celtic tradition where the veil between heaven and earth is most ethereal. Christ's transfiguration in Mark 9 is one of those places, a place we want to inhabit. Yet Lent is active: about our intention to draw closer to Christ. As you descend the mountain during Lent, God is blessing you, preparing you for your journey; you are a part of this dazzling blessing, sharing it with others, using your gifts to sustain others in their darkest moments.