9:22 Service

Nov. 2 — Communion Celebration.  Homily: “What Is a Wedding without the Wine?”  The gospel story of the wedding at Cana serves as a metaphor for individuals today.  We, like the clay jars in the story, can be used by God to bring positive change to our world, individually and globally.  Join us.

Nov. 9 — Pastor Gary will be talking about “The Death of Lazarus.” This gospel story brings up the possibility of a person finally, in some cases, making their way out of tombs of limitations, fear, or lack of purpose. Ultimately, this is a story of   hope.

Nov. 16 — “Memories and Visions” comes from the Old Testament story of Israel returning to Jerusalem.  It alludes to the past and the future and how we, along with God’s involvement, take ourselves in new directions.

Nov. 23 — If you are a certain age, you have heard the term “One Room Schoolhouse.” Way back when, schools had grades one through 12 in the same room together. The information that came from the teacher was specific to each grade. A second grader trying to make sense out of a ninth grade geometry class would be totally confused.  The same is true of our spiritual journeys

Nov. 30 — The First Sunday of Advent.   

11:00 Sermons

Nov. 2 — Communion Celebration.  Homily:  “Blessed Be the Tithes” The word “tithe” is Old English for “tenth.” While we all are not always able, Christians are challenged to give up to one tenth of their financial resources to ministry. This Sunday we will be talking about the idea of stewardship, of giving, of personal accountability to God and others.

Nov. 9 — Pastor Gary will be continuing the theme of stewardship by speaking on “Your Money or Your Life.”  Which is to say, with relation to our journey with God, we are called out to give all of ourselves, our resources, our gifts, our talents, our lives.

Nov. 16 — The sermon “Here I Am, Lord” brings to a close the theme of stewardship.  When we love someone, we joyfully give of ourselves. When we love someone, we are invested in them 100%. Likewise, when we love God, we do not do things for God out of duty but rather because we desire to. In effect, we say to God: here I am, Lord.

Nov. 23 — There is a story in Luke’s gospel where Jesus heals 10 lepers, and only one came back to thank him.  Pastor Gary talks about the possible reasons why the others didn’t come back to thank Jesus for healing them. We are asked to see if we see ourselves in any of their reasons…

Nov. 30 — The First Sunday of Advent.  Dr. Bowser begins Advent by comparing and contrasting our cultural celebration of Christmas versus the Christian understanding of Christmas. Too much of the time we try to mesh the two together. Is it possible to separate them, at least in our mind, enough to celebrate both in a healthy and joyful way?  Join us as we begin our celebration of Advent:  the coming of Jesus.

Reception and Talkback.