4th Sunday of Easter - 4/21/24

Readings

SHEPHERD WANTED

Must be skilled in finding green pastures and still water.  Respond quickly to any sign of injury or illness.  Nurturing and attentive to sheep in your care.  Recover strays while maintaining integrity of flock. Keep constant watch for predators and avoid known safety hazards.  Must be willing to sacrifice own safety and life for well-being of sheep.  Generous bonus for returning larger and healthier flock at end of season.

I always thought that being the good shepherd meant that Jesus gets an A+ job rating at shepherding. I learned something new this week. It turns out that the word for ‘good’ is not about good or bad, but instead means something more like ‘true’ or ‘genuine.’  Jesus is the real shepherd of God’s people. 

2nd Sunday of Easter - 4/7/2024

Readings

Happy Day of Resurrection!  Our gospel reading this morning brings us to the evening of the day Mary Magdalene discovered that Jesus had risen from the dead.  Because Mark ends his good news about Jesus with the empty tomb and no post-resurrection encounters with Jesus, we are jumping into John (and a little Luke) for the next few weeks.

These 50 days between Easter and Ascension are called Eastertide.  

Eastertide is a time of transition.  Jesus is Jesus, but he is different after dying and coming back to life again.  His relationship with his followers has changed. Nostalgically, he remains their beloved teacher, although he acts more like a mentor now.  He encourages and coaches them to reflect on their faith, empowers and encourages them in their various gifts, and more overtly prepares them to continue bearing witness to the Good News.

Easter Day - 03/31/2024

Readings for the day

Have you ever witnessed a miracle?

Something that defies rational explanation.  

Something that can only be explained by the presence of the divine.

Something that, either immediately or upon reflection, brings deep and lasting joy and gratitude.

Something like the birth of a baby.

An unexplained healing.

Survival of extreme hardship.  

Miracles lead to a changed perspective, a new lease on life.

When they are happening, though, they feel impossible, disorienting, scary.

Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday - 0324/2024

Readings for the day

Didn’t we start this service proclaiming Jesus as the King of kings?  Shouting ‘Hosanna!’ and making lots of noise as we processed with waving palm fronds?

How did we get from a triumphal entry into Jerusalem to Jesus tried and convicted, executed and entombed in one service?

Is anyone else feeling a bit of theological and emotional whiplash?

In the gospel we read outside, the people wave palm branches and throw down their cloaks while Jesus rides a donkey into Jerusalem. At the time, Israel was occupied by Roman forces, who demanded high taxes and ruled with fear of harsh punishments like flogging, breaking limbs, or death by crucifixion.  Jesus’ compassionate teachings about God’s love and forgiveness for all people, no matter their station in life, resonated with the regular people.  Exhausted and oppressed by a brutal and long Roman occupation, they are ready for the long-awaited new ruler of Israel.  The One promised to restore the land of milk and honey to God’s people.  

5th Sunday in Lent - 03/17/2024

Readings for today

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24)

Wheat is often used as a symbol of rebirth, or new life, or sometimes of the life of a community.  A few years ago, the kids and I planted a tabletop container of wheat at the beginning of Lent.  Nothing happened for the first two days.  On the third day, we noticed that the seeds were swelling and starting to put out little roots.  By the fifth day, there were little green shoots pushing up out of the soil.  In the second week, there were days when you could almost see the shoots growing, reaching for light.  Four full weeks into Lent, the wheat grass was about 10 inches tall.  The fruit of our wheat garden was the fruit of reflection, of patience to watch it grow, of wondering at God’s amazing creation.

Before watching that wheat spring up in the middle of our dining room table, I never really understood how the symbolism of wheat connects to Easter.  Now I know!! It takes three days for wheat to germinate.  Three days to die and come back to life.  

4th Sunday in Lent - 03/10/2024

Readings for this week

Have your eyes adjusted yet?

How are your other senses feeling?

We describe this worship service as In the Gloaming.  Gloaming is most often used to refer to twilight, that time between sunset and darkness.  It can, however, be used to refer to the time around dawn when the sky is lightening before the sunrise.  Gloaming describes the way objects appear to glow like coals in the changing and indirect light.

3rd Sunday in Lent - 03/03/2024

Readings for this week

Have you heard the saying, “Good fences build good neighbors”? 

It comes from the Robert Frost poem, “Mending Wall.”

The poem is about the conversation and mutual effort of neighbors meeting in the spring to walk the line of a stone fence between their properties.  Each walks on their own side, patching holes, re-stacking stones that have fallen, adding new ones from the field, doing the work of maintaining an old New England stone fence.

1st Sunday in Lent - 02/18/2024

Reading for the day

The Rev. Lisa Graumlich, preacher

Today’s gospel is short, sweet and has a distinct “good news” punch line– repent and believe in good news that the Reign of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the Reign of God.

Those words sit uneasily in our modern world. Repent is a word that has been weaponized to judge and shame others. As a gay person, I have been told to repent. Numerous times.

Repent is a word that has been used to evoke shame. We need to reclaim this word.

Repentance is the act of turning away from sin and turning towards God. It’s telling the truth. It’s acknowledging individual and collective wrong doing – what has been done and what has been left undone. It’s about sincere commitment to change our behavior – and to change the systems that our behavior has put in place and that we tacitly engage in our day-to-day life.

And then there’s the promise that the Reign of God is at hand – or was at hand 2000 years ago. This feels like cold comfort when we continue to be bombarded with news of war and witness the suffering of our neighbors.

Ash Wednesday - 02/14/2024

Readings for the day

If true love never did exist, how could we know its name? [1]

Today is the 2nd time in the 2000s that Ash Wednesday coincides with Valentine's Day.  It will happen once more in the next 20 years.  It’s an interesting weaving together of heavenly and earthly desires to observe the two simultaneously.

Both Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day talk about love.  Both have cultural traditions associated with them.  One is a fleeting, commercialized holiday perpetuated by the candy and greeting card industry.  The other ushers in a season of self-examination, prayer, and intentionality.  

Last Sunday after the Epiphany - 02/11/2024

Readings for the day

Dazzling white.  Brighter than any one on earth could create or conceive.  So bright it hurts the eyes. The bright star of Bethlehem magnified and intensified into one being. Peter and James and John couldn’t look away.  

Something was happening.  Something mysterious.  And terrifying.  And wondrous.  Something holy.  Like a bush that burns but is not consumed.  Or fiery chariots descending from heaven.  Amazing.  Confusing.  Not limited by the human imagination.  Unbelievable - except that they see it with their own eyes.

5th Sunday after the Epiphany - Annual State of the Parish Address - 02/04/2024

Readings for the day

Dear People of Trinity Parish of Seattle at 8th and James, my siblings in Christ,

Greetings in the name of the one, holy, and indivisible God.  I give thanks for you every day, and for the gift and privilege of proclaiming the Good News of God’s forgiveness and healing love with you.

* * * * * * * 

Think for a moment about your most favorite road trip you’ve ever taken.

How long was it?  Was it an afternoon, or days, or weeks? 

Was it a round-trip or one-way?

Did you have a destination in mind?  

Or was it purely to explore and learn about a different place?

Who was along for the ride?  

Were you with family or friends or was it a solo adventure?

4th Sunday after the Epiphany - 1/28/2024

Readings of the day

In the Gospel reading today, Jesus teaches in the Synagogue in Capernaum.  He teaches with a surprising authority, a conviction in his message that surpasses the usual recitation of the scribes.  His authority is so clear that an unclean spirit recognizes him and calls him “the Holy One of God.”  Jesus responds by casting out the spirit, healing and liberating the man.

Recalling that epiphany means “showing forth,” this is the 3rd time in Mark that Jesus’ divine connection and authority are revealed.  First was the thundering voice of God at his baptism.  Second was his compelling invitation to Simon and Andrew to “come and fish for people.” Casting out this unclean spirit reveals Jesus’ healing power, and launches his public ministry.

3rd Sunday after the Epiphany - 01/21/2024

Readings for the day

Jesus comes to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” 

Backing up a few verses in Mark, we find Jesus being baptized by his cousin John and the voice of God thundering affirmation of Jesus’ divinity.  The Spirit of God immediately drives Jesus into the wilderness for 40 days of temptation by Satan.  The story in today’s reading immediately follows his time in the wilderness.  

These are the first words of Jesus’ public ministry: “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”  For Mark, this proclamation is the heart of Jesus’ purpose, and the ministry to which he calls his followers.

2nd Sunday after the Epiphany - 01/14/2024

Readings for the day

I listen to the news most mornings while I make my first cup of coffee. One day this week, the first three news headlines were about new attacks by the US military, new fighting in two world conflicts, and the US presidential race, plus on-going news from Gaza and Ukraine, extreme weather across the US and natural disasters worldwide.  I wanted to go back to bed.  It was depressing.

News media headlines stories that get our attention by triggering our fear, anxiety or anger.  Those emotions leave us feeling on edge and empty, and we keep coming back for more news, more details.  If news outlets only told us joyful and life-affirming stories, we would find ourselves satisfied, and they would have no market.  Instead, they paint an ominous picture of our world, one that easily triggers despair. 

As Christians, living lives rooted in God’s good news, we recognize and name the voices of despair that attempt to drain us of God’s vision for us and for the world.  Which is why a quote from environmentalist and author Paul Hawken captured my attention this week: "Hope only makes sense when it doesn’t make sense to be hopeful."  [1]

1st Sunday after the Epiphany - 01/07/2024

Readings for the day

Almost two decades ago, the United Church of Christ began an identity campaign with the tag line, “God is still speaking,”  It ends with a comma.  It’s not a misprint, but an invitation.  An invitation to hear, to sense, to feel, and to respond to the voice of God speaking here and now.

1st Sunday after Christmas - 12/31/2023

Beloved in Christ, at this Christmastide let it be our joy and delight to hear again the message of the angels, and in heart and mind to go to Bethlehem and behold this thing that God has done in giving us God’s son, born as a baby in a manger.

Let us listen and reflect on the mystery of God’s love for us that, through this Holy Child, peace has come to us.

Let us join our voices with the angels and sing hymns of praise to the newborn King.

Let us join, in the name of this King and his way of love, with the poor and helpless, the cold and hungry, the sick and lonely, the oppressed and victims of injustice.

And let us pray for ourselves that God would grow in us hearts of love and respect.

Jesus Christ is good news for the poor, release for the captives, recovery of sight for the blind and liberty for those who are oppressed.

Gathering and Bidding Prayer

Christmas Lessons and Carols for Peace and Justice

from the Rev. Rob Voyle