When David’s son, Solomon, becomes the king of Israel, things have changed.  The country is at peace with all its neighbors.  So, construction begins.  Yet, as large and ornate as the house will be, in his wisdom Solomon knows that the temple cannot truly hold God.  Not even the highest heaven can contain God. 

Which brings us to today.  We can’t go to the temple to find God.  Sometimes it even feels like God has left the building.  Which brings us to the question for this Sunday: If God has left the building, where did God go?

Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann summarizes our scripture reading for this week in his biblical commentary on First and Second Samuel:

This week I will begin a two-part sermon on what it means to live in the tension that Professor Bruggemann describes.  Sometime its hard to see God at work in the world, so it begs the question, is God in the house or not?  We will explore that “honorable dispute” looking for places where we see God at work in public life.

This week we are reading a selection of verses from 1 Samuel, linked here. 

This passage is referred to as Hannah's prayer. Some of the Biblical scholars draw attention to the way that Hannah boldly asks God for what she wants. In her case, she is asking God for a child. Her story and prayer reminded me of a time I asked God for something I strongly desired. I think Hannah's prayer is a celebration of the ways that God shows up in our lives, especially when we might feel a sense of distress or despair.

This Sunday,  we will celebrate the Blessing of the Animals. The worship service includes an opportunity for your pet, photo of a pet, or even stuffed animal to receive a blessing. 

Do you remember when you first heard the story of Jesus?

I confess that I don’t remember when I first heard the story.  Yet, the stories of Jesus and my Christian faith are intricately woven into my life.  The stories are reminders and guides for my life.

This week we move to the book of Exodus where we read about the Passover, the story of God delivering the Hebrew people from slavery.  God tells them to tell that story every year, to keep it alive.  And when a child asks every year why we tell the story, God has ready the answer for us—

“It is because of what the Lord did for me.”

What stories do you tell?  On Sunday, I’ll invite you to think about those stories and what the Lord has done for you.

Do you remember your dreams? Pastor Laura once had a friend who said she didn’t like to remember her dreams when she woke up. She felt like she slept better when she didn’t recall them in the morning. And over time, she stopped remembering her dreams. Joseph is the opposite of my friend! Joseph has vivid dreams while sleeping and wants to share them with everyone. However, his dreams get him into trouble (and eventually get him out of trouble too).

This Sunday we read a portion of the narrative of Joseph. Joseph’s narrative is the longest in the book of Genesis, 14 chapters comprising nearly ¼ of the entire book. There is lots of drama and intriguing characters in his story. In studying Joseph, I think we are invited to consider our own dreams - while we are sleeping, our day dreams, our personal and communal aspirations. Let’s dare to dream together! 

We first meet Abram at the end of Genesis 11. The world is in turmoil—too much to explain in this brief

worship preview. God gives Abram (later Abraham) and his wife, Sarah, a mission. And they say yes to

God.

“So Abram went.” That’s all the Bible tells us about Abraham and Sarah’s decision to go on this mission.

The Bible doesn’t tell us why, just that they went. But life had not turned out like Abraham and Sarah

expected. When we get to Genesis 15, they are at a crisis point. Abraham was approaching 100-years-

old—Sarah was getting on towards 90. It had been years since he first said yes to God—years! The

promise that he would be the father of a great nation—not likely. Could God really keep that promise?

How will Abraham respond?

the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her

husband, who was with her, and he ate.  ~Genesis 3:6

Rally Day is a chance for us to gather in God’s great garden (that we know as Camp Sloper and celebrate being together. On Rally Day this year we will read the story of the perfect garden God created, the Garden of Eden. We quickly learn, however, that the first humans we meet in the story of creation didn’t stay in the perfect garden God created for long. Because of some poor decision-making on their part, they end up outside the garden and have to start over.

It seems to me that starting over is part of life. For Adam and Eve and for us starting over provides great opportunities but also significant challenges. I will be talking about that as we recall the story of Adam and Eve being forced to leave the Garden of Eden.

living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship. Do not be

conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is

the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. ~Romans 12:1-2

On occasion, Pastor Laura and Pastor Ron pause from doing all the talking during the sermon time and give

the congregation the opportunity to ask questions. This Sunday, we will offered that chance again.

As we approach this new program year and all that the next few months hold, we've been thinking

about what following Jesus requires of us. So, we will begin our conversation about your

questions with Romans 12 which I believe is one of the clearest descriptions in the New

Testament of what it means to follow in the way of Jesus.

Earlier this month, Pastor Ron, Clare Lindsey, and Pastor Laura went down to Ecuador for a brief visit to our long-term mission partner, Fundación Sor Dominga Bocca of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Due the pandemic and other safety concerns, it had been about six years since our church had visited in person. But the joy of being face to face made it feel like no time had passed! The mission at FSDB is so important and a lot was learned about the life saving work the staff are doing. This Sunday Pastor Ron and Pastor Laura shared some reflections from their trip to Ecuador. We read Jonah 2, as we concluded our summer sermon series on stories of water in the Bible. The story of Jonah is one where Jonah is crying out to God. When it feels like the waters of life are crashing in on us, where can we turn? Who can we call out to for help?

water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of

water gushing up to eternal life.”  15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never

be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” ~John 4.13-15

As we continue to explore the importance of water in biblical text, we turned this week to a beautiful story

recorded in the gospel of John. Jesus has an unexpected conversation with a woman from Samaria after

he asks her for a drink of water. In that conversation, she discovers who she really is by seeing a

different kind of water, living water. I love the way that preacher and theologian Barbara Brown Taylor

describes Jesus’ encounter wit this remarkable woman.

By telling the woman who she is, Jesus shows her who he is. By confirming her true

identity, he reveals his own, and that is how it still happens. The Messiah is the one in

whose presence you know who you really are—the good and the bad of it, the all of it,

the hope in it. The Messiah is the one who shows you who you are by showing you who

he is…bubbling up in your life like a well that needs no dipper, so that you go back to

face people you thought you could never face again, speaking to them as boldly as he

spoke to you.