As we begin this new season of ministry together, I invite us to return to a point of beginning in Jesus’ own ministry with his disciples. Following Jesus’ transfiguration atop the mountain, Mark tells us that Peter, James and John are instructed to “listen” to Jesus as they descend the mountain and head back into the towns and villages where Jesus will heal, teach, share meals, and point to the coming Kingdom. Before they are asked to do anything in the name of Christ, they are invited to listen. This is instructive for us, particularly given our location in a society that values activity and doing over listening and being. What might it mean for us to be a church that practices the discipline of “listening’ to Christ in all the people and places Christ comes to us?

Our Scripture for this week comes to us from John’s Gospel, Chapter 20. It’s the part in our narrative where some of the disciples encounter Jesus following the resurrection. Upon returning home and sharing the good news with the disciples who weren’t with them, Thomas says that he doesn’t believe them. He says that he won’t believe until he sees and feels the nail marks in Jesus’ hands and side. A week later Jesus comes to visit the disciples and shows Thomas his hands and side and tells him to stop doubting and believe. He tells him, “ because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” This interaction highlights for us the relationship between faith and doubt and calls into question if seeing really is believing or if sometimes in our lives we are called to believe without seeing.

We enter today the most sacred hours of our Christian faith. The Paschal or Easter Triduum begins with our Holy Thursday service, remembering Jesus’ final moments with his disciples; followed by Good Friday’s solemn message of Christ’s sacrifice and death; and Holy Saturday’s time of rest and remembrance. And finally, we gather on Sunday morning for Easter, the most joyous and celebrative season of the Christian year, as we give thanks for the resurrection of Jesus. Worship with us this weekend, in person or virtually. Christ is risen indeed!

This is the beginning of Holy Week. It is a time to remember the many events which took place 2000 years ago. God speaks to us today through these powerful moments in time. We continue to see them lived today. People praised Christ, people cursed him. Jesus ate with his friends, Jesus wept and was in agony. Holy Week is a week of holiness, and it’s not without suffering. Let us turn our eyes together to the One who saves us.

In the our lectionary gospel lesson for today, we find John’s version of the Gethsemane prayer, where Jesus says, “my soul is troubled.” In this moment, he considers if he should ask to be saved from this hour. He realizes that this is what He was sent for, so instead, He asks for the Father to be glorified through it. There is the fragrance of grief and sorrow here. Our Lenten journey reminds us that we grieve Jesus’ death, so that we can celebrate the joy of His resurrection. In this, we realize that sorrow actually prepares us for joy. It is through pain and sorrow that the real joy rises. Because of our deliverance, joy will get the last word in our story every time. That joy won’t be a denial of pain, but will be a victory over that pain. Our challenge is to learn to call out to God and praise Him even in the midst of our sorrows, so that He can help us to trade our sorrows in for joy.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16 – NRSV). For many of us this verse was the first verse of Scripture that we memorized. We have seen it written on billboards and bumper stickers. On this Fourth Sunday of Lent, the lectionary offers this well known passage for us to consider as we prepare for Easter. We hope you will join us this week to reflect on how God continues to speak through these very familiar passages.

This Sunday, the third Sunday in Lent, we will look at Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. Corinth was a fledgling church in a wealthy trading area, so these new Christians were influenced by many philosophies that contradicted the message of Christ; thus causing problems that permeated the young church. Were the people of the Corinthian church devoted to following Jesus, or more interested in the ideologies of their culture? This was the question and the challenge Paul offered his readers. 1st Corinthians is a popular book of the New Testament, perhaps because so many readers today (especially Americans) see ourselves and our churches in many of the struggles and controversies of this epistle. Read 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 to prepare for this Sunday.

This Sunday, the second Sunday of Lent, we will reflect on the most illuminative moment in Mark’s gospel next to the Resurrection: the Transfiguration of Jesus. On a high mountain, and with three of his most intimate disciples, Jesus becomes radiant with glory, his face and clothing shimmering with supernatural brilliance, as Moses and Elijah, two Old Testament archetypes, speak with him. Encapsulated in this brief episode is the essence of our faith, its whole point, and its final end. Let’s join our Lord atop this high mountain again this Sunday and bask with Peter, James, and John in the divine splendor.

Shane explains the reason for his unique piece of artwork in his house. Kevin and Shane answer two questions from viewers; one about praying and the other about judgement, heaven, and hell. Shane share's some parting words and Karen discusses what is next after Page - Turner.

This Sunday, having concluded our sermon series on apprenticing with Jesus, we return to the liturgical calendar of the church and will observe the first Sunday of Lent. Each year the appointed reading for this particular Sunday concerns Jesus’s flight into the desert where for forty days he underwent intense temptations orchestrated by the devil. This week we may spend some time considering just who is the Devil in biblical theology and of what role temptations consist in the interior life. This week’s reading will come from Mark 1:9-15.