Next week, we start summer at Reservoir. Soccer Nights starts a week from tomorrow, and it’s not too late to sign up to volunteer. Next week, we’ll also shift to our single 10:30 AM service, and rather than a series, our pastoral staff will preach however we’re led from the passages in our Read the Bible … Continue reading The Jesus Movement We’re Looking For

I was not always a very good grandson. But then again, not every one of my grandparents were always very good grandparents either. Here’s how my family tells the story. One set of my grandparents lived close by to us, and they were like second parents to us. We saw them every week, sometimes several … Continue reading Be Kind More Than Nice

For the last couple of weeks I’ve had the pleasure of having a new little commuter with me – on my days that I travel over here to the office.   THere’s a Reservoir family – who recently moved from here – to MY town of Milton, south of the city… but just shy of the … Continue reading The Power of a Generous Question

Credit to David Borger German, associate pastor of one of our sister churches, Sanctuary Church in Iowa City, for the great majority of this sermon – many of its insights, and much of the text, word for word sometimes. Imagine with me for a moment that you have just won $10,000,000! But there’s catch. You … Continue reading Stop Giving Your Money to Bad Systems

Facing Death I was a teenager in the late 80s, when cable TV and VHS machines were all the rage, and when each town’s video rental store was one of the hubs of commercial activity. And being a teenage in this time and living in the suburbs meant a lot of weekend evenings hanging out … Continue reading You’re Not Dead Yet

When I was 16 year old, living in Wichita, Kansas, freshman year in high school, I got a chance to join a group of teen leaders, call The Wichita’s Promise Youth Council. Each high school had 2 representatives throughout the city and about 20 of us were brought together to tackle issues that adolescents faced … Continue reading The Daughters of Zelophehad

(This talk was totally inspired by the amazing, courageous stories from women speakers at the Why Christian conference, 2018). Courage: the Core Virtue We are in this great new series, called “The Ways of Passion and Courage” – where we are dipping into some stories from the Old Testament – some of which you may … Continue reading Shiphrah and Puah: The Courage to Say “And”

Rev. Traci Blackmon’s Story This past week I heard the Reverend Traci Blackmon speak at Boston University. She was there to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and was talking about the need for us to continue to do the work of justice that King was engaged in, particularly … Continue reading Could Your Great Passion Be Hiding in Your Weakness?

I love the way kids show up. I love that Conrad can hear about asking God for big dreams and say, “I want to be a superhero,” and then talk with his mom about just how he might do it. One of my kids, when they were about Conrad’s age, once wrote, “When I grow … Continue reading The Technology of Paradise

The Lie of an Empire Revelation 18:4-5 (New Revised Standard Version)  4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of the city, my people, so that you do not take part in its sins, and so that you do not share in its plagues; 5 for their sins are heaped high as heaven, … Continue reading Come Out: Repentance as Resistance