Pastor’s Blog

One of the comments in last Sunday’s sermon that garnered the most conversation (well, among folk I had a chance to talk with) was my reference to the popular television show The Biggest Loser. I [...]

I am yielding blog space today to my colleague in ministry, Brent Ferguson. Brent had trouble (like many of you , I'm hearing) posting a response - so I'm taking the liberty of making him [...]

I really want to know. One of the edges that we seem to be treading right now - our staff, our leaders, our congregation - has to do with this question: how do modern people [...]

What has power over you? This week, I’m back from a weeklong clergy renewal retreat in Arizona called CREDO. Although I had joked with our interns and staff that I was going to “Clergy Spa” [...]

An early entry this week - for those tuning in. I am off this week, starting Monday, at a CREDO retreat in Arizona. From what I can tell, it's sort of "clergy spa" - a [...]

This Sunday’s lectionary text, John 11:32-44 is about one of the two certainties of which Ben Franklin spoke: death (The other being...taxes of course). It fits well with the liturgical order of the day, which [...]

This is a very very quick entry - appropriate, inasmuch as I am not the one preaching on Sunday. My colleague Dana Fearon is taking the pulpit - and I am left anticipating - looking [...]

There are times when I want to say to the lectionary committee: thanks a lot.(Note: The lectionary, in case you're not up with the church lingo, is the set of Bible passages that are prescribed [...]

Last week's sermon spurred several responses. I'll mention one here. One member shared with me having had a marital spat the night before - which had been weighing heavily that morning, and about which he [...]

The sermon that I gave this morning deals with the question,  Is it right that our society self-consciously and self avowedly employs the method of torture in the effort to keep us safe?Without repeating the [...]

For you folk who want to cut to the chase, here's the question for this week: Does the gospel (and the scriptures in general) speak to how we ought to treat the stranger in our [...]

Friends! Jeff V. here. I see it's been a long time since an entry has appeared in this space. Blogging is harder to do (especially as a collective enterprise) than I'd thought. I will continue [...]

Perhaps lighter, simpler fare this week. No big theological stuff. Stories! Provided by...YOU! Jeff here again, doing blog duty. Next week - Mary Alice...you tuning in?Here's the question for the week: how are YOU making meaning [...]

We all know the story. Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem. No room in the inn. A stable is all they can find for their nightly digs.We might picture the typical first-century travel experience as [...]

Unfortunately, we regressed in our Blog participation last week - after a record 8 comments on our question, "How Would Jesus Vote?", we got a grand total of...zip, zero, nada...last week. I'm sure folks were [...]

This week's blog question is on a topic that we're all thinking about - especially us'ns who are in the church biz: money. It's stewardship season! And although we emphasize that stewardship (a vastly misunderstood [...]

The question for this week has to do with what we're all thinking about...well, at least one of the things we can't avoid thinking about: the election.Obviously, I mean for the title of this entry [...]

Jeff V. writing here.... I'm back after a long summer's nap. This post is really an attempt to re-establish our blogging practice as a church...and that's the subject of the post.I've obviously been rather reluctant [...]