Month: October 2023

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“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
Matthew 5:4

This week we celebrate All Saint’s Day, a day in our holy calendar to remember the beloved saints we have lost both recently and those that we still grieve in our hearts. In the famous sermon on the mount in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says that those who mourn are blessed. However, to those in the throes of grief and loss these words seem hollow. On a day like All Saints we have a special holy space to lay our grief before God and seek God’s blessing in our pain. We are called to come around each other in community and comfort those that are hurting. Who or what are you grieving in this season? Bring these griefs before God this week and see how Jesus’s words of blessing can be heard uniquely to you in your own life.

-Michaela Eskew

Looking for last week’s worship? You can find it here!

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Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery are in their paths, and the way of peace they have not known.” Romans 3:5-17 

Paul is quoting Isaiah 59 here, a worthy but depressing read. I am drawn to this part of Romans 3 because of the war in Israel that threatens to grow. This verse is about us as a human race. We are the ones who run to war and violence as a people. Paul dwells here because we need to take a hard look in the mirror and see that we are not ok. Only then, when we realize our need for help, can we receive the salvation that is freely given through grace. It’s classic law and gospel. As we commemorate Reformation this Sunday we return to the classics. We need salvation. Salvation has been given.  

Pastor Travis Norton

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“for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.” Philippians 4:11 

This is the verse that comes before the famous “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” I wonder if that’s why Paul can be content when he has little or when he has a lot. He trusts that no matter what, if Christ is in him, he will be ok. What would it take for me to be like that, content in all circumstances? I suppose some of it comes from experience. As Christ guides us through life, both through hardship and success, we learn that those external matters aren’t as critical to our well-being as we initially imagined. I hope to learn this more and more as I age. I hope all of us can become more content and more trusting as we learn to lean on Christ, who gives us strength. 

Pastor Travis Norton

Looking for last week’s worship? You can find it here!

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Philippians 3

How often do we get tied up into identity labels? Labels like CEO, stay-at-home mom, caregiver, retired, or even homeless? How often do we claim our educational pursuits with pride adding letters before and after our name when signing emails? This week’s scripture pushes us to consider the labels that we place on ourselves with pride and honor. We hear Paul list his many accomplishments and his esteemed Jewish heritage and then call it all “garbage” (in Greek it’s more vulgar). Paul says that all his labels are nothing when compared to the label of Christian, follower of Jesus Christ. How are we called to navigate a world that thrives off categories and boxes and live as if our only identity is in Christ? Is that even a fair request today?

-Michaela Eskew

Looking for last week’s worship? You can find it here!