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Blessed for Blessing - May 12, 2013 Offered by Pastor Jim Helman
This past Thursday was Ascension Day, that forgotten major Jesus-event when Jesus fulfilled his mission: he came, he lived and served, he died, he rose, and now he ascends, returns to his origins with and beside God. Jesus’ ascension was important enough to the early Church mothers and fathers that . . .
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Love Feast - April 28, 2013 Offered by Pastor Jim Helman
On this day when Easter is still in season and resurrection is in the air, our Gospel text asks us to go backward to the night just prior to Jesus’ death when Jesus seems to be in the midst of sharing last-minute directions, teachings that Jesus is desperate for his Apprentices to remember and live. They were at table and . . .
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Picking Up the Broken Pieces - April 21, 2013
Offered by Pastor Jim Helman
Susan Briehl is an ELCA pastor who is a gifted writer. She has written some of the liturgy of the worship settings for the red hymnal (ELW), and Susan has written a number of hymn lyrics we often sing here on Sunday mornings as well as in some of
the Marty Haugen services. Susan wrote these lyrics . . .
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Redeemed and Redirected - April 14, 2013 Offered by Pastor Jim Helman
His anger boiled…he called it righteous anger…and it was directed toward anyone who proclaimed allegiance to Jesus. He breathed in and breathed out his rage, breathed in threats and breathed out murder of Jesus-followers. His name was Saul, and he believed with all his heart that . . .
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Trust God Without A Doubt - April 7, 2013 Offered by Bill Gamelin, a member of our lay Preaching Team
Good Morning! Welcome to the second Sunday of Easter. He is Risen! That is our Promise, that is our Hope, that is the Truth! Trust God without a Doubt! Well I guess there is nothing more to say. May the peace of God which passes… April Fools! . . .
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But, In Fact . . . - Easter, March 31, 2013 Offered by Pastor Jim Helman
Jennifer Lawrence was at the Oscars among all the actors and actresses she had grown up admiring. Jennifer is 22 years old and she was the lead actress in the movie, The Hunger Games. She was in the best actress category, and she won. Jennifer won an Oscar. On her way . . .
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What More Could He Have Done For You - Good Friday, March 29, 2013 Offered by Pastor Jim Helman
This story comes from the book which we will study together in September entitled The Good And Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith.
This is how author and speaker Brennan Manning got the name “Brennan.” “While growing up, his best friend . . .
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If You Have Love - Maundy Thursday, March 28, 2013 Offered by Pastor Jim Helman
In the novel The Tree House Confessions (pp. 79-80) by James McConkey we see that Michael Peter Warden has come home after three weeks spent at his father’s funeral. As he is sharing life-with-father to his wife, Terry, she sits mending socks.
“He said, ‘I think there . . .
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Humility: Weakness or Strength - March 24, 2013 Offered by Pastor Jim Helman
In Jesus’ day, ancient Israel was under the thumb of the massive Roman Empire, and the Empire’s values and expectations were always imposed upon those who put their trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Within the Roman Empire, rank was important and . . .
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Extravagant Grace / Extravagant Response - March 17, 2013 Offered by Pastor Jim Helman
Pastor Janet Hunt shares the story of the long, hot summer after her dad’s first open heart surgery. His recovery was not going well. As he sat in his recliner, his still swollen legs where veins had been removed to repair his heart gave him great pain. His children surrounded him in . . .
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The Call of the New Creation - March 10, 2013 Offered by Pastor Jim Helman
It would be easy to call the old man foolish. His ungrateful and cruel son all but demanded his share of the future inheritance, essentially telling his father he wished his parents dead. It would be easy to call the old man foolish, because he set in motion a . . .
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The Rest of the Story - Mid-week Lenten Worship, March 6, 2013 Offered by Marlene Sowers, a member of our lay Preaching Team
Universities, professors, reading, study, knowledge, truth. We know the elements that comprise education. We even take them for granted. But tonight (to paraphrase the famous radio broadcaster Paul Harvey) we’re going to learn “the rest of the story”.
Jesus was called . . .
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No Making Sense of the Senseless - March 3, 2013 Offered by pastor Jim Helman
James Bryan Smith is the author of the book that many of us will be studying together starting in September. His book is entitled The Good And Beautiful God, and he invites us to fall in love with the God Jesus knows. It is difficult not to share information from that book, because . . .
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God's Blue Book - Mid-week Lenten Worship, February 27, 2013 Offered by Pastor Jim Helman
Several decades ago, Fred and Ethel were in a class I was teaching at church. They were planning to be married and each of them had come from separate denominations and congregations. Fred’s background was Wisconsin Synod Lutheran, and Ethel had been a life-long Roman Catholic. They mutually decided . . .
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Worship on Sunday, December 30, 2012 was a hymn-sing. There was no sermon.
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