Title: Christ our King Texts: Dan 7:9-10, 13-14; Rev 1:4b-8; Jn 18:33:37 Date: Nov 22, 2009 Before I get started, let me say something about where we stand today in the church calendar. We stand at the edge of Advent. Next Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent. And during Advent we wait with Mary […]
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Companions
Worship is how God offers to be our companion through the Holy Spirit who weaves our lives into a “knot of unity,” as Augustine of Hippo once wrote. In this meditation below, you can find a description of how God befriends us through an ordinary church service. Here is an excerpt: Worship that evening choreographed […]
At home
Title: A body at home Texts: Dan 12:1-4; Ps 16; Heb 10:19-25; Mk 13:1-8 Date: Nov 15, 2009 Author: Isaac Villegas Jesus stands outside the towering temple in Jerusalem—at its highest point, the walls probably reached up to 175 feet high. You can see the building from miles away, dwarfing all the other structures in […]
Leftover grain, Leftover people
Title: Leftover grain, Leftover people Texts: Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17; Mark 12:38-44 Date: Nov 8, 2009 Author: Thomas Lehman Our passages from Ruth and from Mark could hardly be more different as literature. After a first reading of the material from Ruth one could ask whether it belongs in the Bible. In contrast, Mark is familiar […]
Jesus wept
Title: Jesus wept Date: Nov. 1, 2009 Texts: Wis. of Sol. 3:1-9, Rev. 21:1-6a, Jn. 11:32-44 Author: Isaac Villegas Jen has been writing online about her life with her child Martin who is autistic. Jen was one of the founding members of our church. She and her husband were here from the beginning, but now […]
Please pray with me
Title: Please Pray With Me Texts: Job 42:1-9, Hebrews 7:23-28 Date: October 25, 2009 Author: Dave Nickel Jane’s Story: It’s a Friday afternoon in late August. Jane has just finished mowing the lawn at her two acres in “the county.” Her mobile home shines in the bright North Carolina sunshine. As she surveys the surroundings, […]
A baby’s slave
Title: A Baby’s Slave Text: Mk. 10:35-45 Date: Oct 18, 2009 Author: Isaac Villegas The sons of Zebedee, James and John, come up to Jesus and tell him what they want: they say, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory” (Mk. 10:38). It’s a bold […]
Priesthood of all believers
Title: The Priesthood of All Believers Date: Oct 11, 2009 Text: Hebrews 4:12-16 Author: Chris Gooding Two weeks ago, Jews around the world celebrated Yom Kippur for the year 5770. Since I’ve been trying to learn more about Jewish liturgy in order to aid in interpretation of the Old Testament (and to further inter-religious dialogue […]
letter from Mary Raber (Oct, 2009)
Our congregation financially supports Mary Raber’s work in the Ukraine. She is there with Mennonite Mission Network. Below is her recent letter. Read it to learn about her work and find out how to support her with our prayers as well. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – […]
Broken visions
Title: Broken visions Texts: Heb 1:1-4, 2:5-12; Ps 26; Job 1:1, 2:1-10 Date: Oct 4, 2009 Author: Isaac Villegas How to go on when our world gets turned upside down? How to make sense of our life when everything collapses? How to put one foot in front of the other when nothing makes sense anymore? […]
For such a time as this…
Title: For such a time as this… Date: Sept 27, 2009 Text: Esther 7 Author: Catherine Lee Tonight we are looking at the story of Esther. We’re not going to do justice to the whole story. If you hear nothing else, hear my suggestion that you go home and give it a read yourselves this […]
Tongues of fire
Title: Tongues of Fire Date: September 13, 2009 Texts: James 3:1-12 Author: Isaac Villegas “The tongue is set on fire by hell” (James 3:6). That’s what James says. Are we really to believe that our words have so much power, the power of hell’s fire? I know that words can hurt sometimes, but it seems […]
Desperate
Title: Desperate Texts: Mark 7:24-37 Date: Sept 6, 2009 Author: Isaac Villegas Jesus wants to keep a low profile in Tyre. He’s in Gentile country, far away from the Jewish masses that flock to him wherever he goes. A woman comes to him. She’s desperate. Her daughter needs to be set free from an unclean […]
Come away
Title: “Come away” Date: August 30, 2009 Text: Song of Songs 2:8-13 Author: Isaac Villegas Our passage from the Song of Songs is an excerpt of a love poem. That simple fact is important. Our bible, this book that is central to our faith, is full of poems. The bible isn’t a book full of […]
Solomon’s request
Title: Solomon’s Request Texts: Psalm 111, 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58 Date: August 16, 2009 Author: Tom Lehman Psalm 111 was read a few minutes ago; it is an acrostic. After the opening “Praise to the Lord” there are 22 lines, each beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. (Waltner) […]
Bidudh nei: letter from Nathan
I have returned… returned to the States and now back to Bangladesh. Going back for Michael and Rachael’s wedding was a really nice vacation. They’re now happily married and moved into their new house in Lancaster. Derrick and Rebecca also recently bought a place in Harrisonburg and I was able to visit that as […]
Absalom, Absalom
Title: Absalom, Absalom Texts: 2 Sam 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 Date: August 9, 2009 Author: Isaac S. Villegas “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son” (2 Sam 18:33). With these words David is at his end. It’s too much for […]
Being Church
Title: Being Church Texts: Ephesians 4:1-16, John 6:24-35 Date: August 2, 2009 Author: Dave Nickel Last summer, I was asked if I would be interested in doing an internship with the five congregations of Eastern Carolina District. I said yes, but I had some reservations. Most of them were pragmatic: How would my time be […]
Power: a meditation on peace
I gave a short meditation during a worship service for our Virginia Mennonite Conference summer assembly: “Jesus is our peace.” They asked me to share about Jesus’ beatitude on peacemaking from Matthew 5: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Below is what I came up with. ————————————————————– Isaac S. […]
Report on MCUSA Convention 2009
Mennonite Church USA Delegate Assembly 2009 Report by Ryan Koch, Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship July 7th, 2009 Tom, Isaac, and I arrived in Columbus on Tuesday afternoon just in time for evening worship which inaugurated the conference. A few details about the conference: all together nearly 7500 individuals attended. The total number of delegates was […]
Desire
Title: Desire Date: July 12, 2009 Texts: 2 Sam 6:1-5, 12b-19; Mk 6:14-29 Author: Isaac Villegas Lord of life, lead us into your grace and truth. Give us eyes to see the truth about ourselves, and the grace to not run away from what we see, but receive your new life. Amen. Sometimes the truth […]
Weakness and Perseverance
Title: Weakness and Perseverance Texts: Mk 6:1-13, 2 Cor 12:2-10 Date: July 5th, 2009 Author: Dave Nickel 1. The church we attended in Phoenix had a “mentoring” program. Through this program, I was asked to mentor a high school student named Dan. I agreed to try, but I didn’t know what it meant to […]
Available
Title: Available Date: June 28, 2009 Texts: 2 Sam 1:1, 17-27; Ps 130; Mark 5:21-43 Author: Isaac Villegas “God made everything that is made for love; and the same love sustains everything, and shall do so for ever.” ~ Julian of Norwich I’ve never seen a grown man beg like Jairus. He came to Jesus […]
David and Goliath
Title: David and Goliath Date: June 21, 2009 Texts: I Sam 17:32-49, Mk 4:35-41 Author: Isaac Villegas I used to play a lot of soccer growing up. I was part of a club team, which basically means High School soccer wasn’t good enough for us. We played all year round, traveling all over the country […]