The Paralytic Man Mark 9:1-8 Encounters with Jesus series (#1) 1-2-22 Rod Hugen A friend of his who is a prayer warrior named Harriet contracted COVID and passed away. Her ongoing wish was that Rod would get a haircut and in her honor, he did! Let’s pray: Help us be like Harriet in that we bring others life through you. As I open your word and see your beauty,…

A HALF TURN AWAY Heaven is a half turn away, barely out of sight in the periphery of vision.  If you could turn hard right, or spin quick left, you’d catch a tiny glimpse  There! but no, not quite there…   If you could whirl around, in the mist of the ‘almost’, take a quickstep leap, you’d be walking on gold, knocking on Peter’s gate.  More often it’s a…

I want to share with the community some of the answered prayers form my 20 Prayers for 2021. These prayers for myself were answered: I want to see my brother in person I want to meet my cousin Abby I want good health for myself I want to remain employed So let's start with #1 & #2.   I had not seen my brother in person since my cousin Kari's…

This evening the Villagers met many of Vicky's cherished friends. We painted a picture of who she is in our hearts and mind of how this woman impacted and gave deeper meaning to our lives. Vicky like each of us all came to this small little church and somehow God worked his plans into a miraculous work of art, worthy of the Master Artist. God worked grand things in…

I’ve had St. Patrick’s Breastplate stuck in my head all week. Which is of course great! But it’s been making me think about the Trinity a lot. I hope this invites you to contemplate the Trinity - the mystery and the beauty. Contemplation of God is worship of God. But I’m not a theologian so please excuse any imperfect language or accidental blasphemy.  Religion, as a human phenomenon, is…

Today, as our nation prays together, I'm thinking about Jesus' prayers. After Jesus saw Judas leave to go betray him and before he headed out to be our blood sacrifice, Jesus prayed -- for us! "Protect them by the power of the Name You gave me, Jesus said, "that they may be one, as We are One. "Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth." I've had such…

I laughed in the limousine on the way to Dad’s funeral. Uncle Paul was sitting up front with the driver and Uncle Paul had apparently never ridden in a limousine before. He peppered the poor driver with all sorts of questions that the driver was loathe to answer. He wanted to know how fast she’d go, and if it was hard to corner, and what size engine it had.…

The idea of self-care has blown up in the behavioral health field, social media, blog posts, and heck it’s one of the best-selling genres of books. I’m a big advocate of self-care. But not just the bubble-bath-taking, self-pampering, fitness-body-building, travel-the-world type of self-care advocate. I mean the self-care you don’t post a photo of on social media. I mean the hard conversations you have with a friend you hurt.…

Today is Martin Luther King Day. I don’t claim to know Dr. King’s life well or be a civil rights historian. But what I do know is that Dr. King is one of the great Christians of the American tradition. He was also a man who was caught up in great things. I thought this little meditation would be appropriate.  --- Sunday we talked about the Sandals of peace.…

Pastors think a lot about sermon takeaways. We want people to get the primary thing we believe God has for them. As I listened to Eric’s sermon last Sunday on the belt of truth and appreciated his takeaways. But I also had another takeaway, one he didn’t necessarily intend. I loved his story about going up to Babad Do’ag (Frog Mountain) with Sue, Ashton, and Elliott and sitting together in…

THE SONGS I WROTE IN 2020 A few things to start: This has been a hard year. This week as we look towards 2021 I’ve been thinking about the songs I wrote in 2020. I process my walk with God through music most of the time and I guess God and I had a lot to talk about this year. Pretty much all of this is connected in some…

As I was praying this morning it dawned on me (again) what a beautiful gift adversity is. It allows us to suffer, opening our hearts to God and to each other. Identifying with Christ and following in his path means trials will come. They make us turn from our ability and power and lean on the One who overcomes death. As we suffer we become aware of the suffering…