St. John’s friends and family, Last week I had the privilege to watch over a dear friend’s butterfly chrysalises and caterpillars. It’s a fairly easy task. They don’t do much until they do. One day I came home and there was a beautiful butterfly struggling at the bottom of the netted cage. She had fallen…

Dear St. John’s Friends and Family, Today we begin taking a look at the life and writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. I don’t want to say too much about it here, except we will be looking at someone who was extremely courageous in a time of extreme uncertainty. When adversity arose, he held on to his…

Dear St. John’s friends and family, This is the last week for our summer sermon series. It’s back to school time!  Throughout the summer, we’ve explored what we know about God. God is present. God is more than we can imagine or expect. God is merciful. God is not like us. And this week we…

Dear St. John’s friends and family, We are all frustrated as we watch the COVID cases rise once again. We thought we were already through the worst of it and now we have begun to wonder whether we are or not. In the midst of this, I am certain of God’s unwavering goodness. The certainty…

Dear St. John’s friends and family, We often forget that God is always close by, always present with us. We get caught up in disappointments, challenges, frustrations and hurt that we forget that God is near. We lose focus on what God is doing and focus on all that goes wrong. Yet, even in the…

Dear St. John’s family and friends,  Pastor Stephanie and her family are on vacation, so I will bring the message this week. Before you begin your time of worship, I encourage you to prepare your heart and mind to be in the presence of God’s Spirit. Breathe in the breath of God. Breathe out any…

Dear St. John’s friends and family, As you begin worship today, I encourage you to sit quietly for a few moments. Breathe in and breathe out and consider that the breath of God is all around you. Look forward to your time of worship today. Rejoice that this is the day that the Lord has…

Dear St. John’s Friends and Family, It seems as though we have been living in uncertain times throughout this pandemic.  I’ve lived through uncertain times before.  We grapple with uncertainty when we face loss or we feel like our life is spinning out of control.  Often times we feel alone in our uncertainty.  We may…

Dear St. St John’s friends and family, What do you know of God?  How would you describe God?  Do you know of God’s love and grace?  Of God’s mercy and justice?  How does this influence your relationship with God and the people around you?  How about how you feel about yourself as a child of…

Dear St. John’s friends and family, When you were growing up, did you pray, “God is great. God is good. Let us thank him for our food.” at the dinner table?  I did!  And all I could think about was how good and great the food was going to taste!  I really didn’t stop to…