Esther and Mordecai remind us that sometimes we have power and are afraid to admit it. Using that power comes with risks, but it also might lead to hope and…
Habakkuk preaches into a world in which defeat is certain. When all is hopeless, and suffering is guaranteed, we must embrace the God who suffers with us and connects us…
On All Saints' Day, we look to the story of Naaman to remember that God is the God of all people. We remember that unexpected servants and saints reveal themselves…
Solomon and a worried mother show us what it looks like to create multiple winners from one encounter. It's easy to view the world as zero-sum, but the promise of…
One of the things that keeps us from being generous with our money is our sense that if only we act well, we won't die. Jesus reminds us that we…
How do we rotate our views so that we do not elevate people with wealth, especially inherited wealth? How do we transform our community into something we would joyfully give…
We practice an open table in Ankeny UCC, meaning, all are welcome to take communion. Why do we do that, when Paul seems to argue that we need to have…
Ruth 4 gets into the weeds of redemption and marriage in ancient Israel. But there's a message for us: Boaz sees hope in the future, rather than in the past.…
Sometimes we miss the true, messy meaning of phrases because of code words. In Ruth, we encounter any number of double-entendres that can inspire a variety of readings. But the…
The Bible lifts up the story of refugees, of immigrants, of foreigners who reveal God to us. The story of Ruth and Naomi gets at the question of care. Who…
Paul shows us the service that Christ gave us, by emptying himself of the powers and pretensions of God to live with us and lead by serving us. We have…
Paul can be challenging sometimes. So challenging that the Jesus movement was a little dubious about his joining them in the first place. One of the biggest parts of living…
In Christ's death, we see his humanity. In his Resurrection, we see that our identities are not centered in violence, but in the love of God. Christ's story, and ours,…
Sin are those forces, external and internal, that keep us from seeing and living our identities. When we are separated from our identities and see our identities twisted, always remember…
The story of people written off as having no chance in the Olympics nonetheless winning reminds us of Jesus's choice to be a servant to his disciples. None of us…
Asking questions is the most holy work we can do. Believing in Christ means working to build the sovereign realm of God together, easing suffering. Mourning, and then acting, just…
As Jesus tells the denizens of the Temple that he can build it up in 3 days, we are reminded that the church is the people of God, and that…
The Evangelist lays out his vision for the only way to understand Jesus: come and see. (note: there was a medical emergency in the church during the sermon)
