Wondering Questions

Tragedy happens every day somewhere. From a distance, we know that sometimes things just happen; accidents, natural disasters and other things can be linked to human brokenness. When it lands closer to us though, it feels different. How could God….???? There is never a promise in the Bible that there will be no tragedy or suffering. The promise is accompaniment. And God will accompany us through anger and lament and whatever else we may feel in the face of tragedy. There are no easy answers, but we have two pastors and Stephen Ministers and fellow worshipers who are willing to listen and lament with you. – Pastor Trudy Stoffel

Pets are an important part of our lives, and it is a way to bless and honor those pets that are meaningful for our lives. This is something that has been a part of Christian tradition that goes all the way back to the medieval church. St. Francis of Assi was a medieval monk who was known for singing and praying with the animals in the wild. He even wrote some prayers for the animals. A blessing of the animals is a way to honor all of those creatures that are part of God’s creation be it pets or other animals. – Vicar John Augustine

The first thing is to look at when each person will not be here…weddings, family events, vacations. Then we look at special events like Confirmation and All Saints, Children’s Christmas program, etc. So…both Vicar John and Pastor Amber are gone on the 10 and 11 of October and Confirmation is on October 18. That means it will be Pastor Trudy for the 11th and 18th. I know people are excited to hear from Pastor Amber, so she will preach September 27 and October 4. Since interns are signs of the reforming work of the church, Vicar John will preach on October 27. What a gift it is to have at least three different voices to hear different perspectives on the story of God’s great love for us! – Pastor Trudy Stoffel

Yup, me too. And in a few days, I have to give a sermon about it! But there’s a line that got my attention: Noah found favor with God. How did Noah ‘find favor’? By listening and taking God’s word seriously. There was no law yet. God hadn’t really given the people any rules to follow…hadn’t really told them what they shouldn’t do. The only thing God desired from the story of creation on, was to be in relationship with the people. How many other people did God try to talk with, but they brushed off God’s voice or convinced themselves it wasn’t real? We can get caught up in measuring our right-ness or righteousness against other people while God is inviting us to listen and join His work. – Pastor Trudy Stoffel

This passage from Matthew is in our church constitution and most churches have it somewhere. It is one of the few places in scripture where Jesus gives a concrete example of dealing with conflict. Jesus is instructing us to listen to each other when there’s a conflict. – Vicar John Augustine

It’s a normal human trait to have expectations. The challenge comes in when we start spending time in a future that isn’t real and aren’t fully present to what God may be doing right now. The more we can remember the prayer that Jesus gave us as a gift, the prayer we call the ‘Lord’s Prayer’, especially the part about ‘thy will be done’, the more able we will be to receive whatever we receive from God and release it for God’s purposes in the world. Sounds like living generously! – Pastor Trudy Stoffel

We can’t say for sure, but we can make some educated guesses. 1) Jesus doesn’t want His Messiahship to be reduced to a bit of hot gossip. 2) The disciples don’t fully understand what it means and should wait until they do. 3) The people hearing it all have different ideas about what the Messiah should be. 4) He’d rather people talk about what they are experiencing and seeing than who He is. This is not an exhaustive list. What might you add? – Pastor Trudy Stoffel