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Preparing the Way of the Lord
Advent is a season of preparation — doing the work of getting ready for the Lord to come. Yet this year preparing for advent has felt really tough, and the stakes for what’s coming have never felt so high. This year has been hard. Yet Isaiah 40:26-31 points us toward God and his strength and…
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The Prayer of Advent
In many ways, Advent is a prayer. We come to this time amid our own trials, amid a world of uncertainty and hurt — real pressures and hardships — but we also come with an expectation and a hope. We come bearing one another’s burdens and we come in anticipation of a coming Savior. It…
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The Responsibilities of Sheep
On November 22nd, Sarah Fuller engaged the lectionary passages of Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 and Matthew 25: 31-46. In these passages, it seems that there are some responsibilities that belong to sheep|people and some that belong to God|the shepherd. So how do we work for good, in obedience — while leaving judgement to God?
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Why Are You Here?
Tim talks about Elijah waiting in a cave for the presence of God, and Jesus on the mount of transfiguration. “I wonder if now, after this election, amid this pandemic, we find ourselves pausing to decompress, to take stock, though we are all surely processing it differently. Pauses can be helpful and necessary, chances to…
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Our Hope: the Love of Jesus Transforming our World
What happens in this world matters very much. The Anabaptist way invests in helping to bring about God’s justice in this broken world. That can become an overwhelming burden — especially at times when it seems fruitless. Yet God is on a mission of transforming and redeeming this world, which started long before us and…
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Micah: the People of God Divided
Nov 1st — many of us are are distracted, exhausted, anxious, hopeful, emotional. We’re invested — not only in the election, but even more so in it’s aftermath. How do we hear God today? Micah was a mouthpiece for God during a time of turbulence and political unrest. On a national scale, the people of…
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Christianity and Law
In this time of change and upheaval, summer uprisings that brought cracks in law enforcement and culture to the forefront, and another difficult presidential race — the idea of delighting in law brings tension. What do the seemingly idealistic words of Psalm 1 say to us in such a moment? Frank Scoffield Nellessen sees Psalm…
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Images of God
Do we know that God is a God of love AND of justice? Of compassion AND of holiness? Our images of God are snapshots. They guide us, but inevitably also distort our unapproachable God. They are necessary for us, but provisional and incomplete. Today’s passages features words like judgement, justice, and righteousness. If we’re scarred…
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Our Invitation to the Banquet of Justice
On October 11, Bert Newton spoke to the parable of the wedding banquet from Matthew 22:1-14. In Bert’s words: Jesus tells a parable about a banquet of justice that the upper classes fail to attend. The result is the destruction of their city. In many ways the well-to-do and privileged and powerful of our society…
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The Fruit of the Spirit: Patience & Kindness
Tim Reardon contines a series on the fruit of the spirit: kindness matters. How do we cultivate kindess in community? How did Jesus demonstrate kindness? And how kind can we manage to be? Mother Theresa kind? Perfectly kind as our our heavenly Father is kind? Our calling is to wholeness. Our measure is the kindness…
Pasadena Mennonite Church 