When you hear the word “compassion,” what comes to mind? I think of compassion in terms of kindness, gentleness, care, concern…I don’t usually think of compassion in terms of bravery. But that’s exactly what this week’s focus on Cultivating Compassion invites us to consider: Compassion helps us be brave. I’ve heard it said that becoming […]
Reflection from Pastor Amy: Years ago, I learned about the idea of God’s character. A friend I knew grounded his work in the notion that God’s character was visible in the pages of scripture – God is love, God is generous, God is gracious, God is giving, God is merciful. My friend would read scripture […]
This is the final week of our series on the book of Acts, learning what it looks like to be a church without walls. The early church shows that following Jesus takes us to places we might not otherwise go – both physically, as God’s people set out to distant lands to share the good […]
The book of Acts has much to teach us about being a church without walls, and this week’s reading is no exception. The church without walls moves beyond the comfortable, familiar surrounds and into the world. That’s how the apostle Paul ends up in Athens, addressing the philosophers and testifying to the “God who made […]
Reflection from Pastor Amy: On June 17, 2015, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, the Rev. Daniel L. Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton and Myra Thompson were gathered for Bible study at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC. As they studied scripture, […]
Reflection from Pastor Hoffman: For many of us – or at least for me – these days of physical distancing feel like a holding pattern. We know that we can’t return to life as it was before March 15. And we don’t yet know what life will look like when the pandemic is behind us […]
Reflection from Pastor Hoffman: Relationship. It’s all about relationship. This Sunday, we celebrate the festival of the Holy Trinity. It’s a tricky festival, because it’s not a celebration of an event. It’s a celebration of a mystery – the mystery of God-in-three-persons. We worship a God of relationship. God does not exist apart from relationship. […]
Reflection from Pastor Amy “I can’t breathe.” George Floyd’s words spoken in the moments before his death ring in my ears in these days leading up to Pentecost Sunday, the festival when we mark the gift of the Holy Spirit to Christ’s church. In scripture, the Holy Spirit is often experienced as breath, wind, or […]
Reflection from Pastor Hoffman “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth!” That’s what Jesus tells his disciples before his ascension – before the resurrected Jesus returns to sit at the right hand of God in heaven – in this Sunday’s reading from Acts (1:6-14). You will be the ones to carry […]
Preparing for Worship: 7/19/2020
/in Reflections from Pastor HoffmanWhen you hear the word “compassion,” what comes to mind? I think of compassion in terms of kindness, gentleness, care, concern…I don’t usually think of compassion in terms of bravery. But that’s exactly what this week’s focus on Cultivating Compassion invites us to consider: Compassion helps us be brave. I’ve heard it said that becoming […]
Weekly STAR Reflection 7-12-2020
/in Pastor Amy, Reflections from Pastor AmyReflection from Pastor Amy: Years ago, I learned about the idea of God’s character. A friend I knew grounded his work in the notion that God’s character was visible in the pages of scripture – God is love, God is generous, God is gracious, God is giving, God is merciful. My friend would read scripture […]
Weekly STAR Reflection 7-5-2020
/in Reflections from Pastor HoffmanThis is the final week of our series on the book of Acts, learning what it looks like to be a church without walls. The early church shows that following Jesus takes us to places we might not otherwise go – both physically, as God’s people set out to distant lands to share the good […]
Weekly STAR Reflection 6-28-2020
/in Reflections from Pastor HoffmanThe book of Acts has much to teach us about being a church without walls, and this week’s reading is no exception. The church without walls moves beyond the comfortable, familiar surrounds and into the world. That’s how the apostle Paul ends up in Athens, addressing the philosophers and testifying to the “God who made […]
Weekly STAR Reflection 6-21-2020
/in Pastor Amy, Reflections from Pastor AmyReflection from Pastor Amy: On June 17, 2015, the Rev. Clementa C. Pinckney, Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lee Lance, Depayne Middleton-Doctor, Tywanza Sanders, the Rev. Daniel L. Simmons, Sharonda Coleman-Singleton and Myra Thompson were gathered for Bible study at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, SC. As they studied scripture, […]
Weekly STAR Reflection 6-14-2020
/in Reflections from Pastor HoffmanReflection from Pastor Hoffman: For many of us – or at least for me – these days of physical distancing feel like a holding pattern. We know that we can’t return to life as it was before March 15. And we don’t yet know what life will look like when the pandemic is behind us […]
Weekly STAR Reflection 6-7-2020
/in Reflections from Pastor HoffmanReflection from Pastor Hoffman: Relationship. It’s all about relationship. This Sunday, we celebrate the festival of the Holy Trinity. It’s a tricky festival, because it’s not a celebration of an event. It’s a celebration of a mystery – the mystery of God-in-three-persons. We worship a God of relationship. God does not exist apart from relationship. […]
Weekly STAR Reflection 5-31-2020
/in Pastor Amy, Reflections from Pastor AmyReflection from Pastor Amy “I can’t breathe.” George Floyd’s words spoken in the moments before his death ring in my ears in these days leading up to Pentecost Sunday, the festival when we mark the gift of the Holy Spirit to Christ’s church. In scripture, the Holy Spirit is often experienced as breath, wind, or […]
Weekly STAR Reflection 5-24-2020
/in Reflections from Pastor HoffmanReflection from Pastor Hoffman “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth!” That’s what Jesus tells his disciples before his ascension – before the resurrected Jesus returns to sit at the right hand of God in heaven – in this Sunday’s reading from Acts (1:6-14). You will be the ones to carry […]