October 25, 2026 Proper 25 Announcements Invocation Scripture: Deuteronomy 34:1-12 1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. 4 The Lord said to h

October 18, 2026 Proper 24 Announcements Invocation Scripture: Psalm 96:1-9 1 O sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth.2 Sing to the Lord; bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day.3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples.4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; he is to be revered above all gods.5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.6 Honor and ma

A Note from Pastor Ryan Prior to seminary, I had been familiar with this passage.See here: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022%3A15-22&version=NIV) I thought it was about properly dividing my loyalties. Once in seminary, however, I learned that Jesus is actually striking much harder at the Pharisees. They ask him about paying taxes, but Jesus doesn't even own a coin. He gets one from them and asks whose image that is. They say Ceasar. Already just in

October 11, 2026 Proper 23 Announcements Invocation Scripture: Exodus 32:1-14 1 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughte

A Note from Pastor Ryan This coming Sunday we will be reading Matthew 22:1-14. It is the parable of the wedding feast. In it a King sends invitations to a wedding to people in high places, but they refuse to come. Then the King invites everyone, and a bunch of them show up. One man gets singled out for not properly preparing and having the correct attire. The man being thrown out for wrong attire may seem strange in our culture. We live in self centered culture where dressi

October 4, 2026 Proper 22 Announcements Invocation Scripture: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 1Then God spoke all these words, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. 7 “You shall not make wrongful use

A Note from Pastor Ryan That'll Show em- a reflection on Matthew 21:33-46 Jesus really handed it to them, didn't he? He went right after the chief priests and the Pharisees. It had to have felt good to those who were standing around. The Pharisees and Chief priests were people in power and they would say one thing and act another way. They lacked integrity, and as Jesus shows by this parable, they were not bearing fruit of the Kingdom. That was the expectation for God's pe

September 27, 2026 Proper 21 Announcements Invocation Scripture: Exodus 17:1-7 17 From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people

A Note from Pastor Ryan Reflection on Matthew 21:23-32 One of the classic debates in Christianity is around works or faith. If you're unfamiliar some people say that we are saved by what we believe. Others say we are saved by what we do. Matthew 21:23-32 is an appropriate passage to address that question. "What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'He answered, 'I will not,' but later he changed his mind and

September 20, 2026 Proper 20 Announcements Invocation Scripture: Exodus 16:2-15 2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to

A Note from Pastor Ryan When I was standing in lines as a kid, I would often wait to go the very end of the line because the last shall be first, and the first shall be last. This coming Sunday we will read Jesus saying those words. THey come after Jesus tells the story of the generous land owner. He keeps finding workers throughout the day. Some he hires 1 hour before the end of the work day. Then the landowner pays people in reverse order of arrival. The last to get there

September 13, 2026 Proper 19 Announcements Invocation Scripture: Exodus 14:19-31 19 The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. 20 It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night. 21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over t

A Note from Pastor Ryan Apparently my essay last week was long. Some of you read it, some did not. to fix that, here's a short one. This coming Sunday we will be reading the rest of Matthew 18 (21-31), which I referenced last week. It is the story of the unmerciful servant. This story is one for which the face value is enough. We are told to "forgive your brother or sister from your heart.." We could extend that to simply say, "be merciful to one another." Jesus expects t

September 6, 2026 Proper 18 Announcements Invocation Scripture: Exodus 12:1-14 12:1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 “This month shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in

A Note from Pastor Ryan Accountability might be one of the more difficult tasks for the contemporary church. Our world has discipled us against correction. People would rather leave a community than be held to standards. However, the gospel passage for this coming Sunday makes it clear that we are to hold one another accountable. In Matthew 18:15 Jesus tells the apostles that if they are sinned against they must approach their sibling. This is difficult for a variety of reaso

August 30, 2026 Proper 17 Announcements Invocation Scripture: Exodus 3:1-15 3 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness and came to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight and see why the bush

A Note from Pastor Ryan As you likely know, I spend time each week writing a quick reflection on one of the passages for this upcoming Sunday. Today I thought I would include the passage and then comment at the end Romans 12:9-21 in the CEB "Love should be shown without pretending. Hate evil, and hold on to what is good. Love each other like the members of your family. Be the best at showing honor to each other. Don’t hesitate to be enthusiastic—be on fire in the Spirit a

August 23, 2026 Proper 16 Announcements Invocation Scripture: Exodus 1:8-2:10 8 Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. 10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” 11 Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. The

A Note from Pastor Ryan Matthew 16:13-20 Years ago, I noticed that Peter comes to know who Jesus is through an apocalypse. Yes, I used the word apocalypse because that's what the Greek says. Many of you have heard me say that Apocalypse has taken on a whole lot of meaning not present in the original Greek. People will describe things as apocalyptic when they mean destructive. A google image search shows death destruction and dystopias. But the Greek word Apocalypse is trans

August 16, 2026 Proper 15 Announcements Invocation Scripture: Psalm 67 1 May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah 2 that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. 4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah 5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the