Are you celebrating All Saints Day in your congregation? If so, how are you celebrating? This year, in my congregation, we're lighting candles, or inviting family members to light candles, as we read the names of those who have died during this last year. It's something new for this congregation, but something I participated in when I was a youth pastor in Dover, NJ, that I found meaningful, and it is pretty simple to put together. Plus, I found it a nice way to connect with the families of those who have lost someone. What are you doing? Any creative ideas?
Sermon 2/18/18 Mark 1:1-4, 9-15 Jesus in the Wilderness You’ve heard me say before that the gospel of Mark is my favorite gospel. Part of the reason I love it is because of Mark’s brevity. I don’t love that he’s short on details, exactly. I love that he seems practically breathless in getting the good news of Jesus to us, and that he seems to believe that the news is so good it isn’t even going to take very many words to convince you of his message! His frantic style strikes me as showing both how important and how convincing he believes Jesus’s message to be. But, then we arrive at a Sunday like today, and I find myself a little frustrated perhaps, or at least a little challenged by Mark. In the lectionary, the series of the first Sunday in the season of Lent always focuses on the temptation of Jesus – his time in the wilderness, where he confronts Satan, and commits to God’s path rather than the flashy alternative Satan presents. This is the fo
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