The archives, I may have told you, are gorgeous. Church records were for many years hand- written in perfect calligraphy into a book with a marbled brown cover. The long, narrow book holds meeting minutes, attendance lists, expense records, and community covenants. But there’s more: Old bulletins tell of a sermon series “introducing His Royal Majesty,…
In high school, my friend Todd worked at a grocery store. I brought some bread and fruit through his checkout line once and was surprised to see a bright green sticker on his nametag that announced, “I’M NEW HERE!” I asked him, “Haven’t you worked here for a while now?” He told me, “I’ve been…
“Worship is primary theology,” writes Kathleen Norris. “It is also home, which is, as the saying goes, the place where they have to take you in. There is no one who is not welcome in God’s house, and nothing can alter that fact. When people come together to worship, they come as God knows them,…
July 3 Communion Sunday, Message – “The Beauty of This Place”, Psalm 50 July 10 Message – “Enough for Today”, Matthew 6:25-34 July 17 Message – “Thing on These Things”, Philippians 4″1-8 July 24 Message – “On Production”, James 1″19-27 July 31 5th Sunday Message – “Longing, Again”, Psalm 27
June 5 – Guest Preacher, Gregg Sneller (former FBC McMinnville associate pastor, currently on staff with American Baptist International Ministries) June 12 – In Simplicity, Luke 7:36-50 June 19 – In the Beginning Was Beauty, Genesis 1 June 26 – Beginning Again, Genesis 2
In Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s 1868 novel, ‘The Idiot’, one character asks another, “Is it true that you once said, ‘Beauty will save the world’?” The question is often misquoted as a statement, an affirmative – but I think it’s worth considering as a question. We are surrounded by beauty – the peaks of Mt. Hood and…
“It’s a good day to be an American Baptist.” That’s what Judy Fackenthal, current president of our denomination, said to a small group of clergy women who gathered in Santa Fe, New Mexico a few weeks ago too. It was near the end of our week – we’d spent time in prayer and study and…
May 1 – John 20:1-16 – To Be Known May 8 – John 21:9-19 – To Be Loved May 15 – Pentecost – Acts 2:1-18 – When Fire Rests May 22 – Acts 2:37-47 – (Extra)Ordinary Days May 29 – JP Bierly, Minister of Music & Small Groups, preaching June 5 – Gregg Sneller, former Associate Pastor at FBC…
One of the incredible gifts of my role here as pastor is getting to listen to people’s stories. Often, people with no real connection to this place – except that they happened to be driving by, or they once knew someone here, or they found themselves in need and someone pointed them this way – often…
Class begins Sunday, April 3 The Chapel Adult Education class will be reading and discussing a New York Times best-seller An Altar in the World by Barbara Brown Taylor. Books are available in the church office. Taylor, an Episcopal priest and professor, shares how she learned to encounter God far beyond the walls of the church. …