Sermons
A Preferred Future
July 5, 2020 2 Corinthians 8:8-15 Isaiah 43:16-21 Our next scripture for this morning is 2 Corinthians 8:8-15. And I want to preface it a little bit, because in the progressive American church, we tend to treat Paul like the original Bernie Bro—someone who stans for a peace-and-justice ideology, but Read more…
Sermons
Zoom fatigue and working from home.
Cinda Nofziger Working from home at this time, for me anyway, is fraught, complex, contradictory. I am intensely grateful to be working from home, to still have an excellent job, and to lessen my exposure and my chances of exposing others. Nonetheless working from home isn’t always easy. It isn’t Read more…
Sermons
On The Job
Eric BettisJune 21. 2020 The days of the pandemic have left no family or community untouched. We’ve all had to stop and take stock of what’s necessary and important, as many of both the little things and the biggest challenges of everyday life no longer seem quite as dependable, and Read more…
Sermons
Work and Identity in Corona Times
Nelson Shantz June 8, 2020 I’ve made a career of working on pianos. Much of that work has been tuning. Other work is focused on improving touch and tone. I’ve worked in home, school, college, church and studio settings. I’ve tuned in a distillery, in a barn, under the Read more…
Repair
Head Over Heels
A sermon by Trevor Bechtel For Shalom Community Church June 7, 2020 As many of you know our niece Evelyn has come to live with Susan and I in these days when the pandemic has left her without a plan about which house she wants to live in. It’s transformed Read more…
Sermons
Journeying into Uncertainty
John Powell “How long, YHWH, am I to cry for help while you do not listen? How long will I cry ‘oppression’ in your ear and you do not save?Why do you make me look upon injustice?Why do you countenance tyranny?Outrage and violence . . . this is all I Read more…
Sermons
Separate Together
Trevor Bechtel Almost 25 years ago, Susan and I lived in England for a year. We knew we were only going to be there for a year so we were very deliberate about seeing something, and usually seeing something different, every weekend. We had lived in Chicago for about five Read more…
Sermons
Ubuntu Star Quilt
Hillary Watson Ruth 1:1-20 Colossians 4:10-16 Jeremiah 33:10-11 Matthew 25:34-40 In my seventh grade Spanish textbook, there was a section in the back of the book with proverbs and sayings from Spanish-speaking countries. It may not come as a surprise that I was the type of 12-year-old who skipped ahead Read more…