Love isn’t just a feeling, it’s a verb. It’s a phrase us preachers love to use in sermons. Love is a feeling, a verb, and also a people. When we look to scriptures, we see that God is love which means the Imago Dei (image of God) we are made in is that same divine love. A love not siloed in individuality but expanding in community and selflessness. This Sunday, we’ll explore 1 Corinthians 13 and how love becomes real when it moves beyond words and becomes part of our identity as disciples of Jesus Christ. Inspired by Bob Goff’s Love Does, we’ll hear the story of a young man’s bold, love-filled proposal and what it teaches us about living love out loud. As Goff writes, “That’s what love does—it pursues blindly, unflinchingly, and without end. When you go after something you love, you’ll do anything it takes to get it, even if it costs everything.” Come discover what love is—and what it does.
Sunday, August 24, 2025
In her book “Leaving Church”, the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor writes, “Stop for one whole day every week, and you will remember what it means to be created in the image of God, who rested on the seventh day. It would be a mistake to understand sabbath as simply a means to the end of becoming more useful…of doing more things…of being more productive. Sabbath is not God’s secretive and subtle way of making us better doers.”
Instead, today we are reminded that sabbath is first and foremost about who we are, and who we are becoming…It is about being…not primarily focusing on doing. We will reflect on this in worship this Sunday, and what this may mean for us . After we gather and greet one another, the children will invited to ring us into worship, with the bells. There will also be a Children’s Moment, Lisa Kurz will read our scripture passage (based in Luke 13: 10-17). The sermon is titled “The Gift and Grace of Unexpected Blessings”.
If you have been part of the St. Mark’s community for a long time, a short time, or will be joining us for the first time, we look forward to connecting with those of you here in-person or joining on the livestream.
Sunday, August 17, 2025
You’ve seen the posters—the iconic “READ” campaigns from the '80s and '90s with celebrities encouraging us to open a book and expand our minds. Figures like Charles Barkley, Harrison Ford, Whoopi Goldberg and others posed with one of their favorite books to encourage the public to be like them. Just like those posters, the author of Hebrews gives us our own set of stories—featuring everyday people whose lives of faith still speak today. These folks aren’t superheroes or musicians, but rather flawed and faithful figures who placed their trust in God in bold ways. This week we will explore the lives of those who have gone before us, flawed yet faithful, and how their lives serve as a witness to our everyday lives today.
Sunday, August 10, 2025
Marian Wright Edelman, President emerita of the Children’s Defense Fund, says that she credits how her parents raised her, and her siblings, to the work she continues to do in life. Edelman remembers clearly that her parents would say “If you see a need, don't ask why somebody doesn't do something about it. See what you can do.” Marian, and her siblings, were trusted and expected to make a difference in their community, and in the world.
Her father was a Baptist preacher, and her mother was an activist for the rights of women and African Americans. Her father said he expected two things from his children: Work hard at getting an education, and serve others through community service. Edelman also often cites these words from her father: “God runs a full-employment economy, and if you just follow the need, you will never lack for a purpose in life.”
We will reflect on this in worship this Sunday, and what this may mean for us. After we gather and greet one another, the children are invited to ring us into worship, with the bells. There will also be a Children’s Moment, during which Madison Sinan and Mary Beth Morgan will lead a Blessing of the Backpacks and the school year. We will pray and reflect. Cooper Tucker and Sandy Tucker will read our scripture passage (Mark 9: 33-37) The sermon is titled “God runs a full-employment economy. If you just follow the need, you will never lack for a purpose in life.”
Sunday, August 3, 2025
Karl Barth once wrote, “When we are at our wits’ end for an answer, then the Holy Spirit can give us an answer. But how can [the Spirit] give us an answer when we are still well supplied with all sorts of answers of our own?” -From “The Word of God and the Word of Man (1928)”
In an age where we receive answers to questions at breakneck speed through AI and search engines, there remain deeper longings and questions that no device or quick solution can fully address. These are the questions that stir in our hearts—the ones that cannot be solved by a keyboard, a touchscreen, or even in a short season of time. While we often hope for simple fixes to complex problems, scripture calls us to set our minds and hearts on something deeper—something both within us and beyond us: the reign of God.
This Sunday, we will be invited to consider what it means to surrender our distractions, open ourselves to God’s higher call, and root our lives in the deeper reality of Christ.
Sunday, July 27, 2025
"Artificial."
It’s a word stitched into so much of our world—sweeteners, colors, flavors, intelligence, etc. And too often, it describes the promises we hear: shallow, empty, fear-filled. In an age where anxiety and isolation are at an all-time high, our souls are crying out—not for performance, but for presence. We crave what’s real: authentic relationships, meaningful experiences, true belonging, and love that affirms every person as a child of God.
In Acts 3, Peter and John meet a man not with coins, but with healing in the name of Jesus—a name not used to exclude or divide, but to restore and uplift. It’s a gospel not of artificial noise, but of real liberation and justice: where the silenced are heard, the marginalized are lifted up, and the oppressed are empowered to walk and leap into new life.
This Sunday, we’ll reflect on the radical power that Jesus’ way offers—one of healing, community, and sacred resistance to all that dehumanizes. Come as you are, and come ready to rediscover the power of a gospel that still moves through us today.
Sunday, July 20, 2025
We all love a good plot twist. In stories/movies, the use of a plot twist to keep a story engaging always catches us off guard. Sometimes we can tell a plot twist is coming and other times we are left absolutely in shock. For Father Stanley Rother, the plot twist of his life came when he answered God’s call to leave his home state of Oklahoma and live and minister alongside the Tz’utujil people of Guatemala. Rother’s answer to God’s call led him to learn the language, translating Scripture, and standing in solidarity with the community during a time of civil war. Rother was executed in his rectory one night by government soldiers. Father Rother has been officially recognized as a martyr and is on his way to becoming canonized as a saint within the Roman Catholic Church. Rother’s life changed dramatically by the call to be a bearer of the good news.
The Samaritan woman in John 4 also experienced a life-altering moment when Jesus asked her for a drink of water. She likely didn’t expect much from the encounter with Jesus, and especially not a conversation that would affirm her sacred worth, invite her into deep discipleship, and equip her as a bearer of the good news. Jesus met her in the middle of her story, not with judgment, but with empowerment. Jesus is seeking to do the same for all of us.
As we continue to reflect on our own stories, we may see plot twist moments that changed the course of our lives. Moments of radical grace, love, and acceptance. This Sunday, join us as we explore how Jesus seeks to meet us where we are to transform our lives and the lives of others through us.
Sunday, June 29, 2025
Phil Amerson, who is preaching at St. Mark's this week, writes the following:
Perhaps, like me, you have heard the words “These are the end-times” recently. I understand. We are in a season of emotional, spiritual and institutional vertigo. For too many, fear has become an everyday expectation. Something seems out of balance: record immigrant detentions, research cancelled, university funding cuts, a sudden air strike, civil rights abridged, withering heatwaves, the almost-champs-Pacers, and the Cubs leading the MLB Central Division. Vertigo indeed! Amid this confusion, perhaps accelerating it and benefitting from it, are a widely dispersed group of “Christian Nationalists.” They claim a common religious ancestry to ours; yet they seek to return our nation to Christian supremacy and dominion in society that differs.
How then shall we live? As people of faith, as Christians with a differing understanding of our nation’s history and what it means to follow Jesus, how?” In Sunday’s Gospel lesson (Luke 9:57-62) Jesus has begun the journey to Jerusalem and the cross. It is a journey of terror. Luke was an itinerant journalist, also known as a physician. So, this Gospel offers 'traveling' and ‘healing’ practices along a troubled way. Jesus’ call is focused, poignant: “follow me.” One younger friend reflecting on our time said, “I think I’ll just stay seated.” Another said, “I’ll watch from the balcony.” Fortunately, St. Marks doesn’t have a balcony.
We’ll talk about this on Sunday, as the sermon to be delivered by Rev. Dr. Phil Amerson is titled, “The Chairs Upon Which we sit.” The Lesson from the Epistles, Galatians 5:1, 13-16, will be read by Claire Tafoya, and the Gospel Lesson, Luke 9:57-62, will be read by Maria Schmidt. There will be a moment for mission brought by United Women in Faith, and will promote the Art-Cycled Showcase and Tea. We will be led musically by the Chancel Choir, directed by Gerry Sousa and accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs. The Children’s Moment will present a review of what has happened this week in Vacation Bible School. We do hope you join us.
To connect to our livestream worship Sunday morning,
click the link on our website www.smumc.church.
The service starts at 10:30am.
Livestream starts 10:25am.
Sunday, June 22, 2025
It’s a wonderful thing to be able to read. When I was a freshman in high school, one of my football coaches encouraged me to read The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. He knew that I loved to fish, and no doubt, suspected I would be hooked by this book. He was right. I connected deeply with Santiago, the aging fisherman, both with his love of baseball and his struggle to land a giant marlin in his tiny boat. I also deeply empathized with his attempts to keep the sharks from his catch. While I identified with Santiago’s young friend, Manolin, who did his best to help his older mentor, I remember thinking I wished the story had ended differently. In my reading, this story came alive, and so did I.
As I approach my last Sunday as a pastor at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, I am impressed by the sense that faith is, in a way, a matter of learning to read. We learn to read the Scriptures in a thoughtful way. We are learning how to read that is going on within ourselves, our faith community and our culture. We are learning how to read, or discern, how we are being led in our own time and place. This is at the heart of what Jesus meant when, in Luke 12, he tells the disciples to not “worry” about what they are to say when they are brought before the authorities. There would be no need for them to be calculating or clever, because the Holy Spirit would teach them what to say in those very moments. They would be able, by the grace given to them, to “read the room”, and to say and do what was true.
We’ll chat about this in the service on Sunday. The sermon, “Reflections on Learning to Read”, arises from Psalm 19, to be read by Mary Beth Hannah-Hansen, and Luke 12: 1-12, to be read by Kristen Hess. We will be led musically by the Chancel Choir, directed by Gerry Sousa, and accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs. They will present the anthem, “How Can I Keep From Singing.” There will also be a liturgy of farewell for a retiring pastor, led by Lay Leaders Dian Ludlow and Jonathan Michaelsen. We’ll sing, have a moment for children, and pray. We hope you can join us.
Sunday, June 15, 2025
As I approach formal retirement from fulltime ministry, memory and reflection are my frequent companions. In one such remembering, I was a young ministerial student at Mississippi College. My daughter, now seasoned enough to have two children of her own launching into adulthood, was only months old. One evening, she developed a very high fever, and the doctor urged her mother and me to take her to the emergency room. As we drove through the dark southern night, she was hot to the touch. On the radio, as her mother held her, a fiery preacher was holding forth. At one point, he reached what I’m sure he imagined was his “mike drop”, and said, “You don’t have any problems! All you need is faith in God!” A moment later, he shifted into a different tone, and said, “Friends, we are in a crisis time in our ministry.” He proceeded to make an appeal for funds, without which he would lose his spot on the radio station. As a very young preacher worried about his sick kid, I imagined yelling back at him, “You don’t have any problems! All you need is faith in God!”
This Sunday, the first one after Pentecost, is often called Trinity Sunday. It invites us to think deeply about the ways God works in the world. The lesson from the Epistles comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans, in which he gives his most thorough understanding of the Gospel. In the fifth chapter, the apostle notes that we exult both in the peace that faith brings to us, but also in the ironic awareness that we can also exult when we experience “tribulation.” If my ministry has taught me anything, it is this: in the same way that ancient theologians said that the members of the trinity “danced” together, God also moves dynamically with us, individually and collectively, even in our most difficult and messy moments.
We’ll discuss this on Sunday, as this sermon is titled, “The God Who Embraces Our Mess.” The sermon arises from Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31, to be ready by Glenda Murray, and Romans 5: 1-5, to be ready by Tom Shafer. Tom and Glenda, as Lay Members of the Annual Conference representing St. Mark’s, will also bring a report from the recently held Annual Conference. There will be a baptism of Emma Starr, daughter of Jillian and Austin Starr. We’ll be led musically by the Chancel Choir, directed by Gerry Sousa and accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs. We hope you are able to join us.
Sunday, June 1, 2025
I wonder if you can recall if you had a “teddy bear”, or a blanket, or something that you hung onto when you were little. Perhaps you don’t remember it, but others have told you that you did have something like that. British pediatrician and psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, decades ago, named these items “transitional objects”. They are things chosen by the child that helped the little one navigate the transition from being in the constant care of a primary adult, to a place of being able to manage the absence of that adult. When one reaches the point that the love and presence offered by that caregiver has been successfully internalized, then that one has achieved “object constancy”.
The Biblical account of the ascension of Christ, which we will reflect on Sunday at St. Mark’s, tells the story of the earliest church in transition. The disciples had come to rely on the real time presence of Jesus, mentoring and guiding them. But the ascension, as odd of a story as it is to us, marks a very clear sense that the time of physical presence of their dear Rabbi had come to an end.
Faith, for us, is indeed a transitional experience, in which we measure what it means for us to find divine presence in the midst of absence. The sermon is titled, “Weaving and Waiting: A Sermon for Ascension Sunday.” The sermon arises from Acts 1: 1-11, which will be read by Lisa Kurz. We’ll be led musically by the Chancel Choir, under the direction of Gerry Sousa, and accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs. Beckie Jones will offer a mission moment about the work of Caring Ministries at St. Mark’s. We’ll celebrate Holy Communion, sing, and have a moment for children.
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Theologian Stanley Hauerwas once described a conversation that took place at a VFW Hall. Someone was challenging a Viet Nam veteran named Roger, saying that World War II was the “real war”,and that Viet Nam veterans should stop complaining about their plight. Roger looked at his critic and said, “Have you ever had to kill someone to stay alive?” The person said, “Well, no.” Roger responded, “Then you really don’t have any thing to say to me.” Later in the evening, Hauerwas engaged the veteran. ““Roger, when you got pushed just now, you came back with the fact that you had to kill in Vietnam. Was that the worst of it for you?” “Yah,” he said. “That’s half of it.” Hauerwas said, “I waited for a very long time, but he didn’t go on. He only stared into his beer. Finally I had to ask, “What was the other half?” “The other half was that when we got home, nobody understood.”
Sunday marks a holiday weekend in America when the country is asked to remember those who have fallen in combat. Ironically, one of the proscribed biblical passages for Sunday is a story of Jesus’ last night with his disciples. In that discourse, Jesus says to them, “Peace I live with you; My peace I leave with you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” In the Hebrew Scriptures, this “peace” is the word “Shalom”, and refers to much more than a cessation of hostilities. Shalom describes a wholeness and sense of communal and personal wellbeing that flows from justice and mutual love. It is at the heart of the Aaronic blessing, which includes the line, “May the very face of God shine upon you, and give you peace.”
We’ll talk about this in service on Sunday at St. Mark’s as the sermon is titled, “Peace: A Graceful Flourishing into the Purposes of God.” The Aaron Blessing found in Numbers 6: 24-26 will be ready by Glenda Murray, and Liz McDaniel, will read the Gospel Lesson, which is John 14: 23-29. Mary Wheeler will lead the Call to Worship. We will be led musically by the Chancel Choir, directed by Gerry Sousa and accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs. We’ll have a moment for children, and pray and sing together.
Sunday, May 18, 2025
Sometimes, they call it Mosey Monday. It usually happens the first day of the week that a building crew from an Appalachian Project Service Team meets up with the family whose home they will be working in. It is a casual time of beginning to build relational bridges, not just to get a sense of the construction tasks, but of getting to know what this family loves and how they dream. They mosey. As the week rolls along, it becomes clear that the task is not simply to improve a house, but to build community. As one quote from family who received a team from New York has it, “I would never have believed that people would take off a week of their time, travel all the way down here to West Virginia, and do all this wonderful work. Y’all have restored my faith in humanity.’ And the team leader said, “And they have restored ours.”
Jesus was once speaking with his disciples, and he told them, “Once when I was hungry, you gave me something to eat.” He followed up by saying that when he did not have appropriate clothing, they took care of him. He continued by saying that when he was in prison, that they came to see him. But the disciples did not remember any of this. So Jesus told them that when they did these things to others, they were doing it to Jesus. This is how we build the beloved community. This is how the beloved community weaves us all in together.
We’ll talk about this in worship on Sunday. Our Appalachian Service Project team will tell us about their work in Johnson City, Tennessee back in April. Mary Beth Morgan will preach a sermon titled, “To Bless and Be Blest.” The sermon will arise from Matthew 25: 31-40, which will be read by Sue Sgambelluri. Maria Schmidt will lead the call to worship. We’ll be led musically by the Chancel Choir, directed by Gerry Sousa and accompanied by Gabriel Fanelli. We’ll have a moment for children, and sing and pray together.
Sunday, May 11, 2025
Jesus told stories…he called them and we still call them “parables.” Depending on what actually counts as a parable, Jesus offered up between just over 30 and just under 50 of them.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus asks his listeners to understand the Kingdom of God…a reality they couldn't see with their physical eyes. So his stories were meant to appeal to the sensitivities of his hearers’ hearts, o a place within them where they would have eyes that see and ears that hear this new reality.
In his stories, Jesus is inviting us to see with new eyes, and hear with new ears, and understand with new hearts…Inviting us not so much to make a difference in the world, but to make a different world.
Maybe a story about ducks will clear this all up.
Let’s see on Sunday. The sermon, delivered by Rev. Ned Steele, is titled “Eyes That See and Eyes that Hear”. It arises from Matthew 13: 1-17, which will be read by Courtney and Kyle Degener and family. We will be led musically by the Chancel Choir, accompanied by Ilze Akerbergs. Stephanie Conklin will offer a mission moment in support of “Sing for Joy: All That Jazz 2025”, a concert in memory of Janis Stockhouse, longtime music educator and band director at Bloomington High School North. We’ll sing, pray and have a moment for children.
Sunday, May 4, 2025
Have you ever found yourself in a circumstance that you would never have chosen on your own? How did that feel? What harm did that circumstance cause to your fundamental sense of who you are. How you address it? Do you sense that now? If you have ever known that, or if you are experiencing it now, does faith make a difference.
In the Gospel of John’s accounting of the risen Christ, there is a story in which Jesus’ disciples have returned to fishing. To their surprise, the risen One appears to them, telling them how and where to catch fish. After they are joyously reunited, they share a breakfast on the beach. During the meal, Jesus asks Peter three times very directly, “Do you love me?” Peter affirms three times that he indeed does love Jesus. Many surmise that the threefold question and response allows Peter a chance to repent of his three denials on the night before Jesus’ death. After this series of questions, Jesus says to Peter, “When you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” Even in resurrection faith, we learn, Peter and we must address this stark reality: we don’t always get to choose many aspects of our path. But we do get to choose how we embrace them, who we invite along with us, what we choose to nurture as our centering orientation.
Let’s chat about this Sunday at St. Mark’s, as the sermon is titled, “Grace for Traveling On a Path You Did Not Choose.” The Biblical text for the day, John 21: 1-19, which will be read by Lisa Kurz. The Chancel Choir, under the direction of Gerry Sousa and accompanied by Lois Leong will lead us in music. The Chancel Ringers under the direction of Lois Leong will play for their final service of the spring season, and we'll say a grateful goodbye to Lois as she leaves for her new job in Abington, PA. We will celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion, sing, and have a moment for children. We hope you will join us.