Service Notes for the Virtual Worship service on March 22, 2020: “Light Sabers,” based on Ephesians 5:8-14a (GNT)   [With the suspension of our in-person ministries for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are now providing “virtual community” through periodic prayer, reflection and scripture online. Once a week, we will add a more detailed “mini-service” to reflect on scripture, pray, sing, etc. This is one of the first of those services – my colleague, Rev. Laura Bachmann will be uploading her videos as well. Both can be found on the South Church Rochester channel on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCtJ2XBNiJQxuVMrVq97SMg?).  As with … Continue reading “Light Sabers”

“The Purell™ of Prayer” Romans 5:3-8 (MSG); John 14:15-19 (AMP) Video Worship March 15, 2020 [With the suspension of our in-person ministries for the duration of the COVED-19 pandemic, we are now providing “virtual community” through periodic prayer, reflection and scripture. Once a week, we will add a more detailed “mini-service” to reflect on scripture, pray, etc. This is one of the first of those services – my colleague Rev. Bachmann will be uploading her videos as well. Both can be found on the South Church Rochester channel on YouTube.  As with all sermons – but especially with the unfolding … Continue reading “The Purell of Prayer”

Romans 4:1-5; John 3:1-18(MSG) Fellowship of Faith @ St. John’s Meadows March 8, 2020 Romans 4:1-5 (MSG) So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story. What we read in Scripture is, “Abraham entered into what God was doing for him, and that was the turning point. He trusted God to set him right instead of trying to … Continue reading “Trusting the God Story”