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Text focus: Ezekiel 37:15–22 & Ephesians 4:1–6 There is something about gathering together that changes the way we see things. When we are by ourselves, we tend to see what we don't have. We see the empty pew. The empty field. The empty bank account. The thing that didn't happen. The thing we hoped would happen. The thing we thought God was going to provide that we still don’t have. But when we gather together, something changes. We begin to see not only what is missing. We

Text focus: Romans 12:3-8 *This sermon was a hands-on sermon and will include references to an activity. If you want to participate fully, you will need a canvas or paper and paint or markers. Before we get started today, I want you to look around at what is sitting in front of you. You've got a canvas. You've got paint. And you've got permission to make a mess. Now, for some of you, that is exciting. For others of you, you're already thinking, "Pastor, I came to church today

Text focus: Genesis 48:14-20 Have you ever worried there wouldn't be enough? Enough food. Enough time. Enough opportunities. Enough love. Sometimes we live as though life is one giant pie. If someone else gets a bigger slice, there must be less left for us. We learn that lesson early. Children argue over whose piece of cake is larger. Adults compare careers, salaries, accomplishments, and even families. Sometimes we quietly wonder, "If God blesses someone else does that mean

Text focus: Genesis 44:32-45:9 For the last several weeks we’ve been walking alongside some wonderfully messy people. We met Abraham and Sarah and learned that God’s promises come even when they seem impossible. We sat with Isaac and discovered that God’s promises are not dependent upon perfect people. We followed Jacob into the wilderness, where God pursued him before Jacob ever sought God, and then wrestled with him, leaving him changed—with a limp, a new name, and a blessi

Text focus: Genesis 39:19-23 & 40:2-8 For the last several weeks we've been walking alongside some wonderfully messy people. We met Abraham and Sarah who taught us that God's promises come even when they seem impossible. We sat with Isaac as his plans collapsed and he discovered that God's promises are not dependent upon perfect people. We followed Jacob into the wilderness where God pursued him before Jacob ever thought to seek God and then joined him again as he wrestled wi

Text focus: Genesis 37:1-11 Over the past few weeks, we have been following the family of early Israel. Abraham and Sarah, their son Isaac, and his children Esau and Jacob. We have discovered through their stories that God has never waited for perfect people before doing extraordinary things. God's promises come to messy people, and when they seemed impossible, God remains faithful. Even in messy situations, God’s covenant with humanity remains, pursuing, staying with us, ble

Text focus: Genesis 32:22-32 As we continue our journey through this sermon series, we have seen that God’s work has never depended on perfect people. Abraham and Sarah reminded us that God is faithful in keeping promises even in messy or impossible situations. God proved that nothing is impossible. Isaac, Jacob, and Esau showed us that God’s promises survive the actions of messy people. Even when trust was broken, families were divided, and people made painful choices, God’s

Text focus: Genesis 28:10-22 As we continue our journey through this sermon series on how God uses messy people, I want to take just a moment to remind us all of our journey so far. A few weeks ago, Abraham and Sarah reminded us that God’s promises come to messy people, even when it seems impossible. Last week Isaac, Jacob, and Esau, helped us recognize that God is faithful and God’s promises continue even in messy situations, even when trust is broken, plans fall apart, and

Text focus: Genesis 27:30-39 There are moments in life when everything seems to be coming together exactly as we hoped. You can picture the future in your mind. You have a plan, you know how it is all supposed to go. You have written the whole story in your mind. And then something happens. A diagnosis arrives. A relationship breaks. A job disappears. A secret is revealed. A betrayal comes to light. And suddenly the story we thought we were living is not the story we

Text focus: Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7 Most of us know the feeling of waiting for something that seems less and less likely with every passing year. A prayer that has gone unanswered. A relationship that has not healed. A dream that seems long dead. A promise that feels forgotten. Abraham and Sarah have been waiting for twenty-five years. God promised that their descendants would be more than can be counted, yet Sarah remains childless. And now both Sarah and Abraham are old, Ch

Text focus: Matthew 28:16-20 & Genesis 1:26-31 There are some places where it feels easier to believe that God is near. This morning, we gather in one of those places. We sit in the first church building established in Washakie County. Nestled in the beauty of Ten Sleep Canyon, embraced by the Bighorn Mountains, surrounded by towering rock walls, rushing water, the bright blue sky; held in the wonders of creation itself. It is a place that reminds us that long before there we

Text focus: Acts 2:1-12 Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Church today is a rare and special day. We are gathering at a beautiful intersection in the life of the church. Today is Pentecost Sunday, celebrated 50 days after Easter. It is the day we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church. Today is also May 24th, Aldersgate Day, it is the closest thing we have to a saint’s day in the Methodist church. On Aldersgate Day, we commemorate

Text focus: John 17:5-10 & Luke 24:45-51 There are certain moments in life when we instinctively reach for blessing. Graduations. Weddings. Baptisms. Funerals. First days and last days. Moments when something is ending, and something else is beginning. Even people who are not particularly religious often feel the need to mark these transitions somehow. We write cards. We throw parties. We say things like, “I’m proud of you,” or “Congratulations” or “I’ll be praying for you.”

Text focus: John 14:5-12 This morning’s Gospel takes us back before the cross and before the resurrection. We find Jesus and the disciples in the upper room. Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet. He has told them that one of them will betray him. He has told Peter that he will deny him three times. The room is heavy with worry and anxiety. Jesus knows this so he brings to them comfort. Just before today’s passage in John 14, Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. B

Text focus: John 20:19–29 This week, I was in Casper for 3 days for the Wyoming District gathering, and it was a real mountain top time. We had worship and workshops, we talked business, and we spent time in community with each other. It was a time of building relationships by learning together, lamenting together, and celebrating together. It is so easy to be filled with hope in moments like these, those times when the goal is to dream and imagine. And now I am home, as I w

Text focus: Luke 24:13–35 In today’s passage from Luke, we meet two disciples walking on the road to Emmaus. One is named Cleopas. The other is not. Like many of those we encounter, they are not given a name. And I don’t think that’s an accident here. The unnamed disciple is there so that we might step into the story. So that we might recognize that we are also on that road. Because we know that road, don’t we? It’s the road of confusion and unanswered questions. The road

Text focus: John 20:1–18 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb. And that’s where Easter begins. Not with trumpets. Not with certainty. Not even with hope, really. But with a woman walking through the dark… carrying grief. Mary goes to the tomb, and one of the first questions we have to ask is why. Why does she go? Is she going to grieve? Almost certainly. Is she going out of love and devotion? Again, Yes. But is she going

Text focus: Matthew 21:1–11 Have you ever been excited about something only to realize it didn’t turn out the way you expected? Maybe it was something you had been looking forward to for a long time. Maybe you had a plan. Maybe a dream or a hope. That moment you were sure would go one way... and then it didn’t. That gap between expectation and reality can be frustrating. Disorienting. Even disappointing. Palm Sunday is a story about expectations that don’t match realities. Th

Text focus: John 11:1–48 There is a verse in our scripture today that is so short you could miss it if you blink. Two words. “Jesus wept.” It is the shortest verse in the Bible, but it may also be one of the most important to remember, because in those two words, we see something essential about who God is. God is not distant. Not detached. Not indifferent. Instead, God is one who walks beside us, who knows our experiences, A God who weeps. And yet, what makes this moment so

Text focus: John 9:1-41 Have you ever noticed how quickly we try to explain someone else’s suffering? When something difficult happens, an illness, an accident, a diagnosis, we have a tendency to start asking questions. What happened? What caused it? Whose fault is it? Often those questions are an attempt to make sense of the world, but they also reveal something deeper. They indicate our discomfort with things that don’t fit our expectations. This story in John begins with t