“All things work together for the good for those who love God.” Really? All things? Including divorce? Cancer? What can this promise really mean? In this sermon, Pastor Eric looks at Paul’s words from Romans 8:26-39. This isn’t about pretending that bad things are really good, or about a God who makes bad things happen to you “for your own good.” It’s about the power of God at work in us, even in the middle of our trials. We need the victory of God. The world needs the victory of God. In Christ, you are given that victory to share with others!
Glory and the Gap (July 23rd, 2017)
The bishop of our DE-MD Synod, The Rev. Bill Gohl (http://www.demdsynod.org/our-bishop.html), was our guest preacher this morning! His sermon from Romans 8 and Matthew 13 explores how we live in the gap between “what is” and “what could, and will, be.” We think you will be deeply blessed by his words.
God is in the Multiplying Business (July 16th, 2017)
Just like little drops of water are part of a complicated water cycle that produces and sustains life…just like little seeds can produce great fields of grain, so God multiplies who we are and what we can do. We may be filled with despair, but God makes us hopeful. We may be hateful, but God makes us loving. The takes the little we have, the little we are, and multiplies it.
God is Gracious and Merciful (July 9th, 2017)
I had a young man in my congregation who, in what was to be an act of discipline, beat his 5-year-old nephew to death. He will spent the rest of his life in prison, but he has learned about the mercy of God. I learned the story of Henry Gerecke, an Army chaplain in WW II who was sent to be the chaplain for the men accused of Nazi war crimes in the trial at Nuremberg. Gerecke hated their crimes, but he still believed in the mercy of God. We all have hidden stories in our lives, and the mercy of God is for us too.
Freedom? (July 2nd, 2017)
What does real freedom look like? How is it that we can live in one of the most “free” nations in the world, and yet still feel so stuck? Maybe the reason is that we don’t understand what freedom is really all about. Reflecting on the Apostle Paul’s words from Romans 6:12-23, Pastor Eric explores what it means to be enslaved to sin, enslaved to ourselves, or enslaved to God. One of those ways is the path to freedom.