Worship for September 17, 2023
Rev. Danielle K. Bartz September 17, 2023 Genesis 50:15-21 ‘A Few Thoughts On Forgiveness’ All the lectionary texts for today revolve around one very important topic: forgiveness. As I begin my reflection, I want to acknowledge that the Church universal, over its long history, has often abused the idea of forgiveness, and much […]
Worship for September 10, 2023
Rev. Danielle K Bartz September 10, 2023 Exodus 3:1-15 “Oh Look…!” Earlier this week I read an article about fire lookouts in the mountain west. Once a huge industry, there are only a few hundred left in the United States. These folks spend the summers living in extremely remote cabins, often […]
Worship for September 3, 2023
Rev. Danielle K Bartz September 3, 2023 Romans 12:9-21 “Practice Makes Perfect” In his popular book “Outliers”, Canadian writer Malcolm Gladwell examined psychological and sociological data to help us understand why some people are able to master a skill. These ‘outliers’ on the bell curve of humanity, Gladwell posited, didn’t reach […]
Worship for August 27, 2023
Rev. Danielle K Bartz August 27, 2023 Romans 12:1-8 I have an undergraduate degree in Psychology, which qualifies me to do absolutely nothing. I like to tell people, in reference to that degree, I know just enough to be dangerous. So, with that caveat in place, I want to talk about a few […]
Worship for August 6, 2023
Rev. Danielle K Bartz August 6, 2023 Matthew 14:13-21 “A Few Thoughts on Miracles” The third sentence in Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” reads as this: “This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come from the story I am going to relate.” I actually prefer the way this line is […]
Worship for July 23, 2023
Rev. Danielle K Bartz July 23, 2023 Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 “Don’t Light the Fire” “It is an heretic that makes the fire not she which burns in it.” I heard that line, penned by William Shakespeare, last week when I went to see ‘A Winter’s Tale’ which is a part of the Great […]
Worship for July 16, 2023
Rev. Danielle K Bartz July 16, 2023 Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 “The Bad Gardener” It looks like God is a pretty bad gardener, if this lesson of Jesus is any evidence. We don’t have a parable of a sower finding the good soil, adding fertilizer and compost, making sure the moisture levels are right, […]
Worship for July 9, 2023
Worship for July 2, 2023
Rev. Danielle K Bartz July 2, 2023 Genesis 1:1-5 “On Being Co-Creators” Ancient Jewish scholars doing Midrash – or scriptural interpretation – have suggested the following: they imagine that the act of creation that led to the formation of everything we know, including our very selves, was not God’s first attempt at […]