Ordinary Time

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Supporting One Another

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What a story we have been given in our first reading from Numbers today. It is a story that profoundly resonates with me in this moment we find ourselves in the pandemic. The story takes place during that desert wilderness period, those forty years between their liberation from their slavery in Egypt and before they enter into the Promised Land. The Israelites have been wandering around for quite a while at this point and they find themselves kind of done with the whole experience. They’re tired of it. They are exhausted.

To read or listen to Bingham’s entire sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, click “Read More.”

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The Wisdom of God

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“The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.” Willing to yield. I’m NOT very willing to yield. In fact, I don’t care for it. Whether I’m driving somewhere or in another situation. I’m more naturally inclined to go, to take, to believe that I have the right away, the right answer, or the important thing to do or say, or place to be. I don’t want to yield. I want to be right. I am right! Right? Well, as my wife Stacey recently pointed out to me, sometimes I can be a bit SELF-righteous. What? It would seem that those who know us well, well, they really do know us well.

Click “Read More” to read or listen to Ryan’s entire sermon for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost.

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The Power of Words

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"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Now if that old schoolyard taunt is helpful to you, if it allows you to let an insult roll off your back like water off a duck, then please, please, please do not let anything that I am about to say take away the power of those words to protect you. When I was a kid, I found it very helpful to remember that expression that my teachers taught me when someone would say a mean thing or two to me.

But as I have gotten older I have found that that expression is not as helpful to me, because ultimately I find the expression rests upon something that is not true. "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me", as if sticks and stones, the physical things in this world, have power, but words don't have power? I don’t think that is right. Our faith teaches us about the power of words.

To read or listen to Bingham’s entire sermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost just click “Read More.”

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The Generosity of God

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“Every generous act of giving…every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father or Mother of lights…” Every gift that we receive, every generous thing that we do for others, they all come from God.

Have you ever gotten’ or given’ the perfect gift? “Oh, wow! Thank you, it’s perfect! How did you know?”

Perfect for me or perfect for them, for this time, this occasion. And it’s not so much the thing we get or receive, but the attention that was paid to choosing it. The genuine care and listening, and the intimacy of the relationship that it demonstrates. A perfect gift, showing us how valued and loved we are. So it is with God. GOD IS GENEROSITY. Biblical scholar Peter Rhea Jones comments, “To be generous is consonant with the nature of God.” I am reminded of the Doxology, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise God all creatures here below, praise God above ye heavenly host, praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.”

We sing out our praise, recognizing what we proclaim when we receive the gifts at the altar, “All things come of thee O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee.”

Every generous act of giving, every perfect gift come from God, in fact, they ARE God.

To read or listen to Ryan’s entire sermon for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost click “Read More.”

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Spiritual Protection and Nourishment

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We live in highly anxious times. For those of us who read or watch or listen to the news, this week has been very difficult. Think about some of the anxious words we have read or heard recently. The planet is warming up, it is heating up, the ICP warns us again. Wildfires rage across the west. Oakridge prepares to evacuate; it is so close to us. Hospitals are buckling under Delta, ICUs are running out of beds. A man in Roseburg died this past week because there weren't enough beds in the ICU. Children's hospitals across the country are filling up. A devastating earthquake hit Haiti again. Afghanistan falls to the Taliban again, and refugees are desperately trying to flee the country. And all of these anxious words come after a year and a half of the pandemic which has worn us down and thinned our resilience. Resilience that might have already been frayed going into the pandemic in the first place.

To read or listen to Bingham’s entire sermon for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost click “Read More.”

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God's Loving Gaze

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Happy Saint Mary’s day! Saint Mary, the namesake of the community where we worship, serve, and grow in faith. When you think of Mary, what images come to mind? What stories, pictures, music, poems, what words to describe her? Countless pieces of art have sought to portray Mary throughout the ages. What can Mary’s own words at her cousin Elizabeth’s house reveal to us about who Mary is and how God relates, and acts in our world today?

Click “Read More” to read or listen to Ryan’s entire sermon for Mary Sunday.

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