5th Sunday after Pentecost July 13, 2025 Luke 18:18 – 25 In the 12th and 13th centuries, Europe was changing fast. The old feudal order, with Kings ruling over mostly agricultural areas, was beginning to fall apart. Cities were growing rapidly. People were leaving their feudal farms to move to cities, to start new kinds of work there. A kind of early capitalist economy...
A Christian Politics, Week 1 4th Sunday after Pentecost July 6, 2025 1 Thessalonians 5:18 – 22 I’ve mentioned before that I’ve taken several prayer retreats to a Benedictine Monastery in New Mexico called “Christ in the Desert.” Christ in the Desert is not impossible to get to by any means, but it’s...
Sounds Like Hope Pentecost Sunday June 8, 2025 Acts 2:1 – 13 I don’t know how many times I’ve read the story we just heard from the second chapter of the Biblical Book of Acts, but if I had to estimate, I guess a round number would be: a bunch. And I’ve probably written...
Dear U Park Family, Have you ever hard a mentor who was demanding and hard to please? Maybe it was a teacher, or someone who took you under their wing as your career was beginning. People like that can be hard to work with, or for. But they can also change our lives, sometimes to...
June 1, 2025 7th Sunday of Easter Ephesians 1:15 – 23 Paul’s letters are not big on praise. I mean, now and again he does congratulate the churches he’s writing to for doing things well. But mostly, if you were part of a church in the first century and you got a letter from the Apostle...
Fifth Sunday of Easter/Celebration Sunday May 18, 2025 Psalm 100 You think you’ve got problems. Imagine living in ancient Israel when the Psalm we just heard was written. If you lived at that place and time (let’s say about 1000 – 800 BCE), At birth, your average life expectancy is probably about 35 years...
Dear U Park Family, Last week, Bishop Stoneking and the Cabinet (the leaders with whom she works) held a lunch for local clergy downstairs in our East Fellowship Hall. About 60 pastors from around our District showed up. In her brief remarks, Bishop Stoneking cited the Czech poet and President Vaclav Havel’s thoughts on hope....
Dear U Park Family, As I mentioned in my last letter, I’ll be out of town this weekend attending a memorial service. Our guest preacher will be Caralyn Ware, who is is a 3rd year MDiv student and co-chair of the student senate at Iliff. She is a certified candidate for ordination as an Elder in...
Dear U Park Family, Have you ever had a moment when you realized that you needed to change something about your life? Maybe it was a job or career change, realizing that your old way of making a living had to shift. Or maybe in a friendship or marriage you came to see that the...
May 4, 2025 John 21:1 – 14 Easter in churches is not usually a quiet Sunday morning, and that’s certainly true here at U Park. We have bigger crowds than usual, for one thing. And then there’s the brass quintet, and our pipe organ playing traditional Easter hymns. Our choir sings big anthems,...
