Below is a homily from Pastor Gabe Dodd for a chapel service he led at White Birch nursing home on August 12, 2018. Scripture: Luke 17 11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They…
Author: Linnette Smith
Peace of My Mind: March 2018
Recently I finished James McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom, a very large one volume history of the American Civil War. What a book! It startles me how much there is to know about this country, and how little any one person can know. The book describes battles, strategy and tactics; dips into the personalities of…
Caring for each other with the comfort of Christ
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts…
LENT = REST
(Written by Pastor Gabe for the Lenten Blog at Eastern Mennonite Seminary, 2018) “After he [Jesus] had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone…” (MT 14:21) The middle of the semester seems to always be the most stressful. We are in the midst…
Peace of My Mind: February 2018
There are a few things on my mind. This year we experience a kind of weird overlap between the church’s holy days and secular frivolity. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on Valentine’s Day and ends on Easter Sunday, which falls on April 1. Yeah, that’s right. April Fool’s. This has not happened in my lifetime…
Peace of My Mind: November 2017
We enter the holiday season in November. In fact, the first day of November is All Saints Day. We normally pay more attention to Halloween – “all hallows eve” – than to the more liturgically significant All Hallows Day. Who are these “saints”? The New Testament calls Christians saints. Paul opens several of his letters…
All In
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21 What does it mean to be completely invested in our relationships? Does that mean that we will try to have relationship…
Perfectly Imperfect
“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.” (Psalm 139:14 NLT) Michael Jordan was cut from his 9th grade Basketball team. If it weren’t for that, he would have never been driven to be the most successful player of his time. Oprah Winfrey was fired from being…