Author Archive: Pastor Rhodes

Oct 23, 2016 – humbled In the OT lesson and the psalm, we hear echoes of those whom the Pharisee represented in the story Jesus told in the gospel lesson. In the Old Testament lesson, Amos says in the 1st… (READ MORE)

Oct 16, 2016 – Tenacious Prayer! C.S. Lewis once said: “A person cannot remain ‘a good egg’ forever. One must either hatch or rot.” In the gospel lesson we just read there is another ‘either / or’ sort of thing…. (READ MORE)

Oct 9, 2016 – Healed! Today’s gospel lesson is a bit different than the several previous ones. We’ve had Jesus preach and teach on a lot of things this last month of Sundays: lost coins and sheep, the wasteful manager,… (READ MORE)

Oct 2, 2016 – Forgive! Garrison Keillor, in one of his monologues from Lake Woebegone, remembers a headline following a tornado that read: “First Lutheran Church Destroyed; Town Unaffected!” What a thought! Can you imagine a disaster completely destroying Zion… (READ MORE)

Sept 25, 2016 – Listen! Waiting to be interviewed for a job as a wireless operator, back in the days when Morse code was used for telegrams, a group of applicants paid little attention to the sound of the dots… (READ MORE)

Sept 18, 2016 – Servant or Slave? We just sang – the captive to release, to God the lost to bring. Have you ever been a captive? Or who has been a slave? Think about what a slave is. Slavery… (READ MORE)

Sept 14, 2016 – Rejoice! We just sang, in the words from Amazing Grace, about praising God and what that’ll be like in heaven.  In heaven we will do that, we will rejoice. And all the bible readings tonight call… (READ MORE)

Sept 4, 2016 – Terms of Peace! On my last trip to Hawaii I got to spend some time on the deck of the battleship Missouri. On that ship is the place where, 71 years ago Friday, the document was… (READ MORE)

Menelik, a former leader of Ethiopia, was a good leader who accomplished many things for his country. However, he was a bit of a religious fanatic with strange ideas. He believed the Bible was a magical book with healing powers…. (READ MORE)

Aug 21, 2016  Nice Discipline??? A group of 40 Hell’s Angles roared into the parking lot of a church in Concord, California, just before the worship service was to begin.  One of the bikers got off his bike, walked into… (READ MORE)