https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-zwfs3-1414289
Easter Week 7
Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35; 1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11; John 17:1-11
It’s exam season. This is where the rubber meets the road…and the glory in suffering—what’s good about grief—is how much genuine love results.
———————
Scripture: Lilly Dolan
Message in a Basket: Rev Barbara Jernigan
Main Message: Pastor Jenn (Rev Jennifer A G Layte)
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-reqf5-1410c78
Easter Week 6
Mother’s Day
Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:8-20; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21
What is “the good life”? Is there such thing as a one-size-fits-all? Why do people everywhere and throughout history look for it? And does God have anything to do with it?
———————
Scripture: Kathleen Youngs
Message in a Basket: Rev Barbara Jernigan
Main Message: Pastor Jenn (Rev Jennifer A G Layte)
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ghxhn-1410788
Easter Week 5
Acts 7:55-60; Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14
“Father” is a tricky term to use for God nowadays…but that’s what Jesus called Him. What does it mean for God to be our Father? Also, we try to tackle “simple” subjects like the Trinity and stuff.
———————
Scripture: Tom Jernigan
Message in a Basket: Rev Barbara Jernigan
Main Message: Pastor Jenn (Rev Jennifer A G Layte)
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-mcnnp-13f6a31
Easter Week 4 Acts 2:42-47; Psalm 23; 1 Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10
The Good Shepherd can lead us through some sketchy places. What do we do about abuse?
———————
Scripture: Mark Bertrand
Message in a Basket: Rev Barbara Jernigan
Main Message: Pastor Jenn (Rev Jennifer A G Layte)
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-cjgk5-13ed084
Easter Week 3
Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35
Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection are a great graciousness to us–and not because through them our sins have been forgiven. Today we talked about the grace of being perpetual “foreigners” and loving each other sincerely.
———————
Scripture: Mark Bertrand
Message in a Basket: Rev Barbara Jernigan
Main Message: Pastor Jenn (Rev Jennifer A G Layte)
If you look up sparrows online–which I had occasion to do recently because I was trying to paint a picture of one–you will see them described as an “invasive species.” They’re kind of a mini-pigeon, if you will.
Although–as I learned in my Google search–there are different varieties of sparrow, as genus they live nearly everywhere in the world, and within their own region each one looks pretty much like another.
I guess what I’m trying to say is they’re not that special. So when Jesus told His followers–most of them regular people without a lot of resources, education, and other things that societies tell us are necessary for significance–that they were worth more than a whole flock of sparrows, maybe He wasn’t saying much.
Except He was, of course. He preceded the statement by saying that God His Father was aware when even one little individual sparrow falls out of a tree, His point being that if even one of these insignificant birds was significant to the God who made it, just imagine how much more human beings–even those of us seemingly insignificant in our context–are significant to the God who made them in His own image.
Recently my parents gave me a stack of cassette tapes from my childhood, a number of which are recordings of me as a very engaged two year old in Costa Rica where they were learning Spanish for further assignment in Honduras. More recently, I listened to one of them, and was deeply struck by one of the recorded interactions with my mother.
I was making up a tune and some nonsense words, and my mother said, “Are you going to be a composer and a poet when you grow up?”
“No,” I said, in my unusually low child’s voice.
“What are you going to be?” she asked.
“Jennifer,” I declared emphatically.
I kind of gasped when I heard this. My first thought was, Whatever happened to that confident child? But my second one was, Turns out, she was right. My generation is loaded with Jennifers and Jennifer could mean something entirely different when describing each one of them, of course. Even still, now at approximately half a century and after decades of floundering to find my place and myself in the world, I can say with certainty and confidence that I have become (and, to be sure, am still becoming) Jennifer. I am decidedly me. I’m convinced this has to something to do with, as my friend Pastor Trey recently put it, “chasing after God” my whole life. I don’t think I would’ve found out who I am as assuredly, apart from finding out more and more who He is.
I’ve been thinking a whole lot about identity lately, and even more specifically about what the Christianese phrase, identity in Christ, means. Finding identity through connection to Jesus became the theme of Winter Solace ’23. It’s the theme of the Follower book. And it keeps on coming up, over and over again, as I meet with people who tell me, “I don’t think I know who I am.”
My hope for you is that, if not now, someday when someone asks you, “Who are you?” or “What are you going to be?” your answer will be confidently and delightedly your own name. And you would know just what that means. And you would live so fully in your God-given identity that everyone around you would find out your meaning–and ultimately their meaning–too.
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-tmm4t-13e72ef
Easter Week 2
Acts 2:14, 22-32; 1 Peter 1:2-9
Easter is a whole season of celebration! “We’re in an Easter world now.”–Kathleen Youngs
——————–
Scripture: Lilly Dolan
Message in a Tote Bag: Lilly Dolan
Main Message: Pastor Kathleen Youngs
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-zse82-13db959
Easter Season Week 1
John 20:1-18
What do we do when the Good News sounds like bad news? How can we get back to the Good News again?
————————
Scripture: Paul Layte
Message in a Basket: Rev Barbara Jernigan
Main Message: Pastor Jenn (Rev Jennifer A G Layte)
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-awihn-13d9fc0
Lent Week 6 – Palm Sunday
Isaiah 42:1-9; Psalm 36:5-11; Hebrews 9:11-15; John 12:1-11
Mary poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet. Judas said they should’ve sold it and given the money to the poor. John tells us why Judas, specifically, was wrong in his protest. But if someone else had said it, would the objection have been worth considering?
————————
Scripture: Tom Jernigan
Message in a Basket: Rev Barbara Jernigan
Main Message: Pastor Jenn (Rev Jennifer A G Layte)
