Pastor Eric Schroeder - 8th Grade Graduation - Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Text: 1 Timothy 4:12

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I know how you guys love hypothetical questions. Part of it might be because you are developing your critical thinking skills; and part of it might be because you like to waste time…. At any rate, how about a quick lightning round of “would you rather…”?  You know how it usually works, but you won’t have much time; we’ll have to go fast. Hold up one finger for the first choice and two fingers for the second. Are you ready?

Pastor Joel Leyrer - Pentecost - Sunday, May 23, 2021

Text: Ezekiel 37:1-14

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Dear Friends in Christ. By definition, a “silent partner” is someone who is involved in a business venture, but not in a noticeable and visible way. Their involvement is every bit as important as those who lead from the front; it’s just that by design the silent partner does their work beneath the surface.

Pastor Eric Schroeder - The Seventh Sunday of Easter - Sunday, May 16, 2021

Text: Hebrews: 7:11-27

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Over the past year and a half, a whole bunch of new terms have entered our vocabulary through conversations that we never would have thought we’d be having. But we started hearing them enough that we picked up these terms along the way and started talking about herd immunity, proper social distancing, an asymptomatic carriers as if we had always known what we were talking about.  Maybe those conversations might have made a difference…but probably not. One new distinction did make a big difference in our lives and in our homes, however: that line between essential and non-essential workers. Some people were told that they get to keep working, or had to keep working, whether they felt comfortable or not; others were told they had to stay home.

Pastor Joel Leyrer - Ascension - Thursday, May 13, 2021

Text: Luke 24:50-53

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Dear Friends in Christ, Years ago, but within the memory of some here present, a popular stand-up comedian always ended his best-known routine the same way. He would give a humorous example  about the way someone – usually within his own family – didn’t take him seriously, or dismissed him, or made him feel irrelevant; he’d get a laugh and then he’d end with the repeated lament: “I get no respect.” That was his signature, patented punch line. “I get no respect.”

Pastor Kyle Bitter - The Sixth Sunday of Easter - Sunday, May 9, 2021

Text: 1 John 4:1-11

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Have you ever found yourself in a situation where it seemed like you were stuck between truth and love and couldn’t possibly fulfill both? An example. Perhaps in the past year someone asked you, “Doesn’t this haircut I gave myself during the lockdown look good?”  And you take a closer look and…it really doesn’t. Do you tell the truth and risk hurt feelings? Or do you hide the truth out of kindness? It might feel like you’re stuck: Truth or Love?  Kind of a silly example. But I think you get the point and in other situations it can be harder – especially when it concerns spiritual matters. What do you do when a family member or friend has become caught up in some kind of ongoing sinful behavior or habit? How do you respond when a classmate or co-worker adamantly insists that some of your religious beliefs are mistaken? You want to speak up for the truth…but you have a feeling the truth is going to be perceived as unloving. What do you do when it seems as though you are being forced to choose: Truth or Love?  The tension that life in a sinful world brings to these two concepts is nothing new. All three of John’s three letters – 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd John in our Bibles – deal with this very same tension and how both truth and love ought to be applied to a sinful world. Truth or Love? How do you honor both? It’s never been easy.

Pastor Eric Schroeder - The Fifth Sunday of Easter - Sunday, May 2, 2021

Text: 1 John 3:18-24

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Life has a way of challenging what we think we know. For instance, early on in our school lives, all of us were taught about the solar system. So, we should all be able to answer the next question: how many planets are there? Your answer might depend on when you were in school. You see, in the early 1930’s, Pluto was discovered as the ninth planet. So, most of us were taught about the nine planets, and maybe we even remember the order of them, from Mercury and Venus all the way out to Neptune and Pluto. But then…in 2006, the International Astronomical Union decided to reclassify Pluto as a dwarf planet instead of a true planet, and now there are only 8…unless you count a possible missing planet that scientists are still searching for based on math I don’t understand, which they have nicknamed “planet x” or “planet nine,” which may or may not actually exist.