Category: Sermon

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Begin with the End in Mind

1Advent C; Dec 2, 2018; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson; ICCM

You might be wondering “Why are we reading about destruction and death? It’s almost Christmas! We should be reading about the joy of the coming birth of baby Jesus!”  Well, readings like this always appear at the start of Advent, because we are preparing the way not just for the birth of the baby, but for the coming of Christ again, not necessarily in a literal and dramatic end of all time kind of way, but now, again, day after day, in each of our lives. Continue reading “Begin with the End in Mind”

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Majesty

Majesty; Reign of Christ Sunday; November 25, 2018; ICCM; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson

Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away, there was a court jester who boasted that he could make a joke about any subject.  “Well, then,” challenged one of the nobles, “make a joke about the King!”

“Ah,” the jester responded, “But, the King is not a subject!”   Continue reading “Majesty”

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Widows and Justice

Ruth 3: 1-5, 4: 13-17 and Mark 12: 38-44; Widows and Justice; Nov 11, 2018; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson; ICCM

“The Widow’s Mite” is a classic Gospel text that appears in what is usually Stewardship Season back home, the time when congregations ask people for pledges of giving and set the budget for the coming year. Who hasn’t squirmed when a well-meaning pastor asks: “If a poor widow can give her sacrificial bit for the Lord’s work, how can we — so comfortably wealthy by comparison — not give much, much more?” Continue reading “Widows and Justice”

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Transmitters of Grace

All Saints Sunday, Nov 4, 2018; ICCM; Pastor Rebecca Ellenson; Eccl 3: 1-8

“To everything, turn turn turn.  There is a season, turn turn turn, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to reap…”

“When true simplicity is gained, to bow and to bend, we will not be ashamed, to turn, turn will be our delight, til by turning, turning we come round right…”

The season has turned.  Here we are, in the beginning of a new season in Mazatlan… leaving behind the turning of the leaves, the turning of the sun from the North and arriving here, in the sunshine.

Steve and I left home just over a week ago and all the trees were bare, except a few of the oak trees, holding on to their last rusty brown leaves and the tamarack trees with their golden needles reflecting off the early morning ice on the stream by our house.  We drove south, and bit by bit the seasons turned back, more leaves on the branches with each hundred miles until we emerged from the mountains by Durango into the newly rained-on greenery by Villa Union. Continue reading “Transmitters of Grace”

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A Hymn of Hope for All Creation

A Hymn of Hope for all Creation *;  Pastor Rebecca Ellenson

Preached by Steve Cherne; Feb  25, 2018; ICCM

Tony Campolo, a well-known Baptist public speaker and author reflects on his own prayer life, saying that sometimes he feels like his prayer life resembles that a little child, always focusing on asking God for things.  He tells a story about when his son was 7 years old. The boy came to bed.  I’m going to be praying.  Anybody want something?” That’s just a bit off target isn’t it? Prayer is more than asking for things. Continue reading “A Hymn of Hope for All Creation”

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Temmelig Godt

1 Sunday after Christmas; 12.31.17
Isaiah 61:10 – 62:3; Galations 4: 4-7
Pastor Rebecca Ellenson; ICCM

One time when I was visiting my parents, we went to their neighbor’s house for some Norwegian goodies. Their neighbor’s parents, like my grandparents were born in Norway and immigrated to the US. They had been back to see their relatives many times. Orville Haugsby, their neighbor told us a story about one of his visits to Norway. He prefaced his story by telling us that his parents often spoke Norwegian at home and he had learned it that way. When it was terribly cold his father would come in from chores and say, “Ja, na er det temmelig kaldt!” He could figure out from the context what that meant, it meant that it was very, very cold!   Continue reading “Temmelig Godt”

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Comfort, Comfort

The prophet Isaiah speaks a word of comfort to people who had lost hope. I believe God is still speaking words of comfort and hope, sometimes to quote Isaiah through the “word of our God that stands forever”, ancient words that still speak to us, and sometimes that message of comfort and hope comes through the words and actions of those around us.   Continue reading “Comfort, Comfort”

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Rip Open the Heavens!

Preached by Rebecca Ellenson at the Blue Church on December 3, 2017

“Oh, that you would rip open the heavens and come down!” Those may not be our exact words but we pray this prayer countless times, don’t we? This year there have been countless reasons to cry out like that—hurricanes, earthquakes, massive wildfires, insane political developments around the world, ongoing wars, and now a critical famine in Yemen with UNICEF reporting that every 10 seconds a child dies of hunger. And then there are the personal reasons for such a lament. Alone in our rooms we turn our faces to the ceiling or outdoors to the stars in the night sky we cry, “Show yourself to me, God. Show me who you are and who I am and what I am to do.”   Continue reading “Rip Open the Heavens!”