This Sunday we encountered the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 8:27-9:8) where his closest disciples saw him for who he was. In her reflection, Pastor Cara Scriven shares with us a classic story that also reveals love in rare, self-giving form.
This Sunday we encountered the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus (Mark 8:27-9:8) where his closest disciples saw him...
Posted by Puyallup United Methodist Church on Sunday, February 23, 2020
In a final sermon in a series on hospitality and inclusion, Pastor Cara Scriven helps us to consider what Jesus has to teach us about the Levitical purity code (Leviticus 18:22; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23). Using a clip from the TV series ‘West Wing’ to elucidate the point, she also challenges us to question why we only seem to struggle with letting go of one prohibition in particular.
You can watch the West Wing clip online here: https://youtu.be/3CPjWd4MUXs
In a final sermon in a series on hospitality and inclusion, Pastor Cara Scriven helps us to consider what Jesus has to...
Posted by Puyallup United Methodist Church on Sunday, February 16, 2020
This week, we encountered two scripture readings, each informing in a different way Judeo-Christian wisdom on the importance of hospitality. The first text (Judges 19:16-25) is a challenging text often misinterpreted by modern readers. The second text (Mark 6:1-13) offers a look at hospitality from a different angle.
In her message, Pastor Cara Scriven helps us to understand what these texts say about hospitality and what that means for churches today.
This week, we encountered two scripture readings, each informing in a different way Judeo-Christian wisdom on the...
Posted by Puyallup United Methodist Church on Sunday, February 9, 2020
This week we encountered the story of Jesus’ healing of the unclean woman (Mark 5:21-34) and the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (I Cor. 6:9-11) where he describes some of the behaviors persons in the community engaged in before becoming followers of Christ.
In her message for this week, Pastor Cara Scriven helps us to understand the complicated process of deriving meaning of some key terms while noting the importance of Jesus’ work of making us more whole and expanding the circle.
This week we encountered the story of Jesus’ healing of the unclean woman (Mark 5:21-34) and the Apostle Paul’s letter...
Posted by Puyallup United Methodist Church on Sunday, February 2, 2020
This week, Crest to Coast Missional District Superintendent Kathleen Weber joined us to offer a message based on Jesus' Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-20). Meditating also upon words offered by Martin Luther King, Jr., she challenged the church to be rich soil where God's word would bear a plentiful harvest.
This week, Crest to Coast Missional District Superintendent Kathleen Weber joined us to offer a message based on Jesus'...
Posted by Puyallup United Methodist Church on Sunday, January 19, 2020
This week’s Scripture brought us the story of Jesus’ healing of a paralyzed man, brought down to him by friends through the roof of a home (Mark 2:1-17). In reflecting on the passage, Pastor Cara Scriven notes that we should pay attention to what Jesus does first, before the physical healing we often focus on.
Asking us to consider where we personally get ‘stuck’ in need of liberation, Pastor Cara explores a cultural conversation about body shaming naming where it might fall short.
This week’s Scripture brought us the story of Jesus’ healing of a paralyzed man, brought down to him by friends through...
Posted by Puyallup United Methodist Church on Sunday, January 12, 2020
On this first Sunday of the New Year we begin a journey through the earliest Gospel of the Christian Faith, Mark. Unlike the other Gospels, Mark begins with an adult Jesus and our text today (Mark 1:21
-45) finds him at work healing and casting our evil spirits.
In her sermon, Pastor Cara Scriven discusses how at odds this talk of healing might be to many modern readers. She encourages us to consider, however, the importance of healing to our spiritual lives and some of the obstacles our inherited theology puts in the way of our accepting God’s love and liberation.
On this first Sunday of the New Year we begin a journey through the earliest Gospel of the Christian Faith, Mark. Unlike...
Posted by Puyallup United Methodist Church on Sunday, January 5, 2020
On Christmas Eve, we visit again the story of Jesus’ birth to a modest couple in a backwater town on the far edges of a powerful empire.
In her sermon, Pastor Cara Scriven draws a number of parallels between the circumstances of Jesus’ birth and the drama that takes place in the Star Wars epic. In particular, she explores what these two stories might be telling us about the importance of hope.
No spoilers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. :)
On Christmas Eve, we visit again the story of Jesus’ birth to a modest couple in a backwater town on the far edges of a...
Posted by Puyallup United Methodist Church on Wednesday, December 25, 2019