Choose joy! It may be hard sometimes, but the alternative will just tear you down. In this episode of Coffee to Go, hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith take a look at the story of the Prodigal Son from the Gospel of Luke. While the young man was ready to receive what he deserved… nothing…

You can almost hear the kids saying, “Are we there yet?” And the answer is NO! We are still on the road to Jerusalem with Jesus, and Jesus is still encountering people asking questions to which he has already given answers. And yet, he tells a parable that reinforces just how merciful and patient he…

Are you going to be a fox or a hen? Before you answer that question, stop and take a few minutes … it is Lent after all … to engage in some honest self-reflection. The world may suggest that it’s better to be a fox, but Jesus would likely disagree. You can decide as you…

It’s the first Sunday of Lent… a time for looking inward. Be advised, you can’t blame everything on the devil. Well, you could, who would you be fooling? Sometimes you have to take responsibility for your own actions. Making responsible choices is up to you. Join hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith as they enter…

It may seem strange that on a Christian Holy day where many disciples will walk around with a smudge of ash on their foreheads for all to see, we have a scripture passage that tells us to pray and fast privately in our “closet.” Why don’t we wear the smudge of ash in a place…

We all have those special places where we’ve experienced God’s presence (the Holy Spirit), and for some reason we let ourselves believe that we need to return to that place to find God again. It’s in those places that we want to “pitch our tent” so to speak.  If we’ve learned nothing else in this…

We sing about it, we talk about, we say that it is at the heart of God, but when it comes to sharing it with those we find undeserving, we have second thoughts. “It,” of course, is LOVE. In this week’s Coffee to Go, hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith return to the Gospel of…

There’s no better place to give a sermon about community than on a plain (aka a level field). All communities may not put everyone on the same level, but in God’s Kingdom, every field is a level playing field. The blessings and woes of such a community ought to be felt by all.  In today’s…

There are other ways to determine your abundance than just by counting what’s in your “net.” Sometimes our abundance lies in the gifts and skills with which God has blessed us. In today’s Gospel passage from Luke, the disciples end up with enough fish to fill two nets and sink their boats, only to have…

We tell ourselves ‘It’s just not fair!’ … when someone gets something they don’t deserve, especially when we think it ought to be given to us … you know, the righteous ones!  But Jesus was famous for turning things on their head, rather than doing things the way they “ought” to be done. It is,…