Author: Pastor Nick
Forty-seven years of ordained ministry, beginning for twelve years as a Jesuit priest, thirty-two as a United Methodist Pastor.
The Cup of Suffering
From entitlements to surrender to loving service. How Jesus’s teaching can have us move through suffering to joy. The readings: Isaiah 53:4-12. Mark 10:32-45... Read More
Drawn Nearer to Jesus
Every second that passes the Spirit is drawing you closer to God. See what happens when a rich young man pulls away from this powerful love.... Read More
The Laser Beam of Loving Prayer
The Holy Spirit has been poured out into our hearts. Like a laser beam, we have the power of the Spirit to direct love and healing to others. Our world is anything but in communion with each other. So... Read More
Loving, Open, and Aware
We relate an ancient way of understanding the human body, called “chakras” with the Sunday Gospel from the Lectionary, Mark 9:38-50: How this understanding of our human life can help us to appreci... Read More
Walking in the Fire
Fire is not a pleasant awareness in our times. Raging fires in the western United States, Australia, the heating of our planet… We see a similarity with the firey furnace that faced the three friend... Read More
Words for the Weary
Oh that we will take with us “Words for the Weary” from Isaiah 50:4-9a and Romans 12:9-21! Return to them often during the week and beyond. Be lifted by God, The G... Read More
Unrelenting Faith
Jesus’s retreat to the area around Tyre brings a unique encounter with a Greek woman from Syrian Phoenicia. Catch her light, determined heart, her unrelenting faith that Jesus would heal her dau... Read More
The Miracle Mirror
God’s image is reflected in the beauties of nature, but especially is the human being an image of God. What might this mean as we look at ourselves in a mirror, to know the image you see is really C... Read More
Whispers of Grace
The Call to Worship today began with these verses of Charles Wesley: Thou callest me to seek thy face, ‘Tis all I wish to seek; To attend the whispers of thy grace, And hear thee inl... Read More
The Divine Feminine
Continuing the 6th Chapter of the Gospel of John. Julian of Norwich leads us into the mystery of God in her poem, “I Am.” The Readings: Proverbs 9:1-6 and John 6:51-58. Image: David Holgat... Read More
The Eternal NOW
Continuing our sermon series on the 6th chapter of the Gospel ofJohn. Linking Ernesto Cardenal with Thomas Merton and a quotation from Merton’s “New Seeds of Contemplation.” Explorin... Read More
Kingdom-Love
We create a context for the Gospel, John 6:24-35, with the story of Ernesto Cardenal and the community of Solentiname in Nicaragua, 1965 to 1977.... Read More
A New Exodus
First in a series of five sermons on the Gospel of John, Chapter 6—this Sunday, verses 1-21. We leave the sequence of readings in the Lectionary of the Gospel of Mark in preceding Sundays, to insert... Read More
Joy Embedded in Compassion
On March 9 a faithful, wonderful lady of our church was quietly walking down her street when she was struck by a hit-and-run driver. After surgery, hospitalizations, rehab and struggles to recover, M... Read More
Love Stronger than Death
As we gaze into the various faces of cruelty in the world, we penetrate beyond them to see the love of God which is stronger than death, shining back into our hearts and giving us ever greater energy ... Read More
The Power of Compassion
Live-Streamed Worship. Gospel: Mark 5:21-43; Sermon: “The Power of Compassion”Featuring at the end, the prayer of Tumuhimbise Jackson Connolly from Kampala, Uganda View the entire service.... Read More
The Extravagant Father
Grateful to our Graduates, Fathers and everyone who lent their joy to this time of worship. The battery for my remote ran out during the sermon! I made a back-up with my pocket recorder and imported i... Read More
God Creating from Scratch
Readings and Sermon – “God Creating from Scratch”This is a video created in place of the Live-Stream on Facebook which did not transmit.... Read More
Deep Well at High Noon
Live- Streamed Worship Service, June 6, 2021 Tap Here for the full service.The Gospel: John 4:5-42Sermon: “Deep Well at High Noon”Artwork of Judith Fritchman judithfritchman.com Below is t... Read More
Wind Power
A service of remembrance and Trinity Sunday. Tap here for the complete service. The Scripture readings from the service:Galatians 5:13-18; 22-26https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/…John 3:1-21h... Read More
Pentecost Sunday and Confirmation
How will you engage with our service on Pentecost? What moments stand out for you? Comments made toward a spiritual engagement will be so helpful to increase the sense of communion with each other, wh... Read More
Pinholes in a Lampshade
Based on the Gospel: John 17:20-26, with the image of pinholes in a lampshade from a poem of Shabistari, a 14th century Persian poet. “I” and “you” focus light like decorative holes cut in a l... Read More