Dear friends in Christ, We get to celebrate the season of Easter all throughout the month of April! Easter extends into May until the celebration of Pentecost. This means weeks of celebration and joy in the resurrected Jesus. You’ll continue to see the color white used in the church paraments to symbolize resurrection and joy. We’ll hear together how Jesus appears to his disciples and discuss the difference resurrection brings to our lives.   This celebration kicks off during Easter Vigil on...

Dearest Members of Bethlehem, “I am the vine; you are the branches.  Those who abide in me and I in them, bear much fruit…” -John 15:5 I was reminded recently that this little line from the Gospel of John is both a source of meaningful wisdom and a compelling image. Jesus wanted to be sure that we understood where we stood, or at least should be standing. We are not the “vine,” and we certainly are not the “roots”… we are the “branches.”  Is this a heap of poetical nonsense, a biblical...

Dearest Members of Bethlehem, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the most high.” I grew up on the Kiskiminetas River, I had lots of adventures on that river.  Fishing, boating, swimming, and countless hours peering out on to the perpetual flow.  That river became a part of my story, I was a kind of 1980’s Huckleberry Finn, every once in a while even sleeping out in a tree house. And yet, as glorious as those memories might be, years and wisdom...