Jan 5, 2020
This Sunday - the first in 2020 - is a special day in the life of our church each year. As we share the bread and cup of Holy Communion, we also begin the new year by joining in John Wesley's Covenant Prayer and committing our lives anew to our Lord. The prayer begins with these powerful words: "I am no longer my own, but thine."
Grace, peace and love in the new year!
Pastor Bob
Matthew 2:1-12
- Jan 5, 2020Of Dreams and Kings and Sordid Things
Of Dreams and Kings and Sordid Things
Jan 5, 2020
This Sunday - the first in 2020 - is a special day in the life of our church each year. As we share the bread and cup of Holy Communion, we also begin the new year by joining in John Wesley's Covenant Prayer and committing our lives anew to our Lord. The prayer begins with these powerful words: "I am no longer my own, but thine."
Grace, peace and love in the new year!
Pastor Bob
Matthew 2:1-12
- Dec 29, 2019No Longer A Slave
No Longer A Slave
December 29, 2019 No Longer A Slave
OUR SUNDAY WORSHIP ON DECEMBER 29TH.... This coming Sunday our worship will include songs by Fritz and Peggy Horwitz as well as a "Hymn Sing" of favorite songs of the Christmas season. I will share a short devotion so that we have plenty of time to worship our Lord God in song. Come and enjoy the fellowship and worship on this last Sunday of 2019!
Grace, peace and love at Christmas and always!
Pastor Bob
Luke 2:1-20
Galatians 4:4-7
- Dec 22, 2019God With Us
God With Us
December 22, 2019 God With Us
I want to thank ever member and friend of Verona UMC and Aisle 7 Fellowship who have given of their time and energies in so many ways as we approach Christimas and the birth of our Lord.....
The folks who serve local families each week at our food pantry.... the volunteers who serve as hosts at the Verona Community Center, making everyone feel welcome and helping those in need....the adult and children's choirs for a truly spectacular Christmas concert last Sunday.... the people who participate in preparing for and leading our worship services.... every teacher and student in Sunday School.... everyone who warmly greets a first-time guest.... all those who faithfully pray each day.... and those whose generous hearts lead them to give generously so that others may find grace, healing, and the good news of Jesus Christ through our church.
What an exciting time it is to be in ministry together!
Grace and peace, Pastor Bob
Matthew 1:18-25, John 1:1-14
- Dec 15, 2019What did you expect?
What did you expect?
December 15, 2019 What did you expect?
"What did you go out to see." (Matthew 11:8)
What do we expect to see as we approach Christmas Day? We often say that Advent is a season of expectation leading us to the birth of Christ. What are you expecting this Christmas? Presents under a tree? Stress? Family gatherings? Singing carols at church?
All of those experiences are part of most of our Christmases. But the one expectation that supercedes them all is the expectation of Christ's presence in our midst. May the words "Unto us a Savior is born!" echo through every day of the Advent and Christmas seasons and beyond!
Grace and peace, Pastor Bob
Matthew 11:2-11
Luke 17:20-33
- Dec 8, 2019The Power in the Manger
The Power in the Manger
December 8, 2019 The Power in the Manger
"Sustaining all things by the power of His Word." (Hebrews 1:3a)
All of humanity is starved for truth. But not all realize they are starving.
On a mission trip some 40 years ago, I remember seeing Haitian mothers baking mud pies on the sun-heated tin roofs of their homes. The pies were for their children to eat, not play with. Pies whose only real value was that they could fill a child's empty stomach and stop the hunger pains and crying for a few hours.
What those mud pies couldn't do is place life-preserving, health-sustaining nutrients into their baby's bellies. They might temporarily satisfy their hunger but they weren't real food.
All of humanity is starved for truth. Real truth, not mud pies.
In this season celebrating the Truth born in Bethlehem, may we all come to know the One who "sustains all things by the power of His Word."
And may we turn up our noses at the mud pies the world offers in place of the Good News of God's truth in the flesh - Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace, Pastor Bob
Hebrews 1:1-4
- Dec 1, 2019Stay Awake
Stay Awake
December 1, 2019 Stay Awake
This Sunday is the first Sunday in the Advent Season, a month long season of preparation for the coming of Jesus into the world - and of expectation of his Second Coming. Let's come together each Sunday to remember the promises of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Grace and peace, Pastor Bob
Matthew 24:36-44
- Nov 24, 2019A Heart for Thanks & Giving
A Heart for Thanks & Giving
November 24, 2019 A Heart for Thanks & Giving
We have so much to be thankful for! Please set aside time during this season of thanksgiving to raise your voice with others in grateful praise!
Grace and peace, Pastor Bob
Psalm 100
- Nov 17, 2019The Gift of Salvation
The Gift of Salvation
November 17, 2019 The Gift of Salvation
Salvation. It's the reason Jesus came to this earth: "To seek and save the lost." This Sunday's message will focus on this most precious of God's gifts.
With Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas all taking place over the next six weeks, I'd like to suggest we all take a deep, deep breath and say a prayer that God would quiet our souls so that we might hear his voice during this season of thanks, anticipation, and great joy! You'll see below some resources and special events designed to help you turn your eyes on Jesus during a time when the world chases after your heart, mind, and pocketbook!
Please join us for every Sunday morning worship time and the special concerts and events that mark this holiest of seasons.
Grace and peace, Pastor Bob
Romans 5:1-8
- Nov 10, 2019God’s gift of nature
God’s gift of nature
November 10, 2019 God’s gift of nature
We have hymns that glorify it.
Psalms that testify to the wonder of it.
Sermons that try to capture the meaning of it.
Nature is a small word for a seemingly infinite universe, a home shared by black holes and neutron stars and a tiny blue marble called earth.
I recently read an article on National Public Radio's website where a scientist wondered how our exquisitely beautiful universe could exist without a supreme designer. He said, "...beautiful spiral and elliptical galaxies are scattered throughout, but not randomly; they lie along invisible filaments, like glitter tossed on lines of glue. Where several big filaments intersect, great clusters of galaxies have formed. Why?...Where did all this structure come from?
This Sunday we will give thanks for every atom, filament, and living being in this universe. And we'll especially give thanks for the author of this universe and of all nature, our Lord Jesus Christ. Concerning Jesus, John said in his Gospel, He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (John 1:1-3). That's right. Nothing was made without Him, including the star dust and water and atoms that are you and me.
Thank God for the gift of creation! What an awesome world we live in!
And this Sunday, the eve of Veterans Day in our nation, do not neglect to thank a veteran for their service to peace and freedom.
Grace and peace, Pastor Bob
Genesis 1:26-31
- Nov 3, 2019The Gift of the Family of God
The Gift of the Family of God
November 3, 2019 The Gift of the Family of God
This Sunday is one of the most beautiful worship services in our church year - our observance of All Saints Sunday. At each service we'll have a time of remembrance of loved ones who have inherited their eternal reward by prayers and the lighting of candles.
Please read the passage from Romans 12 above. It is a compilation of instructions for the followers of Jesus, inspired by the Lord's own teachings. The Christian community is called by Paul to reflect the very Spirit of our Lord in our daily living. As we open this passage this Sunday during our sermon, we'll consider how modern-day Christians, often isolated from each other for the better part of the week, can live out the command to be "devoted to each other in love" and to be sanctified in that love.
Grace and peace, Pastor Bob
Romans 12:9-21