Conversations Beyond the Pew with the Rev

Have you ever wanted to experience God, to know God's presence, to know God has your back?How does Jesus impact your prayer life?Sunday, June 1, 2025John 17:1-26

How does Jesus deal with loneliness?Do you ever feel misunderstood, disconnected, or lonely?Have you ever been surrounded by people but feel isolated?Sunday, May 25, 2025John 14:15-31

Do you ever struggle with certain relationships?Are you ever frustrated by what other people do?Do you ever wish your relationship were better, easy, or wanted to cultivate more?How does Jesus help you in your relationships?Sunday, May 18, 2025John 13:31-35Acts 11:1-18

How does Jesus help you find peace?Do you ever feel like your life is too busy?Do you ever feel like life is so chaotic it makes your head spin?Do you ever wish you could catch a break or have a little more peace?Sunday, May 11, 2025Acts 9:22-43

Have you ever wanted to experience God, to know God's presence, to know God has your back?How does Jesus impact your prayer life?Sunday, June 1, 2025John 17:1-26

How does Jesus encourage you?Sunday, May 4, 2025John 21:1-19

Have you ever wondered if things will ever get better?Have you ever struggled to notice the good, what is beautiful in the midst of chaos?Easter, Sunday, April 20, 2025 - Impossible JoyMatthew 28:1-20

Who is Jesus on the cross?What are the heavy burdens you are carrying that you want to get rid of?Sunday, April 13, 2025Matthew 27:32-61

Who is Jesus in tense situations?Have you ever been in a tense situation and wished that it would stop?Have you ever struggled to deal with tense situations?Sunday, April 6, 2025 Matthew 27:1-2, 11-31

Who is Jesus when no one seems to care?Have you ever felt like no one cared? Sunday, March 30, 2025Matthew 26:57-75

Do you ever feel pressure from others, situations, or yourself?Who is Jesus under pressure?Sunday, March 23, 2025Matthew 26:36-56

Who is Jesus when celebrations are interrupted?Have you ever been so exhausted, frustrated, or busy that celebration seems impossible?Matthew 26:17-35Sunday, March 16, 2025

Have you ever had to deal with difficult people?Do you wonder if there is a better way of handling situations with others?Who is Jesus when there are haters?Sunday, March 9, 2025Matthew 26:1-16

Do you ever feel like life is a struggle?Do you feel like problems just build with no relief?How does Jesus give you confidence in living life?Sunday, March 2, 2025John 9:18-41

How do you want healing in your life?How does Jesus change your understanding of healing?Sunday, February 23, 2025John 9:1-17

How does Jesus change your day?Sunday, February 16, 2025Mark 11:12-33

What kind of opportunities does Jesus create?Sunday, February 9, 2025 Mark 10:35-52

What is possible with God? Sunday, February 2, 2025 Mark 10:13-31

How can you be a healing presence for others? Do you ever find it difficult to say the right thing at the right time?  You want to be helpful to others but you aren't sure how? Sunday, January 26, 2025 Mark 3:1-11, 20-35

Journey through Church Trauma: a conversation with Kathryn

Who does Jesus call you to be? Sunday, January 19, 2025 John 1:29-51

What are some practices that make your life better? Sunday, January 5, 2025 Philippians 2:1-18

How do you turn your dreams into reality? How do you create a good life? How do you make good things happen for yourself and others? How do you get off the hamster wheel of doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? Sunday, December 29, 2024 Isaiah 52:1-10Psalm 98:1-8

How do you create a joyful life? Christmas Eve 2024 Isaiah 9:2-7 Luke 2:4-20

Do you ever feel overwhelmed? Do you feel too busy and exhausted by the Christmas season?  Sunday, December 22, 2024 Genesis 1:27-31 Jeremiah 31:31-33 Micah 5:2-4 Luke 1:26-35, 38

How do you create a life worth living? Do you ever feel unfulfilled? Do you ever wonder if this is all there is to life? Do you ever second guess the decisions you made about your life? Sunday, December 15, 2024 Luke 2:21-40

How do you discover your purpose? Do you ever feel like what you do doesn't matter? Have you ever felt useless? Do you ever feel like you are on a hamster wheel and getting nowhere? Sunday, December 8, 2024 Matthew 2:1-23

How do you know where you belong? Have you ever felt out of place? Have you ever wondered whether or not you really belong in a particular community, with your family, where you work, in school, at church, or just in general? Sunday, December 1, 2024 Matthew 1:1-9, 16-25 Jeremiah 33:15-16 Psalm 25:1-2, 4-5

Who is Jesus? Why does it matter who Jesus is? How does knowing who Jesus is impact our regular, every day lives? Sunday, November 24, 2024 John 18:7-37

How do you heal from suffering? Sunday, November 17, 2024 Exodus 1:1-22; 2:1-10 Quotes Famous Buddhist saying: “Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.” Buddha: “It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.” Micah 6:8 - “what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?”

How do you find healing when grieving? Sunday, November 10, 2024 Genesis 50:1-26 Questions What are the rituals we practice when grieving and help others to practice? Who do we allow to be present for our grief and who are we present for? How do we observe and give space to our grief? How do we allow grief to shape us? How are we blessing others as we live with our grief? How do we allow our grief to deepen connections with others? How do we allow celebration to be part of our grief? Quotes Marcus Cicero: “Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.” Rumi: “Grief can be the garden of compassion. If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life's search for love and wisdom.”

Do you ever want to be helpful?    Do you ever wish you could fix things for others or just make life better? How can you be a healing presence for others? Genesis 48:1-22 Sunday, November 3, 2024 Quote Henri Nouwen: “To give someone a blessing is the most significant affirmation we can offer.”

How do you deal with pressure? How do you find healing when you're under pressure? Sunday, October 27, 2024 Genesis 47:13-31 Quotes Kobe Bryant: “Everything negative - pressure, challenges - is all an opportunity for me to rise.” Jurgen Klopp: “The challenge is to stay cool enough to handle the pressure in the moment so that you can succeed in the future.”

How do you find healing when you're uncomfortable? Sunday, October 20, 2024 Genesis 46:1-7, 28-34; 47:1-12

How do you find healing when you have regrets? How many of us struggle with regrets? Sunday, October 13, 2024 Genesis 45

Where do you find hope? Sunday, October 6, 2024 Isaiah 40:28-31 Isaiah 43:1-4 1 Timothy 4:7b-9 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

How do you find healing in complicated relationships? Sunday, September 29, 2024 Genesis 44

How do you find healing from your past? Sunday, September 15, 2024 Genesis 42:1-29, 35-38

Do you ever feel like you've been forgotten by others? Do you ever feel like you don't matter? Do you ever struggle with being heard? Genesis 41:1-16, 25-41 Sunday, September 8, 2024

Do you ever feel like life is harder than it needs to be? Why do things have to be so complicated? Sunday, September 1, 2024 Genesis 35:1-29

Do you ever feel like life is too chaotic? How do you experience God when everything is changing? Sunday, August 25, 2024 Genesis 31:1-32

Finding Peace in the Chaos of life. A conversation with Jennifer about the good, bad, and everything in between when we feel alone.

How do you deal with loneliness? How do you experience God's presence when you feel alone? Sunday, August 18, 2024 Genesis 28:10-22; 29:1-14

A conversation with Jen on how do we move forward when we experience disappointments.

How do you deal with disappointment? How do you experience God's presence when you are disappointed? Sunday, August 11, 2024 Genesis 27:30-46, 28:1-5, 8-9

How do you experience God's presence when your family is complicated? Sunday, August 4, 2024 Genesis 27:1-29

A conversation with Jennifer about worries, the future, and how do we deal with any of it.

How do you experience God's presence when the future seems uncertain? Sunday, July 21, 2024 Genesis 15

How do you respond to bad news?

How do you deal with changes in your relationships?

How do you experience God's presence when relationships change? Sunday, July 14, 2024 Genesis 13:1-18