"God created humanity in God's own image, in the divine image God created them, male and female God created them." Genesis 1:27 
You are created in the image of God. Whoever you or wherever you are on life's journey YOU are an image of God. It is too easy to forget this and see ourselves as an image of something else. We define ourselves by something we have done or by how we think others see us or how we wish to be seen in order to see ourselves as successful, loved or worthy. You are loved. You are worthy. God loves you regardless of your paycheck, your race, your gender, your sexual orientation or your past. Being created in God's image means we also have the to share this divine love to others because they too are created in the image of God. When you look in the face of your neighbor, your friends, your enemies, the person you pass on the street  or even ine mirror what do you see? Do you see the face of God?Worship this Sunday at 10am in the Sanctuary!

"And saw that it was good." Genesis 1:9
Home is a word filled with emotion. For many home means safety, joy, relaxation, solace, family and love. For too many others home is an unrealized dream, a safe refuge and shelter that due to abuse, homelessness or other circumstances has never become a reality. Church can be many things to many people, but at our core we are called to be a home: a safe, secure place sharing of grace, love and joy. 
God created the world, looked back and saw it was and still is good. God created each of us and called us to be the Church. To be Christ's hands, feet and heart healing, forgiving and loving the world. This Homecoming Sunday we welcome back not only everyone who already considers WSCC their spiritual home, but everyone who is still searching, still on a journey. Whoever you are, wherever you are on that journey - you are welcome here. Welcome home!

"If one part suffers, every part suffers with it." ~ 1 Corinthians 12:26
Despite what the new "I" culture may lead us to believe we cannot get through this life along. None of us is a rock or an island unto ourselves. We are relational creatures called to be in relationship: to nurture and be nurtured, to love and be loved. These last two weeks have seen our interconnectedness play out indifferent ways. The pain and injustice beginning with the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO and continuing with riots and peaceful protests has rippled throughout our nation. When one member suffers we all suffer- and so we, as Christians are called to examine our own prejudices and to stand against racism (both personal and systemic) and injustice wherever it occurs. At the same time we have seem an overwhelming number of people come together to raise awareness of and fund to research a cure for ALS. We remember and stand in solidarity with over 30,000 (just in the US!) who suffer from this debilitating disease. I hope you will join with me in prayer for the family and friends of Michael Brown and for our nation as we seek to dismantle the systemic racial injustices still too prevalent in our communities. Please join me in raising awareness about and fund to overcome ALS. As Rev. Dr Martin Luther King stated, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." May justice roll down like waters for those suffering from racial injustice and ALS.
~ Pastor Eric

"It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles." ~ Matthew 15:11
Every day we are told what or what not to eat: eat more omega-3 fatty acids, eat less salt, eat more quinoa, eat less sweets, don't eat gluten, don't eat carbs, don't be too fat or too skinny. While a lot these messages are well intentioned, they lead to a lot of anxiety about health and self-image. The Pharisees took this one step further and equated right eating with being in right relationship with God. For Jesus, being in right relationship with God is not demonstrated by what you eat as much as it is with who you eat with. Relationship with God starts with right relationship with those around you: neighbors, friends, family enemies and ourselves. See others and yourself as God sees you: a beloved and good child of God. Love one another in the self-sacrificing way of Jesus. Don't worry about what's on the menu, but about who is at the table and more importantly who isn't. Who needs to be invited? Who needs to be reminded of God's love? How will you be the agent of that divine invitation and blessing?
~ Pastor Eric

"Blessed are the Peacemakers for they will be called the Children of God." ~ Matthew 5:9
"But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." ~ Matthew 5:43-44
"With God all things are possible" ~ Matthew 19:26
While I am writing this the killing, rockets and bombs between Israel and Gaza have temporarily stopped and there is hope that both parties will reach a more lasting cease-fire soon. While I give thanks for the end of this latest war which resulted in over 1800 Palestinian deaths (85% were civilians) and over 65 Israeli deaths (64 were soldiers) as well as thousands injured, homeless and traumatized, I know that this is not peace, but merely a pause in a cycle of violence which goes back to 2006 (between Gaza and Israel) and even back to the 1930 and the end of World War I. Yet, I believe peace is possible.
I am confident that there will be no true peace between Israel and the Palestinians without reconciliation. The two peoples are too intertwined culturally, historically and geographically - they are inseparable, and yet there can be no reconciliation without liberation: Liberation form fear, liberation from occupation, liberation from despair and hopelessness for Israelis and Palestinians. 
What can we do to be agents of liberation and reconciliation? How can we become the peacemakers and children of God? We begin by seeing Israelis and Palestinians as brothers and sisters, by valuing each and every human life, and by declaring that the killing of innocents is always unacceptable. We need reject fear and ideology which moved us to demonize a particular religion, culture or people and we need reject the notion of victimhood that promotes fear and preaches security over humanity. We begin at home by challenging those off-hand comments that demonize Israelis (or Jews) or Palestinians (or Arabs or Muslims) by oversimplifying the conflict or justifying the deaths of innocents. We look deeper into the obstacles to peace and seek to overcome them by engaging with our elected representatives and on-the-ground mission partners (Faye and John Buttrick). We never lose hope. 
We need to have hope: hope for justice in which Israelis and Palestinians can life self-determined lives free of occupation and the fear of violence. Hope for liberation from victimhood, oppression and the illusion of violent security and retribution. Hope for a deep and abiding peace in the sure knowledge that with God all things are possible.
~ Pastor Eric

"If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." ~ 1 Corinthians 12:26-27

The Christian Church in the United States is arguable one of the most divided churches in the world. We have more denominations per capita and Sunday morning worship continues to be the most segregated hour in American life. We are blessed when we can overcome our divisions and segregation to worship together as one body of Christ. During August we are blessed to worship with First Church of Christ and Second Baptist at the historic First Baptist Church. Praying, singing and worshiping together is a prophetic act that proclaims unity above division, rejoices in diversity and celebrates our common calling to proclaim the good news of God's love in Jesus Christ. 
~ Pastor Eric

"These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.'" ~Matthew 13:40-41

Jesus commands the disciples and all of us to go out and proclaim the good news that Kingdom of God is near.How have you seen the Kingdom of God at work in your life? 
In the time of the Hebrew Bible, God’s people would build a monument wherever they felt God has done something amazing. They would gather stones and pile them high to remind them and tell everyone who passed there that God has done something incredible- to proclaim that God is Good! How will you proclaim the good news that the Kingdom of God has come near? What evidence will you give? How has the kingdom come alive in your life?
~ Pastor Eric

"Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin" ~Matthew 13:40-41
Temptation is an invitation to turn away from God and to choose something other than love, other than forgiveness, other than patience or self-control. None of us is perfectly good nor perfectly evil but instead each of us is composed of traits that reflect the Kingdom: love, grace, forgiveness, patience, compassion, and aspects that turn us from God: jealously, pride, hunger for power, hatred and violence. Jesus tells us that a time will come when those things that pull us from God will be burned away and righteousness will be all that is left. Where is God calling you? What is tempting you or pulling you away from God?  
~ Pastor Eric

"Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times." ~Matthew 18:21-22
Forgiveness is one of the most difficult and yet most central aspects of the Christian faith. There are many stages of forgiveness: forbearance, truth-telling, empathy and justice. Like stages of grief these are not chapters that one simply passes through but instead is more often messy and difficult. Perhaps the most difficult is empathy – to be able to see the situation from the other’s perspective. Jesus is constantly calling us to see beyond ourselves: to see the wholeness in the broken, the faith in the radical, the power in the powerless.   

"Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full." ~Matthew 14:19-20
Often when we think of the Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion we are reminded of the Last Supper on the Thursday night before Jesus was arrested, put on trial and crucified. However, the earliest Christians in the years after Jesus’s death and resurrection celebrated Jesus’s ministry by sharing a meal whenever they gathered. They remembered that Jesus ate with Pharisees and tax collectors, with rich men and prostitutes, with lepers and scribes and when he did be proclaimed that God’s grace, that God’s table knows no bounds. Breaking bread together is so central to who we are as people and as Christians that it is included in this Lord’s prayer. That every day we break bread we might be reminded of how blessed we are to have “our daily bread” and how blessed we are to share it with others.  ~ Pastor Eric