Posts in Pastor Lisa
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Knowing Your Limits
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Knowing Your Limits

“I need to tell you something,” my 104-year-old Grandpa said to me in a serious tone. I leaned in a little closer. “I can’t do it like I used to a year ago. One hundred and four isn’t 103!” 

We both sat back at laughed. “I’ll have to take your word for it, Grandpa!” I told him. Most of us will probably never reach that 104-year mile marker. But we recognize on a regular basis that our bodies, minds, and spirits have limitations. I recently told a friend that I wish I had the wisdom I do now in my 25-year-old body. I’m sure many of you feel the same way. 

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Biblical, Blog, Church, Pastor LisaMariah GesePastor's blog
A Word from Pastor Lisa: "Sorrow and Love Flowed Mingled Down"
A Word from Pastor Lisa: "Sorrow and Love Flowed Mingled Down"

As a pastor, I’m sometimes invited to walk with people in very sacred spaces. The decision to transition genders is one of these spaces. This step is never taken lightly because it involves the entirety of a person – body, hormones, sex organs, mind, spirit, identity, and often a name and pronoun change. It is a very personal decision, and for youth, a family decision involving parents or guardians.

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Blog, Pastor LisaAndy CanadaPastor's blog, blog
Texts from Paul to Divided United Methodists
Texts from Paul to Divided United Methodists

When modern Christians say they wish they could go back to the good ole days of the early church, we have to break the news to them. There were no good ole days. From the beginning, the church faced debates, infighting, struggles, and division. Paul got wind of these storms and sent a letter of comfort and challenge to the young church. The letter is comforting because Paul reminded them of their unity in Christ. It was challenging because Paul refused to let them perpetuate lesser differences which threatened that unity. How might Paul challenge us today in our own fractured denomination that appears beyond repair?

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Blog, Pastor LisaAndy CanadaPastor's blog, blog
A Word from Pastor Lisa: What Gifts Can We Bring?
A Word from Pastor Lisa: What Gifts Can We Bring?

On Sunday, we’ll learn more about what gold, frankincense, and myrrh represented. For now, I hope you’ll reflect on this scene: Weary, stinky travelers from a far-off land who are outside of Jesus’ tight-knit Jewish community. They haven’t grown up hearing the stories of the Hebrew heroes. Yet they recognize the Divine when they find him. And their response is to rejoice, to worship, and to offer gifts that only they can give.

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Blog, Holidays, Pastor LisaMariah GesePastor's blog, blog
Bones or No Bones?
Bones or No Bones?

Noodles the 13-year-old pug has become an overnight Internet sensation for his ability to predict what type of day we’re going to have. Every morning, his owner Jonathan Graziano films Noodles for TikTok and attempts to stand Noodles up in his dog bed. Will Noodles have bones today?

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Pastor LisaAndy Canadarest
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Getting into Gear
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Getting into Gear

For the past year, I’ve been having trouble with my bicycle. Every time I coast down a hill or come to a complete stop, the chain falls out of gear. When I go to pedal again, nothing happens. I pedal into the air and don’t move at all. I have to shift the gears around in order to engage the bike again. Not only is this frustrating, but it’s also quite dangerous.

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Pastor Lisa, Blog, Church, BiblicalKatelyn Hlavatybike, bicycle, Corinthians
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Uprooted and Transformed
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Uprooted and Transformed

There is little more satisfying in our earthly lives than pulling up a thistle or dandelion by the roots. That’s exactly what I was doing when I heard our 5-year-old’s voice cry, “Aaah! You’re digging up my beautiful dandelions!” I looked over to see an altar of dandelions she had harvested in the center of our small garden, in addition to the bouquet in her hands. How is one person’s weed another person’s beautiful flower?

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Blog, Pastor LisaKatelyn Hlavatydisciples path, wesley, Romans, garden, Pandemic, uprooted, transformedComment
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Salt of the Earth
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Salt of the Earth

“Salt of the earth” has become a cliché, says Jewish New Testament scholar Amy-Jill Levine in The Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner’s Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet when Jesus tells this to his disciples, it isn’t a command, it’s a fact: “You are the salt of the earth.” The “you” is plural, as in “y’all.” Jesus specifically tells the disciples they are the salt of the earth. They exist not for themselves alone but for the world. Just like salt is needed for preserving, seasoning, and giving life, disciples are to season, color, and make the world more alive. They represent what is good in the world.

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Blog, Pastor LisaKatelyn Hlavatysalt, salt of the earth, kindnessComment
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Treasures
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Treasures

The IU men’s basketball news had our household in a tizzy on Monday. My husband obsessed over the details of the buyout, the possible new head coaches, and the best outcome for the team. I could not let go of the potential $10.5 million given to fire the coach. I tweeted about the many ways that money could have benefited Bloomington and the university in terms of education, poverty, health care, the environment, children, youth, and students, and yet we spent a vast earthly treasure on sports. Our priorities seemed so contrary to what Jesus advocates in the Sermon on the Mount.

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Blog, Pastor LisaKatelyn Hlavatytreasure, treasures, judgment, riches, wealth, earthly treasures
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Let Your Light Shine
A Word from Pastor Lisa: Let Your Light Shine

In the dark and freezing cold temperatures last week, we made an ice globe. We took a balloon, filled it with water, and then let it freeze outdoors for a few days. When we cut off the balloon, we dumped excess water out of the hollow ice globe. Then we lit a tealight candle, placed it inside the globe, and admired the beauty on our porch. “Let your light shine before others,” Jesus told his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, “so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

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Current Events, Blog, Pastor LisaKatelyn HlavatyWinter, Ice, Light, Let your light shine, Emotions