Pastor Jim’s Blog
Behind the Mask
Today's Word from Pastor Jim Written on Thursday, August 6... “God will direct you; you will be able to endure.” Exodus 18:23 I was at Payless last night. For the past 30 years I have made countless visits while shopping there. Right there in the frozen food section,...
Meteors and Majesty
Today's Word from Rev. David Bieniek... “Ah, Sovereign God, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you.” – Jeremiah 32:17 For years I had tried to catch the Perseid meteor shower. It seemed that...
Madness Vs Sadness, Part Deux
Today's Word from Pastor Tom... I was pot banging cupboard slamming mad. It did not matter what Brenda said to me, I was steamed, and no one was going to deprive me of my “mad on.” The wind had been blowing. It was late; I had forgotten the depth finder, but with my...
Hold on to Hope
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “Where can I go then from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I climb up to heaven, you are there; if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.” Psalm 139:7-8. The isolation of this pandemic has had a profoundly...
Robin Got a Scooter!
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “Who satisfies you with good as long as you live, so that your youth is renewed like the Eagles.” Psalm 103:5 This familiar verse touched me in a new way this morning; perhaps it was because I was watching a video last night featuring...
The Kingdom of Heaven is Like…
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... From the mailbag, yes that’s right, people still send cards and letters in the mail. This morning, after recycling the junk mail, I opened 18 envelopes. The mail came from TLC members and community members. Most of them included a gift...
Our Frail Humanity is a Thing of Beauty
Today's Word from Pastor Jim...Every day I receive dozens, sometimes hundreds, of emails. More than half of them are junk: scams, mattress sales, or forwarded jokes. Those don't last very long in my mailbox. I read touching messages from you, telling me...
Madness Versus Sadness
Today's Word from Pastor Tom Kidd... Maybe you have had those moments when the words of scripture can be pretty disappointing? No? We tend to speak of how the scriptures are uplifting or inspiring or hope-evoking. I mean, that’s what we expect from the...
A Season in Our Lives
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “Let us not grow weary in doing what is right,for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.”Galatians 6:9Speed was never my forte. Endurance was not my forte either. In fact, I think that I am still looking for my...
Grief & Ritual
Today’s Word from Rev. David Bieniek... I have been experiencing a lot of deaths lately. Not all of them have been friends or family members, and some I have only known of through the evening news, but at least 8 people’s deaths have affected me over the...
Thank You Felicia
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... It was 34 years ago yesterday that I walked down the aisle at First Lutheran Church in DeKalb, Illinois. Four years earlier, I waited at the end of that same aisle for my beautiful young bride to join me. Hand in hand, we...
People of Hope
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29 “A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries...
Lead Us Not into Temptation
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... "Lead us not into temptation." Check that! The Pope changed the Lord's Prayer. It did say, "lead us not into temptation." Now the most revered prayer in Christendom says, "Do not let us fall into temptation." On this one Pope Francis...
Fire and Brimstone
Today's Word from Pastor Dennis... “Pastor Hanson, when I come to church will you preach fire and brimstone at me?” She asked with just enough of a hint that “yes” was what she expected to hear, which prompted me to say, “Yes. Of course. Fire and brimstone. You won’t...
Contemplating Sand and Stars
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “Praise him, sun and moon, Praise him, all you shining stars.” Psalm 148:3 Go ahead and read all of Psalm 148. I will wait for you to return. Our family got away for a couple of days, to a beach home at Ocean Shores, loaned to us by a...
There Is No Other
Today's Word from Pastor Tom Kidd... I spent last week as the “manny.” Granddaughter Vivian and her family reside in McCall, Idaho. It is a wonderful community, situated on beautiful Payette Lake, at an elevation of 5,000 feet, in the Idaho wilderness. Vivian (named...
A Very Different VBS
Today's Word from Deacon Amy... Vacation Bible School is one of my favorite weeks every summer. I love the energy that comes with a building full of kids having fun and learning about Jesus. This year, as with many other things, VBS is very different....
A Mind-Boggling Disconnect
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... Yesterday, you invited me into your homes for worship. I am very appreciative; I don’t take this privilege for granted. Thank you! The sermon, in part, focused on the place of KINDNESS in our daily life and as we follow Jesus Christ....
Changing the Story
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... What would it take for you to change your story? Inherent in that question is the assumption that we are not powerless characters in someone else’s play. Inherent in that question is the belief that human stories are not likely to...
God’s Imagination
Today's Word from Rev. David Bieniek... On a recent morning I went down to our beach to do some work, but mostly just to take a few minutes alone. Our little dog went with me, anxious to explore the beach and see what he could find.We have some oyster...
Pandemic Musings
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... This from June 30th, 2020: “An unusually bright star has gone missing, a mystery of cosmic proportions.” I am not sure if you have been paying attention to the evening sky but if you gaze upon the Kinman dwarf galaxy, you...
God Is Still Working On Us
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you all are one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28I have been watching my share of nature videos on Facebook lately. Most...
Some Good News
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... The Christian Church gets a lot of bad press.That is partially because we deserve it, but it is mostly because bad news is what makes the news. Most churches, like most people, just go about their faithful work day after...
Wedding Plans
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... I met with a young couple this past week to plan their wedding. It is the wedding season, even though a strange one, thanks to that uninvited guest by the name of coronavirus. Planning the wedding itself is quite simple;...
A Gym Floor Metaphor
Today's Word from Pastor Jim...We moved into our new gym/fellowship hall and Sunday School wing on September 9th, 2001. It was two days before 9-11 and the sermon title that morning was, “The World will never look the same.” On that grand day of...
Finding Joy in this Season
Today's Word from Deacon Amy... Some of you know that my family has a small farm outside of Freeland. My daughters have both shown goats in 4H since they were in kindergarten. What started with two goats eight years ago, has turned into a herd of...
Quintessential 2020
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... It has been a big year for Skyler Stonebridge. A proud member of the South Whidbey Graduating Class of 2020, Skyler graduated in a Zoom ceremony. On July 5th he celebrated his 18th birthday with a virtual party. And on...
An Open-Minded Salvation
Today's Word from Pastor Tom Kidd... Okay, we need to get one thing straight right from the top – you should be very grateful that your salvation does not depend on me. I mean, just in case that had not heretofore dawned on you. To quote my mother, “You...
Mindfulness on a Rocky Seashore
Today's Word from Rev. David Bieniek... A while back I read "The Art of Power" by Thich Nhat Hanh, a book that a chaplain friend had given to me many years ago, encouraging me to find my own inner strength and allowing it to inform my ministry.The power...
Changing Plans
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money. Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring.” James 4:13My life tends to be...
Independence Day
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Psalm 139:13The word “independence” did not appear in the text of the Declaration of Independence. Independence is mostly an illusion. No nation or individual is actually...
A Final Gift
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “When we look to the wise, they die; fool and dolt perish together and leave their wealth to others.” Psalm 49:10I had a little contagion downtime early on Thursday morning. My sermon for Sunday was recorded and in the...
Getting on With Life
Today's Word from Pastor Tom Kidd... “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11In the midst of the Babylonian captivity, God speaks through the...
Fireworks and Grief
Today's Word from Rev. David Bieniek... When I was doing grief classes through my job as a hospice chaplain, I warned people who were working through their grief that one time when grief would strike would be during holidays. And I said that, of course,...
The Tale of Two Coffee Makers
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... The Church coffee maker quit functioning two weeks ago. Perhaps it did not feel safe working at church during Covid-19. Its health was compromised, its warranty had expired, its days were numbered. The real problem, I...
If Not Here, Then Where?
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead, we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything...
Thank You
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... "I thank my God in every remembrance of you." Philippians 1:3I want to just pause and say, "thank you." I am quite sure that I don't say thank you nearly enough. We have been in this crisis for more than 100 days and you...
Juneuary
Today's Word from Rev. David Bieniek... Growing up in Texas, I had never heard of Juneuary. In fact, in Texas June seldom had anything in common with January. It was usually the first month that temperatures would hit greater than 100 degrees! Here in the...
It Could Be Worse
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... I had an Aunt who always used to say, “It could be worse.” It was a way of staying positive in the midst of circumstances that were not positive; perhaps even disruptive or painful. Look on the bright side. The house and...
Dinner Time
Today's Word from Pastor Tom Kidd... Maybe the most recognizable piece of Renaissance art is Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” It is a fresco, a mural painting in the convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. I have not personally seen it. This...
The Evolving Word
Today’s Word from Pastor Dennis Hanson... Some of you may remember my friends Ole and Lena, Hittite family in the Midwest. The Pandemic has been hard for them, too. Along with the sad part of the epidemic, friends ill and some dying, no funerals and no...
Fog, Molasses, and a Bag of Bricks
Today's Word from Denise Wilson... Denise is a TLC member, and faculty at the University of WashingtonHere's a typical work day during the pandemic. These days amount to just about seven per week, since the apocalypse was declared and certain professions...
Is This Getting Old?
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where is my help to come?” Psalm 121I went out to start my little car earlier this week. It would not start because I had not driven it in several days. The two cars that I run around...
God’s Will
Today's Word from Philip Yancey... Has it really been two years since Janet and I joined you in worship at Trinity Lutheran? No one could have predicted the changes in all our lives since that time. Here's a reminder of where to put our trust, despite the...
The Moon and the March of Time
Today's Word from Rev. David Bieniek... The full moon this month (which happened back on June 5) had three different names that I found interesting. In Europe it was known as the Rose Moon, presumably the time when roses are blooming and could be...
Looking for the Red Letters
Today's Word from Pastor Tom Kidd... Strathmore, Alberta, November 1974... “Pastor, can you come over please, I need some help.” Two months into my first placement as a mission development pastor in this small prairie town, I received my first invitation...
A Note to Graduates
Today's Word from Karl Olsen, Minister of Music... "From small beginnings come great things." Proverbs These last few weeks have been filled with graduations, from preschool through college. Many days or years spent in pursuit of... a diploma? a cap and...
Life in Limbo
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... I have not really given you much attention. I probably have not looked at you since the first week of April, but you are still hanging there in my office. I glanced at you by accident this morning, and a wave of sadness...
Civil Disobedience
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “Jesus, I have a request. Justice for others, mercy for me.”In the 1980’s I had a mentor and friend by the name of Jon Nelson. He was the pastor at Central Lutheran Church in Seattle. Jon was a character, rough around the...
Giving Thanks
Today's Word from Pastor Jim... “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus.” I Corinthians 1:4Giving thanks is good, right, and healthy. If we pause to give thanks, then we are momentarily...