Rev. Danielle K. Bartz                                                                                              April 4, 2021 Mark 16:1-8                                                                                                               “Our Story” Every year I tell you the same thing: “We are an Easter people, and alleluia is our cry.”  St. Augustine, who originally penned those words, summed up what it means to be Christian in such a simple and yet profound way.  You have heard me say it before […]

Mark 11:1-11                                                                                                                  “Save Us” Everyone thought things would be different now.  Everyone thought the tide had turned, the power had shifted, their salvation had arrived.  They shouted and waved palms and pushed their way to the front to catch a glimpse of the one they wanted to call King.  So convinced they were that […]

Rev. Danielle K Bartz                                                                                            March 21, 2021 Based on John 12:20-33                                                          “We Wish to See Jesus: A Story” The crowd is over-whelming.  People jostling one another, shouting to their friends, loud laughter, children running around.  The air is filled with the dust kicked up by the feet of thousands of people and animals wandering the city.  The smell of food […]

John 3:14-21                                                                           “Breaking the Rules” Professor Christopher Grundy was my preaching professor at Eden Seminary.  Amongst the other things he taught us, he emphasized three things a pastor should NEVER do while preaching. Engage in eisegesis.  Eisegesis is the practice of picking scripture to prove a point.  Most clergy are guilty of this practice every […]

Rev. Danielle K Bartz                                                                                              March 7, 2021           John 2:13-22                                                                                                              #TheMoment Last weekend, National Public Radio asked its listeners to comment on their social media pages about the moment from 2020 they realized the pandemic was going to change everything.  Using the tag #TheMoment, thousands of people were sharing what it was that tipped […]

Rev. Danielle K Bartz                                                                                       February 28, 2021 Mark 8:31-38                                                                                        “Economy of Abundance” When I was an adolescent I went to Arizona for the first time, the first of what would turn out to be frequent trips to visit family.  But that first trip was memorable, because as a girl from Minnesota, the desert was something so new […]

Mark 1:12-13                                                                                                            “What If…” What if…I have been thinking about Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness wrong all along?  We hear this story at the start of Lent every year – a reminder that Jesus spent time in desolate isolation, being tempted by evil, for 40 days – so therefore we shouldn’t complain about […]

Mark 9:2-9                                                                                      “Our Mountains” “Every night you look at the stars.”  That is what my neighbor observed about me the other day.  He lives next door to me and is often out in his yard when I take my dog out at night before going to bed.  When he and I were both out shoveling last […]