WORSHIP WITH US on Sunday, March 1, at 10:15 a.m.

WE LIVE STREAM OUR WORSHIP SERVICES AT 10:15 ON SUNDAY MORNING. You can join us online in real time at https://vimeo.com/event/1424751. This streaming address is the same each week.

The video of Sunday’s worship service will be posted after worship at https://vimeo.com/channels/1547852.

You can view and download the bulletin here.

“Do not be astonished,” Jesus says.

Oh, but Jesus, we are astonished. When we encounter Jesus, we puzzle over what he says and what he does. We wonder about the meaning of all of this for our own lives.

And when we hear Jesus say to Nicodemus: “Do not be astonished that I say to you, you must be born again,” we might even cringe.

Perhaps even more than being disturbed by the words of Jesus, those of us in the liberal Christian tradition are bothered by all those Christians who label themselves “born again,” and then wield that label like a club.

Marcus Borg suggests that many of us mainline Christians are uncomfortable with what he calls the “hot and heavy language” about being “born again” in part because of its “associations with revivals and a ‘sweaty’ kind of Christianity,” adding that “most of us have known at least one person who was born again in a remarkably unattractive way.”

Let’s not name names, but you know what he means.

 Scripture Lessons: Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:1-17

Sermon: “A Puzzling Encounter with Jesus”

The Rev. Bill Lovin preaching

Anthem:          “Jesus the Very Thought of Thee”    Mark Hayes

No matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here.