The weekend of the annual Bloomsday festivities have arrived once again.  The great thing about this event, is that the annual Millwood Church Youth dinner and auction are also here =).  This Saturday, May 2 at 6pm at the church, we have our largest fundraiser of the year.  Last year was my first year of doing something like this, and this time I am even more excited because of the many items we have, as well as the youth committee who has helped a great deal this year with this dinner and auction.  We are eating Chili and Cornbread for dinner and then enjoying some great items in both the silent and oral auction.  I realize that not everyone wants to eat Chili the night before they run Bloomsday, but please feel free to come for the auction and dessert.  
  &am ... Read More »

This will be the third year of trying to grow a giant pumpkin at the Goodwin house. Our first year landed us an 80 pounder. We were feeling pretty good about that. We got third place in the kids division. Our goal last year was the break the 100 lb barrier but because of the late onset of summer, the hail storm and a genetic predisposition to crowd plants, out largest pumpkin was less than 50 lbs. Funny thing is, the girls moved up into second place in the kids competition and even got a plaque from a local garden club. I guess it was tough all over last year for pumpkinophiles.

This year we're taking it to the next level. I've decided we need some better genetic material to start with so I went online and bou ... Read More »

Last Sunday after worship Gladys Cory mentioned that back in the 1930's she went up Fruit Hill Rd. to Riblett Mansion to ask Mrs. Riblett if Millwood Presbyterian could hold an Easter sunrise service on the grounds of the mansion. Here we are over 70 years later planning on making the trek up the hill to what is now Arbor Crest Winery to celebrate the resurrection. It's a great tradition not just for our church but for the whole Spokane Valley.

I imagine Gladys was a little nervous approaching the eccentric and legendary mansion, but she charged ahead. Gladys is a good role model for us today as a community. There are bold and anxiety inducing steps God is inviting us to take in our ministry and in our personal journeys of faith. Th Read More »

In my sermon Sunday, I asked why God would instruct the Israelites to construct such a beautiful tabernacle. Here's the excerpt:

One good question that we do well to ask here is why go to all this trouble to make such an elaborate tent in the midst of a desolate wilderness. Why waste what little resources the people have on pretty and precisely made things. Shouldn’t they use those resources to get to the Promised Land – isn’t that the purpose and point of this journey – to get there as quickly as possible, to get to the promised land.

Actually No…
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A survey just came out this week, several of you sent me the link. The results of the survey are fascinating.

One notable statistic is that the Pacific Northwest is no longer the least religious place in the country. That honor now goes to Northeast New England. It’s not that we’ve made huge improvements, it’s that they are more rapidly becoming less religious than we are.

But the most important finding of the study, the result that made the most news is that, as the Seattle Times puts it, “Americans are losing their religion.” In 1990 86% of people identified themselves as Christian and in the most recent survey that number was down to 76%. More than 25% of the country does not expect to have a religious funeral service.

And the key nu ... Read More »

It’s hard to believe, but Easter is only a few short weeks away.  I’ve always heard I’m supposed to plant potatoes on Good Friday, but I suspect I’ll still have a good bit of snow on the ground March 21.  Easter is early this year.  In fact it’s almost as early as it will ever be.  March 22 is the earliest possible date for Easter, and that hasn’t happened since 1818, and will not happen again until 2285.  So this year’s date, March 23, is kind of special.  It will be the earliest Easter most of us will experience in our lifetimes.  The uniqueness of this early date gives us an opportunity to reflect on why we celebrate Easter when we do.  What is the meaning and significance of the timing of our practice of celebrating Easter Sunday?

In the early church, the timing of celebrating Easter was tied to the Jewish observance of the Passover. The Eastern Church tradition was to strictly observe the Easter date based ... Read More »

What if after hearing the sermon on Sunday we went home and actually lived out what we heard.  As Craig recently suggested it would be appropriate for a preacher to respond to the affirmation, “good sermon,” with the challenge, “that remains to be seen.” I don’t know about you but our current sermon series on the book of James has really got me thinking.   I wonder how my life might be different if I were to regularly become a doer of the word and not merely a hearer of it.

This past year I became convicted of an area in my life that was stuck in the “hearing” mode.  In sharing about it with you I hope it will encourage all of us to be doers in this area as well.  It has to do with prayer. The fact is I love to pray.  I’m so grateful that when life hits hard for me or someone else I can pray and entrust the situatio ... Read More »

I was recently interviewed by the Religion reporter from the Spokesman Review about the upcoming Emergent conference at Whitworth. In debriefing with her on the research for the article, she shared that one of her surprising discoveries is that there are Bible believing, Jesus confessing churches that are concerned about the environment. As a person concerned about environmental issues, she said in an honest moment, “I didn’t know it could be like that in the church.”

As I reflect on that conversation I am hopeful that there is a renewed concern for God’s creation that is finding expression in the church, but I am also left to wonder how we became laggards on an issue for which we should be leaders in the community.

After all, we are the one’s who affirm that God created all things and upon completing the work, proclaimed, “It’s all good.” We are the ones who inherit Adam and Eve’s commission to “take care of t ... Read More »

I recently heard a talk from a national church leader speaking at a conference of young Christian leaders from around the country. He said to his captive audience of cultural savvy young adults, “Aren’t you tired of being relevant? I’m sick and tired of being relevant. Relevant means someone else got there first. And now I’m trying to connect. We need to stop being relevant and start leading the way. Wouldn’t it be more exciting if, instead of saying we’re a relevant church to the world around us, instead the world was saying we’ve got to catch up to that church, something extraordinary is happening there. That would be a radical shift for us.” You can go here to watch the video clip for yourself.

Shortly after seeing that clip and being struck by that ... Read More »

Sometimes the language of the King James Bible gets at the texture of a Bible passage more than our contemporary translations. One of those instances is in 1 Peter 2:9. As the King James puts it; “⁹But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” Generally we don’t like to be thought of as peculiar, but Peter says this is exactly what we are called to be. We are supposed to be different because we belong to God and in that difference we “shew forth” the goodness of God. Part of God’s design for the church is that we make God’s character, love, and intentions know through our unique presence in the world. Perhaps more than what ... Read More »