What We Know and What We Don’t Know

You don’t know what church Jesus is going to build in the new building. You don’t know what qualities, what abilities, what potential, God sees in you. You don’t know what Church of the Savior can become or will become.

What do you know? What you know, say boldly.

What you know you don’t know, wait for humbly and hopefully.

And the unknown unknowns? As Tony Soprano said to his daughter, “What you don’t know could fill a book.” You don’t even know what you don’t know.

But know this: God is faithful, and God has called you into the partnership of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Meditation by The Rev. Valerie Coe Lowder, preacher

Sunday, January 18, 2026

"Tender Merciful Love"

“We want merriment. We want twinkly lights. We want jingle-bells. We want bubbles. We want frivolity and festivities and familiar songs with catchy tunes. We want speed. And Advent is none of that. .... Advent is a slow, four-week crescendo of illumination. It takes time. Waiting and watching is the purpose of Advent. We’re supposed to look forward to Christmas, rather than dive right in. Deep sighs are expected. Patience is tested. If we rush through Advent, we miss its beauty and its crucial message altogether. So as we begin Advent, I invite you to slowness and stillness. I invite you to breathe deeper. Advent offers us an expectant pause. I know it’s busy and hectic and sparkly and loud out there. But here and now, in Christian worship, we get an antidote to all that -- a much-needed reprieve. A simple invitation to wait and to hope.”

Meditation by The Rev. Valerie Coe Lowder
Sunday, December 21, 2025

“How Do We Know?”

"Part of the reason we are called to be together in this place (church/worship) is to help one another know when we have encountered the Divine.

We are to be intentional about seeking God, Holy Mystery, the Divine.

We are not on this journey alone - unless we choose to be."

Meditation by The Rev. Linda Miner

Sunday, January 4, 2026

“The Untold Story of John the Baptist"

“On this second Sunday of Advent,

We light the candle of peace

In a world that is still overwhelmed by violence and cruelty,

Oppression and injustice,

Just as it was in the time of John the Baptist and Jesus.

But as followers of Jesus,

We are still invited to participate in a divine-human collaboration

With the nonviolent God

To make the Beloved Community a reality on earth.

And so we sing with Zechariah:

“In the tender compassion of our God,

the dawn from on high shall break upon us,

To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, 

and to guide our feet in the way of peace.”

Meditation by Rebecca Avery-Quinn, preacher

Sunday, December 7, 2025

“Vigilant Hope”

“We want merriment.  We want twinkly lights.  We want jingle-bells.  We want bubbles.  We want frivolity and festivities and familiar songs with catchy tunes.  We want speed.  And Advent is none of that. .... Advent is a slow, four-week crescendo of illumination.  It takes time.  Waiting and watching is the purpose of Advent.  We’re supposed to look forward to Christmas, rather than dive right in.  Deep sighs are expected.  Patience is tested.  If we rush through Advent, we miss its beauty and its crucial message altogether.  So as we begin Advent, I invite you to slowness and stillness.  I invite you to breathe deeper.  Advent offers us an expectant pause.  I know it’s busy and hectic and sparkly and loud out there.  But here and now, in Christian worship, we get an antidote to all that --  a much-needed reprieve.  A simple invitation to wait and to hope.”

Meditation by The Rev. Valerie Coe Lowder, preacher

Sunday, November 30, 2025

“Today”

"Today, we enter paradise.  

Water springs from our driest moments.

Light detaches us from the darkness.

The path before us reveals all who share 

the name “Beloved.”

The mission Christ fulfilled has become ours.   

We have become agents of reconciliation.”

Meditation by The Rev. Dennis Loy, preacher

Sunday, November 23, 2025

“Imagine There’s No Heaven, No Hell Below Us”

“I believe that Yahweh will end evil and violence without condemning anyone to eternal torment ... that God will usher in Beloved Community on a verdant restored earth that looks a whole lot like this one, with flowers and animals and mountain streams with cold, clean water...communities of trees and elephants, and people who laugh and sing and listen. I don’t know how or when God will end evil and restore Earth, and I don’t think we need to know. Our vocation as followers of Jesus is to live into Beloved Community here and now until God restores creation. It just might look like the Kindom of God, a New Earth...with no hell below us, above us only sky.”

Meditation by The Rev. Tonya Barnette, preacher

Sunday, November 16, 2025

“God of the Living”

“Jesus points out the fundamental flaw: the Sadducees assume that human systems of inequality will still exist in a post resurrection reality; but the patriarchal model where women legally belong to their fathers or husbands has no place in God’s kingdom. According to Jesus, systems of domination, of power over, will be overthrown when God’s realm becomes real on earth.”

Meditation by Rebecca Avery-Quinn, preacher

Sunday, November 9, 2025

“Putting a Spoke in the Wheel of Injustice”

“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself….

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil…

Not to speak is to speak.

Not to act is to act…."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Meditation by The Rev. Charles Fels, preacher

Sunday, November 2, 2025

“Truth”

“Jesus said in John 8, ‘Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ The Greek word for truth, alethea was, at Jesus’ time, infused with collective meaning. In other words, truth required a group consensus, borne of experience and observation, where all were made secure, safe, and whole. The Greek word for freedom, eleuthera, carried the meaning that to be free is to grow. Eleuthera also carried a collective meaning: eleuthera signified freedom for a group of people, and not just individuals. Putting it all together, ‘the truth will set you free’ meant, from Jesus’s mouth, “We can grow as a people when we reach an agreement or consensus together where all are made to feel safe, secure, and whole.”

Meditation by The Rev. Elizabeth Peterson, preacher

Sunday, October 26, 2025

“What Do You Know?”

“It is incumbent upon Christians and Christian churches to tell the truth, to speak up for those who are persecuted, and to speak out for what we believe.  And that begs the question:  What do we believe?  You’ve got to know your stories – your history, church history, your own and each other’s testimonies, Bible stories.  What do we know reliably?  What do you need to know?  There is a saying attributed to Mark Twain:  “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”  Do we know our own sacred Scriptures?  Are we well equipped to use them, and to know when they are being misused or misquoted? Who instructed you in Christian faith?  Can you fully trust that they knew what they were talking about?  Or maybe you know that you don’t know much.  Are you willing to learn?  Are you willing to be challenged?  Or will you only listen to those who suit your own liking?  Do you have itchy ears, as Paul cautioned Timothy against accumulating ideas that are interesting or entertaining, but not necessarily sound?

I think that now is a very good time for us to grapple with what we believe, and prepare ourselves to speak out and act out Christian faith in the public arena.  I doubt that there will be lions in the arena this time, but there may well be persecution.  Now is the time to get ready, to train in righteousness, to become evangelists – which simply means people who tell good news.  There’s a lot of bad news out there – but there is also a lot of good news.  What do you know?  Do you know where your help comes from?  Are you steady and ready to fulfill your ministry?”

Meditation by The Rev. Valerie Coe Lowder, preacher

Sunday, October 19, 2025

“Circle of Generosity: Path -and Response- to Transformation”

"I want to be a Christian who has compassion instead of judging. I want us to be a Christian community- and I believe we are- that reaches out to those other 9, even or especially, those who need healing of mind, body, spirit, and relationship but have been excluded and broken to the point that they’ve stopped even seeking community, afraid to trust. I want us to offer a place of healing for the broken human parts, a place where people can find their way into the circle of gratitude/generosity... where we learn to let gratitude displace our fears, we express that gratitude to God and give freely; our fears are healed and replaced by trust. I want each of us to experience this as often as possible. Pledging each year is one way to do that: how much or how little you pledge doesn’t matter. What matters is that you do it out of gratitude and let the circle transform you spiritually and in community!"

Meditation by The Rev. Tonya Barnette, preacher

Sunday, October 12, 2025

“God’s Welcome Table”

MEDITATIONS

Sunday, October 5, 2025

“We are all invited to find our welcome at this table, and we are all invited to become a welcome for others, especially those who have been given the message that they are not welcome.”

Rebecca Avery-Quinn

“One of the things I learned in those days of wilderness wandering and being away from church is that this is God’s Table, it is not even ours today. So, while the welcome we hope you get in this room is very much a part of who we are as a congregation, the welcome at this Table Belongs to God.

And, if you are hearing me today and aren’t quite sure, or if so many people and places have told you otherwise, please know that you do not have to carry that shame—you do not have to harbor fear in your insides that somehow you are not precious in God’s sight, because that is not of God. God is love and you are precious in God’s sight.”

Boo Tyson

“True welcoming is about being your authentic self and giving others the opportunity to do the same. It allows for true appreciation of diversity, in faith, love and daily life.

I am deeply grateful to COS for the experience of having felt accepted and loved for exactly who and how I showed up at any moment.”

Sean Bryant

“Imagining Our Way to the Beloved Community”

“Sorry, there is nothing Christ-like in stealing and taking over the homeland of others. There is nothing Christ-like in masking it as Manifest Destiny. There is nothing Christ-like in enslaving millions of people, using that slave labor to build the foundations of wealth, then devising systems that block the path to prosperity for people who are not white. There is nothing Christ-like in damaging the planet or lives of people across the world so that we can live more comfortably or have a greater variety of food choices. There is nothing Christ-like in believing that we are better than anyone who is different.

Given the fact that we’re living in two parallel worlds, how do we incorporate “kin-dom” living (that is the Beloved Community) into worldly living? Can our collective imaginations help bring about such a world? Can we imagine asking God how individually we are being called to offer a prophetic voice or action? Can we imagine making life choices that can be seen as prophetic? I’m the first to admit this is scary stuff – but not impossible. It will take imagination.”

Meditation by Ceil Sheahan, preacher

Sunday, September 28, 2025

“Planting Seeds of Hope”

“Jesus says that his Heavenly Parent causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  The generosity of God, the equity of God, the inclusiveness of God, is demonstrated by and experienced in nature.  We learn about love from the Sun and other parts of the natural world.  Morning by morning, new mercies we see.  In nature, we come close to the Divine and learn what God is like.” 

Meditation by The Rev. Valerie Coe Lowder

Sunday, September 21, 2025

“Show Me the Way”

“‘Good Lord, show me the way.' This plea is one we are all, always making in one form or another. Well, our Good God has done just that; God has shown us the way through Jesus’s teachings and life! However, the essence of Jesus the itinerant Jewish rabbi’s message is sometimes difficult to hear among all the noise of today’s various Christianities. Whenever anyone is confused by the deluge of messages they are hearing about Christianity, it is my hope that they can remember this: prayer, spiritual wisdom, service, social justice, and extravagant welcome are the essence of Jesus's life and message. Guided by these signposts, may they find their way to the God of Compassion.”

Meditation by The Rev. Tonya Barnette, preacher

Sunday, September 14, 2025

“A Love Poem You Used to Know by Heart”

“There is that place within all of us, no matter our age or physical state or cognitive ability, that is our spirit, our soul, our center.  As a community of faith we gather in worship and fellowship to remember and re-connect to that center, that place of spirit, and to help each other do that.  To help one another connect in some way to the love poems we know by heart.  Some of us may no longer know the words of the love poem, but we retain the feeling of being loved.  When we leave anyone out, all of our spiritual lives are poorer for it.”

Meditation by The Rev. Laura Bogle, preacher

Sunday, September 7, 2025

“Called to Follow”

“I have to ask myself,

does being a Christian mean following the rules?

Or does it mean following Christ?

Wherever that may take me,

even if it means breaking the rules sometimes?

For a rule-follower like me,

that honestly sounds somewhat terrifying,

but I when I look at the life and teachings of Jesus Christ,

I don’t really see a way around it.”

Meditation by Rebecca Avery-Quinn, preacher

Sunday, August 24, 2025

“The Things that Make for Peace”

The world is full of frightful violence, oppression and cruelty. Even Jesus looked at it and cried. Why shouldn’t we?

However, we –of all people -- cannot be hopeless or cynical. When we move from lamenting violence – as Jesus did -- to trying to prevent violence by entrusting our hope to the power of rulers, to superior force, to strong defenses, to political power, then we have left the way of Jesus. The myth of redemptive violence is not true. ... we are not saved by the powers that be in this world. We may not be saved from violence – as disciples of Jesus should well know. A crucified Christ is a mind-blowing oxymoron. We may not be saved from violence, but we will most certainly not be saved by violence. We may suffer, but even so, we know there is a better way.

What are the things that make for peace? Loving our enemies, welcoming outcasts, healing diseases, feeding the hungry, offering forgiveness, repenting and accepting forgiveness, the power of love to transform our lives and culture. Peace does exist – here and there, in unexpected places, in surprising circumstances, for a moment in passing, now and again. We witness it. We experience it. We make it happen. We are peacemakers. We are justice jockeys. We are pacifist but not passive.   

Meditation by The Rev. Valerie Coe Lowder, preacher

Sunday, August 17, 2025

“Fear: The Opposite of Love”

"This teaching from Jesus points to a radically different way we are meant to live in this world. What Jesus teaches us is always in direct opposition to our society’s cultural wisdom. Even the brief phrase, 'fear not' is countercultural. We often call this spiritual wisdom of Jesus unconventional wisdom or upside-down wisdom. What dawned on me is that WE are the ones who have it upside-down! Jesus was trying to tell his 1st century CE audience that they had it all wrong-valued the wrong things, ignored the right things, were afraid because they had strayed so far from God’s vision for humanity.

Here we are 2000+ years later, still valuing the wrong things (wealth, power), ignoring the right things (connection, compassion), living more in fear than in love. As followers of Jesus, we have the mandate to be countercultural, to live out of more love than fear. We can recognize our connectedness to all creation and to God and arrange our lives to reflect that. When we are occupied with being the fate of each person we meet - and seeing them as our fate - our hearts will be too full of the treasure of each moment to leave much room for fear. May it be so."

Meditation by The Rev. Tonya Barnette, preacher

Sunday, August 10, 2025