Change is often hard and even uncomfortable. It can also be threatening when someone else’s change for the better makes us look bad, or when the change challenges our own sense of power and/or control. In this episode of Coff...
Scholars have been working for centuries to figure out the Trinity, so don’t feel discouraged if the topic makes you scratch your head in wonder. You are not alone. Karin and Blake don’t have the answers, but they do offer ...
On this first Sunday after the 2025 Community of Christ World Conference, where many have experienced a “Pentecost” experience in the coming together of people from many nations, cultures, and languages... we celebrate Pentec...
It’s time to get some new “clothes.” Who doesn’t like that? Right? But there’s a small catch... we have to wait a little bit. Just stay here and wait, Jesus says ... until you are clothed in the Holy Spirit. The reality is t...
We could all use a little reminding every once in a while. In the midst of chaos and hectic schedules, the call to do something uncomfortable is easily shrugged off with extremely relevant rationalizations as to why we can’t....
It is perhaps one of the easiest commandments to speak, and yet one of the hardest to put into action. We live in a world where it seems to have become easier to build walls than to sit and listen to one another... much less ...
Who doesn’t like a good festival ... especially one that calls for renewal? No doubt, we could all use a little time for renewal. Well, this week’s episode of Coffee to Go finds us in the Gospel According to John, and it’s ti...
What’s your “go-to” when you get stressed out? When things aren’t going your way, or when you’re feeling alone or lost, what, or where, brings you comfort? For Peter and the disciples, it was fishing. For some, it’s a hike i...
Thomas, often referred to as ‘doubting Thomas,’ often gets a bum rap. He just wanted to have the same experience that everyone else had. He had an intimate relationship with Jesus and all he was asking for was a chance to see...
He is risen! On this episode of Coffee to Go, Karen and Blake look closely at Mary Magdalene's experience at the tomb – from darkness and weeping to a personal encounter with the risen Christ. They ask: How do our expectations limit us from seeing God at work? And have you felt the Spirit call you …
As we wait in the darkness between the events of Good Friday and the coming resurrection, we have the opportunity to consider the cost of discipleship. Join hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith for a brief Coffee to Go episode t...
The lights have all gone out. The unimaginable has happened. The one we love is gone. What will we do now? On this Good Friday, hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith offer only a scripture and a blessing. Sometimes, it is all we ...
The room has been chosen. The table is set, and as you enter, Jesus kneels to wash your feet. What would your reaction be? Remember, Jesus knows you better than you know yourself, so will you try and refuse as Peter did, or ...
Palms waving, disciples lining the road and calling out, cloaks thrown on the ground to pave the way. It’s political pageantry at its best ... and its most humble. All the way to the end, Jesus keeps us guessing by doing the ...
Can you smell that? When Mary anointed Jesus’ feet with pure nard, the scriptures tell us that “the room was filled with the smell of the perfume. Mary spared nothing to do what she thought was right in the moment... to take ...
Choose joy! It may be hard sometimes, but the alternative will just tear you down. In this episode of Coffee to Go, hosts Karin Peter and Blake Smith take a look at the story of the Prodigal Son from the Gospel of Luke. While...
You can almost hear the kids saying, “Are we there yet?” And the answer is NO! We are still on the road to Jerusalem with Jesus, and Jesus is still encountering people asking questions to which he has already given answers. A...
Are you going to be a fox or a hen? Before you answer that question, stop and take a few minutes ... it is Lent after all ... to engage in some honest self-reflection. The world may suggest that it’s better to be a fox, but J...
It’s the first Sunday of Lent... a time for looking inward. Be advised, you can’t blame everything on the devil. Well, you could, who would you be fooling? Sometimes you have to take responsibility for your own actions. Makin...
It may seem strange that on a Christian Holy day where many disciples will walk around with a smudge of ash on their foreheads for all to see, we have a scripture passage that tells us to pray and fast privately in our “close...
We all have those special places where we’ve experienced God’s presence (the Holy Spirit), and for some reason we let ourselves believe that we need to return to that place to find God again. It’s in those places that we want...
We sing about it, we talk about, we say that it is at the heart of God, but when it comes to sharing it with those we find undeserving, we have second thoughts. “It,” of course, is LOVE. In this week’s Coffee to Go, hosts Kar...
There’s no better place to give a sermon about community than on a plain (aka a level field). All communities may not put everyone on the same level, but in God’s Kingdom, every field is a level playing field. The blessings a...
There are other ways to determine your abundance than just by counting what’s in your “net.” Sometimes our abundance lies in the gifts and skills with which God has blessed us. In today’s Gospel passage from Luke, the discipl...