A post by Rebecca DeLucia, Next Generation Pastor. We have had the same picture hanging in our living room for the last 13 years, one that Luke made as a preschooler. His little handprint and footprint are immortalized in paint, with a heart between them. The context? Micah 6:8:  “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” That word require is so striking because it is so finite. There

Right now in Burning Hearts, our 2026 Bible reading plan, we are reading selections from the prophet Ezekiel. Yesterday’s reading was from chapter 34, a chapter that focuses in on bad ‘shepherds’ of God’s people, Israel. Without getting super political, let me get political:  it was an interesting reading for an election day.  (I did not plan it like this, by the way

This week in Burning Hearts, our 2026 bible reading plan, we are reading from the letter to the Hebrews. There’s so much to say about Hebrews, and so much said in it! It’s kind of a perfect letter to be mentioning right now - as we move from the “Beginnings” series to the “Redemption” series in the “Stories that Gave Us Jesus” year – because Hebrews is SO obviously built off of Old Testament (Hebrew bible) images, stories, themes, and

Hello! What a beautiful fall day; get out there and enjoy it while you still can! We've got some great things happening here

Hello! I hope you’re doing well as fall feels like it is fast approaching with this cooler weather. And speaking of weather, before we get into this week’s reflection, I know a storm seems to be approaching this weekend. Stay tuned as we get closer, but as it looks now, we’ll probably have to delay our Fall (Not-so-Kick-Off) Picnic again. If we do, it looks like we’ll move it to Sunday, Oct. 18 – but like I said – stay

I’m excited for this Sunday - and not just because of our Fall Kick Off Picnic (pray for good weather!). The reason I’m excited is because of the series of series that we’ll be kicking off at Central, and then journeying through for most of the next year. Let me tell you about it. At our last gazebo service, I spoke about my favorite story in the bible: the two (ex)-disciples on the road walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus. It’s the first Easter morning,

This Friday, of course, marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks. It was a day that changed our world, our nation, and our immediate area forever. For some of you, it changed your lives personally in ways that I can’t even begin to imagine. You may have lost family members, friends, or neighbors on that horrific day. I know that some of you lost people who, in amazing acts of self-giving love, courageously rushed in to the towers

I didn't get a chance to get this week's weekly email to you this morning because I was traveling, but I figure it's better late than never

In yesterday’s bible reading, we read Matthew 17 – which has the story of the Transfiguration. If you’re not familiar with it, I encourage you to take a few minutes and read the story.   It’s always been a story that is a bit (or a lot) puzzling.  Here’s the rough gist: Jesus and some guys go up a mountain, he’s ‘transfigured’ (whatever the heck that means – besides the fact that he’s glowing and shining!), a couple of dead guys appear to Jesus (ghosts? spirits? bodies?

Today’s bible reading, Matthew 13, begins in a way that *kind of* reminds me of what we do at the gazebo on Sunday mornings in the summer:  1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.  I put “kind of” in asterisks because, a) I’m most definitely NOT Jesus, b) we had a good crowd