Colonial Church in Prairie Village

As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day weekend and our nation's 250th birthday, I've been reflecting on the signs of hope I've witnessed over the past month. Amid all the noise and division that so often dominate our national headlines, I've also seen us caring for one another, our community choosing compassion over fear, and people courageously extending welcome and kindness. Those moments r...

We welcome Rev. Bethany Meier-Evans as our guest preacher. Her ministry invites people to embrace joy more fully. She is the author of "Queer Joy".

As summer settles in around us, I am grateful for this season's invitation to slow down. The longer days, warm evenings, time in the garden, backyard cookouts, and moments spent with family and friends remind us that life is more than rushing from one obligation to the next. Summer invites us to be present: to savor good food, good company, and the beauty of God's creation. This Sunday's Gospel co...

We are in the midst of celebrating Pride Month here at Colonial. Several of you are fresh from local parks and gatherings where Colonial joined neighbors in celebration. I celebrated in a local park as well. As I walked through the celebration, I heard several people greeting one another with, “Happy Pride!” As I heard it said repeatedly, it began to sound like a greeting you might offer on a belo...

What does it mean to truly belong? Throughout June, we'll explore stories that challenge exclusion and invite us into God's expansive vision of community. Together, we'll reflect on how Jesus welcomed, marginalized, healed, and called people forward. We will consider what those stories teach us about creating a church where all people can experience God's love and grace. This Sunday, we'll begin w...

We have just completed a year of readings in the lectionary, beginning in September with the gospel of John and continuing this spring with Paul’s letters and the book of Acts. We now move into summer and an upcoming series on inclusion and belonging beginning June 7. This Sunday, we’ll explore the Beatitudes from the opening of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. These familiar words, “Blessed are the pe...

This Sunday is Pentecost, the “birthday” of the church, so don’t forget to wear red as we celebrate the Spirit moving among us in joy, courage, and hope! I have to tell you, I’m feeling especially energized lately. Maybe it’s the sunshine and warmer weather, but this time of year always seems to wake something up in me. I feel that same kind of energy stirring around Colonial Church right now too....

One activity I miss from my younger years is letter writing. I lived overseas before the times of the internet (so many, many years ago) and loved to sit down and write to my friends and family, and loved it even more, when I received a letter in return. Of course, with some of my correspondents, my letters were more newsy, less introspective. Some were more intimate, expressing my deepest thought...

What’s in a name? I was eleven when my sister was born. In the months leading up to her birth, I discovered that my parents had chosen to name her “Hannah.” I was appalled. Did they not know the teasing that was about to ensue? Hannah… BANANA?! I was convinced this was a bad move. My parents, on the other hand, knew something else about the name. One meaning of the name is “Grace,” while another m...

I love a good statue. Growing up Catholic, I often found myself praying while looking at statues of Mary, Francis of Assisi, and others. We were taught that the Spirit is not in the statue itself, but that offering reverence in this way can help us connect more deeply to the spiritual life. For Protestants like us, there is wisdom in that. Lately, though, I’ve noticed I’ve been caught up in a diff...

This Sunday, I find myself drawn into a powerful and, I admit, unsettling story in Acts: a slave girl exploited for profit. As the story unfolds, we encounter prisoners singing in the dark, earthquakes, door cells opening, and jailers asking big questions about what it all means. As I sit with this text, I can’t help but think about those in our own time who are detained, separated from their fami...

This Sunday, we’ll explore the powerful story of Saul’s transformation in Acts 9, a moment when everything changes for him: when blindness gives way to sight, and when a life is turned toward grace. I wonder if you've ever had a transformation like that? As we gather, we’ll reflect on the ways God still meets us on the road, inviting us to see differently, love more deeply, and live more faithfull...

This Sunday when we gather, we will still be celebrating Easter (it was just a week ago!) but our focus will change a bit. This week it will be through the experience of the Apostle Thomas, who is famous for doubting the story of the resurrection. It is not until he sees Jesus with his own eyes and touches his wounds with his own hands, that he believes. Perhaps you can identify with the doubt tha...

I’ve noticed a lot of anticipation around Palm Sunday and Easter festivities this year. There’s a kind of hunger for joy, and that makes a lot of sense to me. We are living in a time marked by uncertainty and strain. Even in just these past months, we’ve seen violence, economic anxiety, war, and a lingering sense of unease. In moments like this, it can feel almost disingenuous to speak of joy or g...

As we enter into the sacred rhythm of Holy Week, we invite you to join us this Sunday for Palm Sunday: a moment of celebration, reflection, and deepening awareness as we journey toward Easter. We are especially honored to welcome our guest preacher, Rev. Dr. Heike Springhart, Bishop of the Protestant Church in Baden, Germany. Her presence among us is a gift, offering a global perspective on faith...

This Sunday we sit with a familiar story from the Gospel of John that still has a way of catching us off guard. A crowd gathers, ready to judge, ready to act… and then Jesus bends down, writes in the dust, and says, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone.” We all carry stones sometimes: quiet judgments, old grievances, the need to be right, the temptation to draw li...

This Sunday we’ll reflect on a passage from Deuteronomy 24 that calls God’s people to care for widows, orphans, and immigrants... the most vulnerable members of society. It’s a message we hear again and again throughout scripture. Care for those in need. Remember that your neighbor’s wellbeing is bound up with your own. And yet… here we are. Still struggling to live it. If this command has echoed...

On this third Sunday of Lent, the good news we celebrate is “Together the Impossible is Possible.” When we come together on Sunday we will read Mark’s account of the story you have probably heard before – the feeding of the 5,000. This story speaks to us of miracles. It tells how with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish, Jesus fed a crowd. It tells a story about how the people who hung...

I love a pancake feed. Gathering in a fellowship hall that smells like butter and syrup, laughing with one another, stacking our plates high, and trying my hand at flipping...fun (and precarious!) This Sunday, as we hear the story of Lazarus being called out of the tomb, we’re reminded that the good news is not abstract or sentimental. Like a meal enjoyed with family and friends, it is alive. It b...

This Sunday, we gather with the story of Jesus healing a man born blind, a story that invites us to consider how we see, what keeps us from seeing clearly, and how grace can open our eyes in unexpected ways. We live in a world that is quick to judge and divide, and this text reminds us that God’s work is often revealed through compassion, curiosity, and courage. Join us for worship as we reflect t...

This Sunday is a week of returning. I am returning to Colonial, excited to be with you again. Looking forward to our time of prayer and reflection. We will return this Sunday to our reading of the Gospel of John. In John’s Gospel, Jesus has been out on the road, teaching and healing. On Sunday, he will return to the city of Cana, the place where, a month ago, we heard the story of him turning wate...

This Sunday in worship, we turn to the story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus. It’s a conversation shaped by honest questions, a bit of courage, and the longing to begin again. Jesus speaks of being born anew, of Spirit, breath, and of the mysterious movement of God that cannot be controlled or contained. At the heart of this passage is a powerful promise: God’s response to the world is not about cond...

When I was a teenager, I wore one of those “WWJD” - What Would Jesus Do - bracelets on my wrist. It was a reminder to be mindful of how Jesus might respond to whatever circumstances I was facing in my daily life: frustration at school or at home, an argument with a friend or classmate, or a grumpy customer at the sandwich shop where I used to work. In challenging moments, I could stop and ask myse...

In these days following Christmas, when all the decorations are put away, when the darkness of winter is slowly fading, but yet, it’s still cold and dark outside. These are the days that I like to sit down with a good, challenging book! Something I can really sink my teeth into, something that makes me think. That’s what we’re doing these days at Colonial - we are cracking open a good, thought-pro...

After the decorations are packed away, the calendar turns, and winter has settled in, Epiphany arrives. It can be tempting to stay home, especially when it’s cold and the holidays feel just behind us. And yet, Epiphany offers us something deeply meaningful: a moment to pause, reflect, and step into what comes next in our lives. On Epiphany Sunday, we will close our Advent series, “What do you fear...