Word from Bear Creek

Introducing our new pastor at Bear Creek, Rev. Mike Conner

Luke 24:13-35

Psalm 51:10

Retirement has a way of making you look back over your life. Not just the big moments, but the small turns. The conversations you almost forgot. The doors that opened briefly and quietly before closing again. Lately I’ve found myself thinking about a few of those doorways. One takes me back to high school when a drummer from our school band asked me to sing lead vocals in his heavy metal band. Eve...

Looking at Hebrews 12:1-2

2 Cor 5:16-21

This year, I didn’t get a chance to preach a Mother’s Day message. And yet over the last few days, I found myself needing to write one anyway. Maybe because retirement has a way of making you look backward with softer eyes. Or maybe because some memories take decades before you finally understand what you were really seeing.

with special guest preacher, Rev. John O. Eby

Pastor Brook re-recorded his sermon because the online recording cut out half way through the service. Take a listen - it's worth it!

Confessions of a chronic lyric-misser I have a bit of a reputation. Not for great pitch. Not for knowing all the words. But for… confidently singing the wrong lyrics. For years— years —I thought Forever in Blue Jeans by Neil Diamond was called: “Reverend Blue Jeans.” I sang it that way. Loudly. Repeatedly. Usually in the car… windows up, thankfully. And honestly… it kind of worked. “Reverend Blue...

John 20:24-29

This morning, I woke up with a kind of hope I didn’t have before. I had a hard time pinpointing just what it was because it was coming from a different place...a different source. This hope didn't come from what was happening out there: the news reports, the election results, or whether or not our leaders will somehow get it together and make peace. This hope was quieter. It came from something cl...

Pastor Brook's sermon from April 19

Next week, when you walk into the sanctuary… you’re going to see shoes. One hundred sixty-eight pairs. But here’s the thing— they won’t just be placed there. They will be brought.

Luke 24:13–35 (The Road to Emmaus)

Easter people—- There’s something about coming through Good Friday into Easter that never quite gets old. I’ve walked that road more times than I can count now. The shadows. The silence. The questions that hang in the air like fog. And then… the light. The name spoken. The surprise of life where we thought there was only loss. This year felt different.

Join Pastor Brook as he navigates the ups and downs of the Easter story. Also, Sasquatch.

The parade is only the start...

Opening Day always does something to me. There’s a crack of the bat, the smell of the grass, the feeling that maybe—just maybe—this is the year everything comes together. And when it does? When the ball clears the fence? That’s my kind of joy. Touchdown joy. Home run joy. The kind that shows up when the result goes your way. I’ve lived a lot of my life there. And then there’s Julio Rodriguez.

Our North Puget Sound District Superintendent, Rev. Mark Galang, preaches on Jesus in the Garden.

I grew up sharing a bedroom with my two older brothers. Three boys in one room is not always the recipe for peace. One morning I woke up to the sound of them fighting. Not just arguing. Really fighting. Voices raised. Bodies moving into “stand off!” position! High noon at the McBride corral! The kind of tension that makes a younger kid lie still for a moment and wonder what to do. I was scared. An...

Pastor Brook looks at Mark 7:24-30

In these days it can feel as though the world is coming apart faster than we can hold it together. Wars rage across borders. Cities crumble under bombs. Families are scattered. The fragile structures that generations have tried to build—institutions meant to protect human dignity and restrain the worst instincts of power—are being tested and, in some places, deliberately torn down.

In this look at Jesus' life we see how he was tempted in the wilderness just after his baptism.

Pastor Brook looks at Mark 1:1-11 and reflects on how we are named, "Beloved"