Newsletter Thoughts December 13, 2026

Beloved Community,

In this third week of Advent, we encounter two powerful stories of divine calling - Mary's visitation by the angel Gabriel and Jeremiah's appointment as a prophet.

Both remind us that God often speaks in unexpected ways and places.

I spent a weekend at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley for a retreat last month where I experienced my own surprising moment of connection.

Following a discernment exercise, I took Wesson for a walk in the Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park that's located across the street from the seminary.

I walked through a park after studying the calling described in Jeremiah 1:4-10 (a reading that will be included in tomorrow's service), I began to repeatedly hear someone shouting "JEREMIAH!" across the plaza. She was several paces up the street from me, facing my direction, shouting "JEREMIAH!" over and over. I looked over my shoulder a few times and glanced around the park. There weren't many people out on that sunny Sunday afternoon.

As I got closer to her, I realized there was a man in a wheelchair coming out from behind a car that was down the path behind me, and that's whose attention she was seeking. He was the "Jeremiah" that she was looking for that day in the park.

As he drew closer to her they greeted each other affectionately and I heard her call him "Jerry" in a quieter tone.

The timing felt like one of those divine winks - a reminder that God's messages can appear in both the extraordinary and the everyday.

How do you hear God's calling? How do fears and assumptions stand in the way of truly hearing and responding to God's call?

In Christ,

Ric