Pastor Hogan

Author's posts

Leaving Our Jars Behind

John 5 There’s a small but powerful detail in the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well: after her encounter with Jesus, she leaves her water jar behind. It’s easy to rush past that line, but it carries the weight of transformation. She came to the well carrying the symbol of her …

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From Weeping to Joy: The Holy Reversal

A Lenten Invitation for Our Congregation Lent often carries a reputation for heaviness—forty days of giving things up, feeling bad about ourselves, or trudging through the wilderness. But the heart of Lent is not punishment. It is transformation. It is the slow, sacred movement from the places where we feel stuck toward the places where …

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When Healing Interrupts Our Expectations

John 5:1–18; Psalm 103:1–5 Bless the Lord, O my soul,    and forget not all his benefits,who forgives all your iniquity,    who heals all your diseases,Psalm 103:2 We often imagine healing as something gentle, orderly, and predictable. We pray, we wait, and we hope that God will work in ways that make sense to us. Psalm 103 invites us to bless the …

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Where Does God Dwell?

John 2:13–25, 1 Corinthians 3:16–17, Matthew 15:18–20 This week’s scriptures invite us into a profound and searching question: Where does God dwell? For generations, people looked to temples, sanctuaries, and sacred spaces to locate the presence of the Holy. But our readings challenge us to look closer—much closer. In John’s Gospel, Jesus enters the Jerusalem temple …

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