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In this moment when we are being asked to live out our faith, often in unpopular or even dangerous ways, we would do well to look carefully at Jesus’ teachings to his disciples, as his direction to them became increasingly urgent as they faced the daunting task ahead...

Please read the attached Press Release announcing our new Interim Senior Minister, Rev. Dr. Amy Butler: Butler Press Release

Easter Sunday, April 12 Matthew’s telling of resurrection morning is probably my favorite of the Gospel accounts of the first Easter. The entire Matthean narrative, from a who’s who of Jewish ancestry in chapter one to those dramatic moments with the angel descending...

Holy Saturday, April 11 I am taken by the different responses of those in power to the death of Jesus. In these few verses we see two very dissimilar reactions to Jesus’ crucifixion and death. In verses 57-61 we learn of Joseph of Arimathea. This is the only time in...

Good Friday, April 10 Jesus died. The Gospel accounts of Jesus’ death make no effort to paper over the reality of Jesus’ death. He did not merely “pass away” or “pass on” or “transition.” He died. Not only did Jesus die, but he suffered death by execution in a public,...

Maundy Thursday, April 9 Human dignity is at the center of today’s passage. In it the author of the gospel according to Mathew narrates the way in which the political and religious Empires collectively attempt to rip away Jesus’ very human dignity. The Roman soldiers...

Holy Wednesday, April 8 Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the Leper on the Wednesday before his death. While there with his disciples, a woman named Mary anointed Jesus' head and feet with a costly oil of spikenard. The disciples were upset because they felt...

Holy Tuesday, April 7 A person’s true grit is often revealed in moments of fear and chaos. On that dark night of arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, the fortitude of all the disciples was revealed as Matthew 26:56 tells us, “All the disciples deserted him and fled.”...

Holy Monday, April 6 “BE WOKE!” has been a prominent term on social media in recent years. Merriam-Webster defines its meaning as “being aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues--especially issues of racial and social justice.” Centuries before,...

Join us at 10 am on Palm Sunday on our live Facebook feed: here, or our Youtube channel: here. You can follow along in our bulletin: here.

Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion April 5, 2020 Editor’s Note: Sundays during Lent are known as “little Easters” when believers in the risen Christ join for prayer and worship. Today, we pause in preparation for our worship to God through a Lenten hymn or prayer. May...

Saturday, April 4 This passage from Matthew starts with Judas Iscariot soliciting the chief priests for money to betray Jesus. It proceeds through the preparations for Passover, and the beginning of the Passover meal, when Jesus tells the disciples that one of them...

Friday. April 3 I wonder what went through Judas's mind when Jesus announced the betrayal to the disciples. Did he feel guilty? Did he have second thoughts? The warning of the betrayal adds a sinister element to the Last Supper – an already dark moment. Jesus confirms...

Thursday, April 2 Passover focuses on sacrifice which requires preparation. Jesus told Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us.” The two did so – finding a man carrying a jar of water leading to the owner’s guest room where the twelve could eat the...

Wednesday, April 1 From the piercing beam of bright white light emanating from atop a coastal light house to the flashing red marker light atop a tall building or TV antenna, we understand the role of beacons to warn of danger. We may be less aware that every civilian...

Tuesday, March 31 There are few people in the Christian faith as hated as Judas. Appalling in his betrayal and despicable in his guile, his disgraceful behavior seems intrinsically removed from Jesus’s grace. Yet, it is at the same dinner that Jesus confronts Judas –...

Monday, March 30 These scriptures reveal the greatest sacrifice known to man. A man knowingly lying down his life for his fellow man. The story begins with Judas Iscariot selling His SAVIOR to the chief priests for thirty pieces of silver. His actions bring to mind...

Join us at 10 am on this Fifth Sunday of Lent on our live Facebook feed: here, or our Youtube channel: here. You can follow along in our bulletin: here.

Sunday, March 29 Editor’s Note: Sundays during Lent are known as “little Easters” when believers in the risen Christ join for prayer and worship. Today, we pause in preparation for our worship to God through a Lenten hymn or prayer. May these songs and prayers prepare...

Saturday, March 28 Where were you when we needed you? Why were you not here for us? These are questions that are often asked during our hours of sorrow, pain and grief. We want someone special in our lives to be there for us…family, friends, and ministers. We don’t...

Friday, March 27 “Jesus wept.” This isn’t the phrase we typically think about when discussing this week’s passage, unless it’s trivia night. We usually think about Jesus’ faith, commanding a miracle into existence despite the doubt of those around him. This week...

Thursday, March 26 Deep within the darkness of adversity, finding light can seem improbable. Becoming a beacon can feel nearly impossible. Yet God pushes us to seek and believe. For me, Lenten reflection challenges my heart, encourages me to listen, and goads my fear...

Wednesday, March 25 In life, we know death is certain. The pain, the suffering, the grieving comes for all of us. So, what should we do with so much death around us? In John 11, Jesus teaches us in the face of death, we must love. Love deeply, love passionately, love...

Tuesday, March 24 His Ways Are Not Our Way Jesus felt things deeply. He wept at the news of the death of his friend and he is described as being disturbed when he approached the tomb where Lazarus lay. Just like Jesus, we too feel deeply. Despair, fear, hatred, love,...

Monday, March 23 Every one of us needs inspiration to keep us spiritually nourished and to help us to be open to receiving divine guidance. This story is a great example of this principle. Mary and Martha were real people who sought to understand what was happening...

We invite you to join us for worship and Holy Communion on the Fourth Sunday of Lent either through our Facebook page or YouTube channel. Click Here to Join

Sunday, March 22 Editor’s Note: Sundays during Lent are known as “little Easters” when believers in the risen Christ join for prayer and worship. Today, we pause in preparation for our worship to God through a Lenten hymn or prayer. May these songs and prayers prepare...

Saturday, March 21 Where's your blind spot? Maybe you know, and maybe you don't. That's ok! God knows your blind spots, and God can restore your sight. God can open your eyes to light and glory, shutting out the darkness. It's not always easy, though. Like the...

March 20 The assumption made by the disciples and so many of us is that when we see someone suffering, we believe that person has done something to deserve the suffering. This is not always true. Suffering is not always penal. Instead of discussing theodicy, or the...

Thursday, March 19 This parable – a man’s blindness is healed, and he “becom[es] a beacon” “living in the light” – teaches all of us that focusing on man’s frailties (sinning) blinds us to the good in the world. Jesus heals a man born blind. Rather than rejoicing in...

Wednesday, March 18 The story of Jesus healing a man blind from birth should be fairly straightforward, a tale of joy and thanksgiving. Instead this miraculous healing event becomes a source of dissension and controversy, among Jesus’ Disciples as well as among...

Tuesday, March 17 Faith is having confidence or trust in God as what he says is true. Having faith allows for us to witness miracles already performed in our lives with the hope for things unseen to still be blessed with by God. As Christians we are meant to walk by...

Monday, March 16 How could God let this happen? This is often the human response to seeing a tragedy or someone suffering. This is caused by our focusing on what we see on the surface as opposed to digging deeper to look at the big picture – How this creates an...

Sunday, March 15 Editor’s Note: Sundays during Lent are known as “little Easters” when believers in the risen Christ join for prayer and worship. Today, we pause in preparation for our worship to God through a Lenten hymn or prayer. May these songs and prayers prepare...

Saturday, March 14 The woman at the well could not understand what Jesus was telling her. She heard his words literally and they made no sense. He asked her to give him a drink, since he was tired and thirsty, having traveled from Judea on his way to Galilee, a...

Friday, March 13 Having read this passage many times, the one thing that has always stood out to me is the fact that the woman’s name is not in the scripture. Without her given name we are free to step into her story more fully and scribble our names in the margin,...

Dear Friends Of National City, After much consideration, coordination, and prayer, we have decided that it is in the best interest for the community health of all concerned: members, tenants, visitors, and the good of the larger community to close our facilities for...

Thursday, March 12 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”...

Wednesday, March 11 Jesus never followed the conventional path – or the easy road. He was both human and divine. In this story he was an exhausted and impoverished traveler whose companions had gone for food without even leaving him a pitcher to dip into the well....

Tuesday, March 10 Why did Jesus come to the well? Why did the Samaritan woman come to the well? Why do you or I come to the well (church)? What are we looking for? Who do we think we might encounter there? The Samaritan woman certainly got more than she had expected....

Monday, March 9 In this passage, Jesus shines his light on tribal and judgmental divisions, our tendency to write off people who are different from us or who do not meet the mores of our society. As the Samaritan woman pointed out, Jesus, in speaking to her,...

Sunday, March 8 Editor’s Note: Sundays during Lent are known as “little Easters” when believers in the risen Christ join for prayer and worship. Today, we pause in preparation for our worship to God through a Lenten hymn or prayer. May these songs and prayers prepare...

Saturday, March 7 When I am sharing the good news of the gospel with others, I have found that there are generally two types of attitudes in each individual that either I approach or who approaches me. In one there is a spirit of argument and in the other a spirit of...

Friday, March 6 My first memory is of accepting Christ as my savior when I was three after my parents spent a week proselytizing me. I’ve been less dogmatic with my own children, so I discussed this week’s passage with my children, mostly Jude (7), to see what they...

Thursday, March 5 While reading this scripture, I wondered why Nicodemus had come to Jesus. What was on his mind? It seemed to me that he had come with a purpose but had become distracted by Jesus’ talk of “being born from above.” And why did Nicodemus come “by...

Wednesday, March 4 To paraphrase Jesus, he said, I know it’s a new concept to you – it’s hard to grasp perhaps - but it’s like the wind, we don’t understand where it originates, or where it’s going. In other words, we see the effect but not the cause – that’s the way...

Tuesday, March 3 Nicodemus’ silent night visit to Jesus could have been interpreted as an evil visit or to have a private meeting not to be seen. Nicodemus was a “ruler of the Jews," and a member of the Sanhedrin (also known as the Council). Jesus was an unknown too...

Monday, March 2 - John 3:1-17 God sacrifices His Son for our salvation and our everlasting life! Wow! I hesitated to select this passage for a meditation because it encapsulates so much of the Christian message in just a few phrases - phrases that have been parsed and...

Sunday, March 1 Editor’s Note: Sundays during Lent are known as “little Easters” when believers in the risen Christ join for prayer and worship. Today, we pause in preparation for our worship to God through a Lenten hymn or prayer. May these songs and prayers prepare...

Saturday, February 29 The temptation of Jesus story is indeed a strange duck. It falls immediately after the baptism of Jesus where we hear the spirit of God declare, “this is my Beloved son with whom I am well pleased.” Call me a skeptic, but does a loving father...

Friday, February 28 The heading in my Bible refers to this time of temptation as, “Jesus is tested in the wilderness.” Have you ever been tested? Or had a period when you were forced to depend on God? I can only imagine that that is what it feels like when one is...

Thursday, February 27 This episode in Jesus’ life is a parallel to the trials faced by Israel as they fled Egypt and wandered in the desert for forty years. The Hebrew people fleeing Egypt were forced to learn to trust in God. When they were faced with hunger, they...

Wednesday, February 26 - Matthew 4:1-11 “Merry Ash Wednesday!” Hmmm. Have you wondered what is an appropriate greeting for this day? After all, it is the beginning of a 40-day Lenten journey of spiritual preparation before Easter. But “Merry” Ash Wednesday? To be sure...

Ash Wednesday Prayers and Ashes in our courtyard at noon. Our Ash Wednesday worship service is at 7 p.m. in our Sanctuary.  

In Australia, high temperatures and drought conditions are contributing to one of the worst fire seasons in living memory. Since September, these fires have burned across 28 million acres, killing at least 28 people and an estimated 480 million animals. Meanwhile,...

National City follows the closing schedule of the Federal Government for inclement weather: https://www.opm.gov/  With the Federal offices closing on January 7 at 1 p.m., National City will do the same. As always, be safe in your travel decisions.

On this Holy night, join us for festive music, communion, and candlelight as we celebrate our dear Savior's birth 7 p.m. Christmas Music 7:30 p.m. Worship and Communion Merry Christmas!

This Saturday, December 7 9 to 11 a.m. The Community Room Come have breakfast with Santa at National City Christian Church! All children are invited to come for breakfast, holiday crafts, meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus, and hearing the Christmas story of our dear,...

Dr. James T. Barclay met in his Washington, D.C., home with six persons who would become the founders of our congregation!