Category: Reflections

Ruth

Published on by Karolee LarsonLeave a comment
Camping at the rodeo grounds

For the third year in a row, our church has done something we call “Camping in July.” We do it for all those who don’t have the luxury of disappearing into the land of summer vacation. To make it feel like we are kids at camp, we set up a camp ground in our narthex, make some fun crafts, and sing a lot of camp songs. We also do a fun sermon series.

This year, we focused on the book of Ruth, and specifically on four Hebrew words.

(Shuv) שוב which means ״to return” was repeated several times in chapter one as Naomi and her daughters-in-law debated about returning to Bethlehem. Because Ruth was a Moabite, and because she is know as someone who “returned” (even though she had not been there before), I began to understand her return as a return to God. The history between the Israelites and the Moabites is filled with deep meaning which lends itself to this idea of a return to faith. I heartily recommend you read the following:

Genesis 19: Moab’s origin story

Numbers 21-25: Moab’s treachery in the wilderness

Deuteronomy 23:1-8: Moabites not allowed in the temple

The second Hebrew word that we studied was (la.qat) לקת which means “to glean. Chapter two was all about Ruth gleaning in Boaz’s field. As I pondered on this word, I thought of all the blessings we glean from God.

Our third word for the month was (hesed) חסד which is a difficult word to translate since it represents more of an idea than an action. English translators use words like steadfast love, loyalty, and faithfulness, but those words fall short and can change the act based on which word was used. It’s best to think of the word as a relationship between someone in need and someone qualified to provide, like a child with power of attorney who cares for an elderly parent.

Our final word from Ruth, (ga.al) גאל, meaning “to redeem,” plays an important role in chapter four as Boaz barters for the right to redeem Naomi’s land. But the word doesn’t just appear in the book of Ruth. The entire Old Testament is the story of a God who loves and desires to redeem. It’s a story that points to Jesus, his death and resurrection, and a story that continues to show God’s redeeming work through Christ’s church.

Ruth is not just a love story between a man and a woman, but a love story between God and God’s created people. I encourage you to give it a fresh read.

Grace and peace,

Parson Larson (2026)

1 Peter

Published on by Karolee LarsonLeave a comment
Sailboats off Inis Mór, Ireland

One of the things I love about being a pastor is the deep dive that I get to do on behalf of the congregation. I love finding gems of truth that I can share on Sunday mornings and throughout the week. I love opening up scripture to make it real for everyday life. I love watching people’s eyes light up as they begin to grasp what the text teaches.

Every now and then I depart from the RCL for a deeper dive into a topic or text. When I noticed that 1 Peter was a weekly epistle read during Easter, my curiosity was peeked. Here was a book that I’ve read through many times without pausing to listen to the Spirit. What would 1 Peter have to say to me? I found its household codes to be archaic and I felt Peter was not as important as Paul. But my curiosity lingered, so as any good pastor, I dragged the congregation along with me for a six week sermon series in 1 Peter.

As I studied each week, I discovered that Peter was a letter about spiritual formation. With each chapter, I recognized a practice that Peter begged his readers to engage in for their very survival in a hostile climate. From holy living to mutual love to submission to stewardship to humility, Peter guided his readers toward a new understanding of suffering and community.

1 Peter is a gem which is very applicable for today’s hyper-individualistic culture with its excessive over consumerism. How do we live in this culture without being a part of it? How do we submit to authority without compromising our faith? How do share God’s blessings and grace with others? How do we lead people in a humble and loving manner? How do these practices strengthen us, as a community of faith, to resist temptation in our own hostile environments?

I encourage you to sit with 1 Peter, to listen deeply to what the text has to say, and then to practice these disciplines because that roaring lion is still out there, looking to devour Christ’s church and we must be alert and disciplined.

But take heart, Christ has already won the battle and we will be “restored, supported, strengthened, and established” for God’s glory (1 Peter 5:10). Thanks be to God!

Grace and peace,

Parson Larson, June 2026

Submission

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Nobody likes to submit, and yet it is the very act of submitting to others which enables us to become more like Christ, which in turn, makes us better pastoral leaders.

As I have watched people go through the ordinations process, I have observed this reluctance to submit to the process. Now, to be fair, I also complained about a lot of it. But, as I look back and now watch from the sidelines, I see a difference in the leadership style between those who submitted verses those who continue to fight the process.

Submission is a spiritual discipline which ultimately helps us become better leaders as we learn the give and take required between leaders and followers. Submissive leaders listen to their followers and discern as a team, and they put the needs of others before their personal preferences.

Now, this is not to say that submissive leaders are doormats; rather, submissive leaders are team players who guide and direct from a spirit of humility. In other words, we don’t need to die on every hill.

I challenge you to reflect on the spiritual discipline of submission and how it can help you become a better leader as you grow in Christ.

Grace and peace,

Parson Larson 2026

Kingdom People

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While I am not surprised to see how divided our country has become, I am sad when I see Christians participate in the division.

Our political climate has become a war between two gods who demand total allegiance from their worshippers. Battle lines are drawn on every political front. No longer can people travel safely between positions for fear of being called a traitor. We are compelled to choose a side.

But there is a third option. As Christians, we are not called to be republicans or democrats, but to be Kingdom people who follow the commands of our king. We are to live as ambassadors in this land as we wait for our king to return.

As ambassadors, our role is to show the world a better way to live – a way that is rooted in King Jesus’ commands to love God and love our neighbors, including our enemies. We are to look for signs of the Kingdom and then participate in Christ’s redemptive work, which unites instead of divides. But instead, I see Christians staunchly supporting the political positions of their preferred party without any thought to how those positions may or may not further God’s Kingdom of love.

Unfortunately, division among Christians is nothing new. When asked if he was the devil, Jesus responded, “A house divided cannot stand.” Have Christians become their own devil by fighting against one another? Is it any wonder why people want nothing to do with the Church?

Let’s put aside our false gods and rally around our king! Let’s look for signs of love and unity which point toward the Kingdom of God. Let’s follow King Jesus’ command to love God and love our neighbors – all of our neighbors. Let’s participate in Christ’s work of reconciliation and redemption for the glory of God.

Let’s be Kingdom People.

Grace and Peace

Parson Larson 2025

Cowboy Church and Community

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Last weekend I attended Cowboy Church. It was a brief service that was held as part of the opening ceremony at one of my husband’s mounted shooting events.

Sunday Breakfast

The participants, including the preacher who is a real life cowboy, were in their saddles. After a quick prayer and song, the typical “we are all sinners in need of Jesus” sermon was preached. While it was expected, I did like how he used both the Samaritan Woman and Nathaniel under the tree to show how all kinds of people need Jesus.

Cowboy Church

After asking us where we’d go if we died today (by being hit by a truck), the service ended with a call to accept Christ before the ceremony moved onto the national anthem and a brief business meeting.

Discussing the patterns

It was during the meeting, when the VP shared about a recent horse event he attended, that I heard the gospel truly preached. Without intending it to be a sermon, this cowboy talked about how the community of mounted shooters supported him during a low point in his journey. Their encouraging words lifted his faith to be able to carry on and finish the race.

Warming up

Our personal faith is important, but living out that faith in community is equally important for our salvation, because it isn’t a one-time decision but a lifelong journey of learning how to love God and love neighbor. With undeserved grace, God calls us into his kingdom family. We respond in thankfulness and then strive as the church to reflect the triune God to the world. An individual faith cannot reflect a trinitarian God, who by God’s very nature is a community of love.

Shooting balloons

I have no qualms with the Cowboy Preacher’s message. He did a great job, but my reformed covenant understanding of theology really appreciated how the VP’s message of community made the whole service complete.

Grace and peace,

Parson Larson, 2025

Baptisms!

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Baptism Down by the River

I love baptisms!

I used to love baptisms back in the day when I only understood them as a personal commitment to follow Jesus, but now I love them even more with my newfound Reformed understanding.

Baptisms represent so much more than a personal faith. When we are baptized, the Holy Spirit seals us into God’s covenantal family. An adult baptism, for example, is like a contract to be part of a family, whereas an infant baptism demonstrates God’s amazing grace bestowed upon someone who has done nothing to deserve mercy.

With this complete understanding of baptism, our faith becomes so much more than personal. It becomes a communal faith, which better explains how we are created in the image of a triune God, who is made up of three co-equal persons in a relationship of love.

This is good news! It means that we don’t have to travel alone on our personal journeys of faith. It means that together we reflect God’s image of love to a weary and broken world, and we all know how desperately the world needs to see love in this crazy environment.

This summer has been full of baptisms for me. I had the joy of baptizing two adults and two children in a local river, and then I was blessed to witness the baptism of two children — one in Ireland and one in another state. How cool is that? Six new members reflecting the image of God to the world.

And it’s all because of God’s amazing grace.

Grace and peace,

Parson Larson, 2025

Pilgrimage to Ireland

Published on by Karolee LarsonLeave a comment
Glendalough, Ireland

Life has been pretty insane since my last post, and I’m glad to report that it’s all been a crazy good busy.

One highlight was my trip to Ireland last June. I traveled as part of a Celtic Spiritual Pilgrimage where we made stops in Dublin, Glendalough, Belfast, and Inis Mór.

Cliffs of Mohr

It was a whirlwind trip which I am still processing. Most pics, unfortunately, remain unedited on my camera. Church life, school papers, and family time has taken priority.

Stormont, Belfast

Someday, I want to return to spend a little more time in a few of the places I visited and also to discover the roots of my Irish heritage. Ireland is such a beautiful country with a rich history and tradition. One needs to spend more than a week to fully appreciate the significance of this magical place.

Inis Mór

But home is also a place of beauty and wonder, which we often miss as we long for greener pastures. So as I reflect upon Ireland, I need to remember that inner longing I had to go home.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin

But then, aren’t we all filled with a longing to be home? Our hope lies in knowing Jesus will one day return to fulfill that longing. In the meantime, we can look for signs of the kingdom, and Ireland is definitely one of them.

Grace and peace,

Parson Larson, 2025

God’s Strength in Small Churches

Published on by Karolee LarsonLeave a comment
My Childhood Church

This past week, we finally had a break in the weather so we could attend to our yard work. To occupy my mind while I mowed and weeded flower beds, I listened to a podcast regarding the success and failure of a mega church and its celebrity pastor. The podcast moved through the series like a documentary, postulating on what might have been the root causes for the failure of the church as they cited examples of similar character flaws among other leaders in both Christian and secular circles. While I found the lessons of what-not-to-do as a church leader important, it was the stories of the victims that I found most compelling. My heart broke as I listened to testimonies of the members who had become disillusioned by their experience and no longer trusted the church as a safe space. As they began to take apart what they had been taught, many left both church and faith behind.

We live in a culture which idolizes big things: big egos, big businesses, big celebrities, and big churches. We look at strength and growth as our measure for success, but the increasing reports of failed celebrity pastors and their mega churches causes me to wonder if our paradigm for success is seriously flawed. Perhaps the answer to church growth is not found in big flashy churches which cater to the crowds, but in small congregations.

We may believe bigger is better, but Paul reminds us that “God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:25). As people continue to deconstruct their faith, perhaps it will be in small churches where they can begin to reconstruct their faith and find healing through the repetition of communal prayers, liturgy, confession, scripture read and proclaimed, and the sacraments.

In a culture of consumerism, strength and power are symbols of success. As we categorize our lives between religion and secular, we find our idols begin to seep into our churches. How often do we make decisions based on what works in the outside world? How often do we make decisions based upon statistics and numbers rather than on actual transformation? How often do we make decisions based upon fear of becoming small?

Christianity is a counter-cultural religion in which God shows us that strength and power lie in the weakness of the cross and in the suffering of the saints; and so I believe the Holy Spirit is moving within our small churches to preserve the Christian faith in North America. To be sure, small churches contribute their own brand of hurt to those seeking to know Christ. But on the whole, small congregations are composed of people who know and love each other, who work together for a common cause, and who are not afraid to question their pastor and leaders when something feels out of place.

Let us put aside our fears and embrace our small congregations as places where the traditions of the church along with the Gospel message are being preserved for future generations, as places of healing and reconstruction for those who have lost faith, and as places of holy success as lives are transformed into the image of Christ.

Grace and peace,

Parson Larson, 2023

References

Podcast: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill by Christianity Today

Grand Canyon – Grand Creation

Published on by Karolee LarsonLeave a comment

I used to believe that people who did not subscribe to a literal six-day creation theory were at best misguided Christians, and at worst unbelievers. My tendency to read scripture literally led me to believe scientific explanations of how creation aligned with the first two chapters of Genesis. This creationist explanation made more sense to me than an evolutionary idea where a large explosion could produce an ordered creation.

What I failed to notice was that the same people who asked the evolutionists how they could be so certain in their defense of an evolutionary theory of creation were the same people who defended their creation theory with absolute certainty. While criticizing the evolutionists tendency to make theories sound like facts, creationists did not waver from their own notions of how God created the universe. A grand chasm was formed between intelligent people on both sides of an unwinnable argument.

The intention of the original author of Genesis never entered my mind prior to my seminary studies. The ancient readers cared less about how creation was formed and more about who formed creation. Genesis was written to defend the Creator God of the Israelite nation against the pagan gods of other tribes. In essence, they were saying, “Your god is lord over water? Oh, that’s cute. Our God created the sea out of the deep chaos and placed the untamable beasts which you fear in it.” The Genesis narrative teaches us who is responsible for creation and the psalmists teach us how to worship the God of creation. “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:1).

I no longer ascribe to any theory of how God created the heavens and the earth. How could any of us possibly know for certainty what happened? Instead, I look around and see the beauty of creation and am led to praise God. I am also led to care more about what happens to creation.

The tranquil beauty of the Grand Canyon gives me hope. The God of creation is also the God of redemption. All things will be made new (Revelation 21:5), and we are called to participate in this redeeming work while awaiting Christ’s return. With this understanding, I have learned to care a little more deeply about the earth and I try to make choices which reflect that care. I can’t do much on my own, but thankfully, God’s idea of participation is one which involves community. Small choices made by many people do make an impact.

The Grand Canyon is definitely a place of wonder which inspires awe and worship of God, but creation is all around us. Do we see God’s hand in the places where we live? Do we notice the small wonders around us? Are we inspired to care more about the ecosystems which surround us?

Embracing the who of creation over the how of creation gives me hope. I no longer need to ascribe to a specific theory to justify my faith. I can simply believe that the God who freely creates such a beautiful place is also the God who freely bestows grace and redeems brokenness.

Grace and peace,

Parson Larson, 2023

Send Me

Published on by Karolee LarsonLeave a comment

Several years ago, I attended a conference with D. A. Carson as the keynote speaker. As he taught on Isaiah 6, I began to pray, “Why not me, Lord? What is wrong with me? I want to serve you! Here I am. Send me!” Today, I am a pastor.

My heart breaks for the women who are trapped in denominations which do not allow women to fully express their gifts. We are threatened with the idea that men will stop serving in church if women lead. This is a falsehood. Within my denomination, I see men and women working joyfully alongside one another. We are told that women must be submissive to men because the Son was submissive to the Father. This is another falsehood. While Jesus did submit to the Father while he walked on the earth, there is no hierarchy within the Trinity. The persons of the Triune God lovingly submit to one another as they work together in everything from creation to resurrection.

Is it any wonder why we are living in a post-Christian culture when Christians do not use the gifts they are given for the work of ministry? Women are denied the use of their gifts and men are flung into positions in which they are not gifted, simply because a human interpretation of scripture determines what is considered biblical manhood and biblical womanhood.

The time has come when we should break the fetters of both women and men and allow them to serve as God has ordained.

Grace and peace,

Parson Larson, 2023