Sermons and Reflections

Our Pastor

The Rev. Beth Purdum Eden is a native of Seattle, Washington who delights in the people and landscapes of the San Juan Islands. Pastor Beth earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Anthropology from Western Washington University and the MDiv degree from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley, California. She has served congregations in Colorado, New Mexico, and Washington. Pastor Beth particularly enjoys working with youth, worship planning, preaching, mission outreach, and teaching. Her hobbies include music, bicycling, kayaking in the Salish Sea and traveling with her husband Dr. David Eden.

Read what the Seattle Times has to say about our island parish!

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

July 6, 2025. Texts: Isaiah 66:10-14; Galatians 6:[1-6] 7-16; Luke 10:1-11, 16-29.   If there is a byword for this week’s lessons, perhaps it is “on the way”.  Call it a slogan or a meme if you prefer. It’s not just a bible thing though. Because a lot of things happen,...

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Sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost

June 29, 2025. Texts: 1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21; Galatians 5:1, 13-25; Luke 9:51-62.   In the wee hours of a February morning in Loveland, Colorado a pickup truck slid off the road. The police arrived on the scene, found the driver uninjured and determined that a slick, dark, tarry substance had...

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Sermon for the Second Sunday after Pentecost

June 22, 2025. Texts: Isaiah 65:1-9; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 8:26-39.   The season of Pentecost, which we have now officially entered, is long. This year it will last for twenty-three weeks. Take that in for a moment. It will be late November before this season gives way to the next one....

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Sermon for Holy Trinity Sunday

June 15, 2025. Texts: Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31; Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15.   In AD 325, exactly 1,700 years ago, Christian leaders from Eastern and Western provinces were called together for a confab by the Roman Emperor Constantine. The empire was on its way to adopting Christianity as its official religion....

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Sermon for the Day of Pentecost

June 8, 2025. Texts: Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17 [25-27].   Is it possible that there was ever a time or place on the face of the earth when someone in authority did not have to say, this is for your own good? Surely this phrase or some variation of...

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Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

June 1, 2025. Texts: Acts 16:16-34; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21; John 17:20-26.   Airports are buzzing, Ferries are full. The inns have no more room. It’s the time of year when you are most likely to hear the plaintive question, “are we there yet?” Today is the seventh and final Sunday...

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Location

Friday Harbor

760 Park St, Friday Harbor, WA 98250

Lopez Island

312 Davis Bay Rd, Lopez Island, WA 98261

Orcas Island

242 Main St, Eastsound, WA 98245

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