Our Pastor
The Rev. Emma Donohew has been serving churches since graduating from Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley California in 2012. She has served congregations in Seattle, Portland, and Bellingham, as well as guest preaching across the Pacific Northwest. In addition to serving as the Care Pastor for the Lutheran Church in the San Juans, Pastor Emma is the Mission Developer of Echoes, a 12-year-old experimental faith community that was founded at Bellingham Pride. Echoes considers the city their sanctuary. Each Monday evening they explore Dinner, Creative, Wild, Service, and Pub Church. Together they ponder how can we use our gatherings to invite people to share in God’s lavish love. When she’s not using spirituality as a lens for art and conversation, Emma can be found hiking in the North Cascades or beachcombing the shores of north Whidbey Island and Deception Pass, where she lives with her husband Eric and their dogs Madrona & Juniper.
You can reach Pastor Emma via email at pastoremmad@gmail.com
Sermon Videos and Reflections
Pastor Emma Donohew's Sermons
Given Sundays in March, 2026
All Videos
Jesus Calls out Lazarus from the Tomb - John 11 - 03-22-26 Sermon
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind 03-15-26 Sermon
Jesus Engages a Samaritan Woman in Conversation 03-08-26 Sermon John Ch 4
In addition to preaching a weekly sermon, Pastor Emma sends out short weekly reflections to parishioners of the Lutheran Church in the San Juans. These reflections cover scripture, current events, church news, and other items of interest. They are available below for inspiration and enjoyment.
Reflections-March 22, 2026 This week’s text from the gospel of John is a foreshadowing of Jesus’ own resurrection via his old friend Lazarus. The emotions of the family, the time limitations, the questions...this story is so rich. Lazarus stumbles out of the tomb, and he’s alive. But Jesus knows resurrection is only half the miracle. “Unbind him and let him go,” he commands. You can’t recline at the table of the living while still shrouded in grave clothes, smelling like the long-gone thing you were. This story invites us to think about the death clothes we need God’s help to shed? The failures or shame that have become a restrictive second skin? The stories that keep you wrapped up in a version of yourself you’ve already outgrown? Our complicated history that makes world leaders think there is no other way? We are called to drop the bindings of the past—to be unbound so we can be let go. God’s grace means you can always be made new. Your story is yours, and every day is a good day to leave the wrappings behind. Hope always continues to overcome despair, back then and now. God of hope, Where despair has dried our bones, breathe life. Where grief has emptied us, hold us. Where fear has shut us down, open a way. Where the world tells people “it’s too late”, make us witnesses to hope. Give us grace to stay alongside those who mourn. Let us weep without shame. Let us speak life without denial. When our hearts are heavy, hold us close. When our hope is thin, breathe courage into us. God of life, now and forever. Amen.
Reflections-March 15, 2026 This Sunday of Lent we explore beautiful ancient texts including the 23rd psalm. We love the still waters of the Psalm of David, but we often forget who leads us into the dark valley. We do not follow the path guided by light, or stumble into the shadows by accident; the Good Shepherd guides us there. It is the inevitable geography of faith. To love radically, to pursue justice, to seek liberation together—this guarantees a collision with the valley. Jesus knew this terrain. The prophets knew it. So does anyone who has ever surrendered their safety to the gospel, or lost what they love to the world's sharp edges. The truth is, God regularly walks with us into challenging territory. The invitation of this text is to look at the shadows, look at the Shepherd, and decide if we will follow. But we do not go it alone, God guides us and our communities, together. With the Holy Spirit as our accomplice and comforter. May we keep journeying together this Lent. Blessings, Pastor Emma Bobby McFerrin’s version of the 23rd Psalm (dedicated to my mother) is one of my favorites. It always makes me feel comforted & connected to the ancient words, even as it uses feminine language for God. If you have a favorite Psalm 23 song, prayer or image, send it my way! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn2zKKhhF3I The 23rd Psalm paraphrased by Marilyn Nelson Adonai, my shepherd: I know no need. In lush meadows you invite my soul to rest and recline; together we walk beside the dance of light on quiet waters. You give me back myself, point me to the road toward justice, one of your sacred names. Even when I walk in a valley dark as the shadow of death, I know no fear, for you are near me with your staff and crook, and I am safe. You spread out a feast before me with those who were my enemies. You touch my head with fragrant oil; my thanks overflows. May goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life, and may I make my home in the house of the Lord forever.
Reflections-March 8, 2026 The woman at the well is a familiar text for many people. This image of Jesus standing at a well talking with a Samaritan woman is emblazoned in our visual and theological imaginations, but as with all Bible stories that we think we know, we might do well to take another look! Perhaps relegating this text to the simple moralism “be nice to people who are different” causes us to miss how deeply radical and difficult the message really is. We may assume this gospel simply urges us to stand with the marginalized, especially women. Yet while standing with marginalized women is a commendable action it can lead us, after doing so, to congratulate ourselves for being just like Jesus. A more critical and searching look at this text calls us to the reality that Jesus doesn’t just stand with the other, Jesus stands with your other; your church’s other. Your church’s “Samaritans” may be LGBTQ+ people, evangelicals, urban people, rural people, conservatives, liberals, the poor, the rich, the dying, or single parents. Your church’s Samaritans could very well be the key to this text. Because, like it or not, when we draw lines between ourselves and other people, Jesus is always on the other side of that line. So communities and individuals who thirst for the living water would do well to look to who our own Samaritans might be. And when we find them we should perhaps not be surprised to also find Jesus; a Jesus we thought was all our own but who, in reality, is the living water who comes to us in the strange and the stranger. Blessings, Pastor Emma Blessing of the Well by Jan Richardson If you stand at the edge of this blessing and call down into it, you will hear your words return to you. If you lean in and listen close, you will hear this blessing give the story of your life back to you. Quiet your voice quiet your judgment quiet the way you always tell your story to yourself. Quiet all these and you will hear the whole of it and the hollows of it: the spaces in the telling, the gaps where you hesitate to go. Sit at the rim of this blessing. Press your ear to its lip, its sides, its curves that were carved out long ago by those whose thirst drove them deep, those who dug into the layers with only their hands and hope. Rest yourself beside this blessing and you will begin to hear the sound of water entering the gaps. Still yourself and you will feel it rising up within you, filling every hollow, springing forth anew.
Reflections-February 22, 2026 Prayer for Lent: Letting Go O God, help us to use this season of Lent to examine our attachments, and to sense where You invite us to live more simply and deeply. Shine the light of Your love into the private corners of our lives where we have acquired so much clutter that it has begun to restrict our freedom. Grant us the strength to free ourselves from appetites and needs that drive us into taking, having and wanting more than we need or have time for. Teach us that in letting go we become free, rather than deprived, generous rather than covetous, and spacious rather than restricted. We offer You our Lenten observance, and today we place our feet on the road to Easter, and walk the Way that You have walked before us. Amen. Lenten Devotional from Reconciling Works: https://www.reconcilingworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Lenten-Devotional-from-ReconcilingWorks.pdf I really appreciated these four guided journal prompts that Libby John, founder of the Vivid Artistry creative collective, gave for Lent: 1.What is something in my life I am seeking for God to renew and restore? 2.What rhythms in my life need to be interrupted and reoriented to God’s heart for me? 3.What are some ways I can surrender my schedule to help attune my senses to more of God’s presence? 4.Am I bringing my whole self to God or do I divide and keep parts of my life from God? Read less
Reflections-February 8, 2026 After beginning with a surprising map of divine blessing in the Beatitudes, in last week’s reading from Matthew, now Jesus pivots from blessing to instruction. Addressing his listeners directly, he declares us “salt and light,” little things that can make a big difference for a larger whole. Like salt, we can spice things up, bringing out other flavors in the dish. And like light, we can illuminate a room, dispel shadows, or guide a lost traveler home. “For Jesus, salt and light came out of a long tradition of biblical teaching: salt and light were images for the law of God. Salt and light must take us back to the fullness of the law and the prophets, and the fullness of Jesus’ radical teaching in this Sermon on the Mount. The prophets plead for fullness of life: freedom from oppression, bread for the hungry, homes for those who have none, clothing for the naked. Is this not what it means to be the salt of the earth, to keep this prophetic word alive in the midst of our world? If we lose this vision, if we give in to other values, if we forget God’s longing for justice, our salt has lost its taste. If you think Jesus’ call is impossible, remember that the One who is our bread is with us and within us, empowering us to be salt and light in this world.” —Barbara Lundblad We all need a little empowerment these days. Come to worship, to enter once again in the light of the community of people, to hear the word, and to share in the meal and to remember we are called to be salt of the earth!-Pastor Emma If We Won’t, Who Will? Prayer from Sanctified Art When you meet anger, speak with love. When you meet fear, speak with hope. When you meet pain, speak with gentleness. But no matter what, speak this good news. For the good news of the gospel is love and justice for all. It is joy that surprises, and nonviolence that transforms. The good news of the gospel is alive in the world, so go forth speaking. For if you won’t, then who will?
Reflections-January 25 Nations wage war, gangs battle each other, families quarrel, communities of faith divide. We hear others say and even hear ourselves saying, “There is no other way.” In Jesus, the light of God’s kingdom draws near and a new way shines for us to follow. In Sunday’s gospel, Jesus first withdraws (Matt. 4:12). The word anachoreo (to withdraw) is used ten times in Matthew’s gospel—each time as Jesus’ response to violence or conflict. John the Baptist has been arrested, and tension is beginning to build. In Jesus, a new kingdom has drawn near, a kingdom of nonviolence and non-retaliation. Jesus’ withdrawal is not simply passivity but points to a vision of an alternate way of reigning as king. Jesus rules not with violence, abusive power, or through division but through voluntarily emptying himself of power, identifying with the oppressed and burdened, and healing that which is broken. Into this new reign, Jesus calls the disciples to follow him, a way that appears foolish and weak to those who cannot discern it. To those God calls, it is the wisdom and strength, the light and power of God. In the gospel for this coming Sunday, Jesus’ call of his disciples is like light shining into the darkness. I’ve been praying for the light when I can between zoom meetings, street protests, annual meeting paperwork, lobbying for overnight shelters to be open and sitting with those who can only ask “Why?”
Reflections-January 9, 2026 This week has been rough, maybe there is such a thing as too much bad news. I’ve been sticking to this prayer these past few days: Don’t Give Up. Overwhelm is part of the empire’s playbook. Change is Possible. Together. God is with us. Don’t give up. As followers of Jesus. Hope is not always easy, but it persists: God's realm has and remains undefeated by all empires that have tried to crush it. Quietly growing wherever people choose love, generosity, and peace over power, greed, and violence. It is seen in acts of justice, in neighbors helping, and in resistance to Christian nationalism. We can’t control everything, but control our own choices, speaking truth, resisting domination, and building the alternative world Jesus proclaimed, one faithful step at a time. Hope endures not by ignoring our overwhelm, but recalling that empire is temporary. So I offer you this prayer or reverse prayer when things feel upside down: The "reverse prayer" of St. Francis by Rina Wintour & Pat Lavercombe Lord, make me a channel of disturbance. Where there is apathy, let me provoke; Where there is compliance, let me bring questioning. Where there is silence, may I be a voice. Where there is too much comfort and too little action, Grant disruption. Where there are doors closed and hearts locked, Grant the willingness to listen. When laws dictate and pain is overlooked… When tradition speaks louder than need… Grant that I may seek rather to do justice than to talk about it; Disturb us, O Lord. To be with, as well as for, the alienated; To love the unlovable as well as the lovely; Lord, make me a channel of disturbance. Amen. We continue to move forward in our process of hiring an administrator with Saint David’s in Friday Harbor and have interviews coming next week. Please say a prayer we find the right person to help us in the beautiful work of church administration that will aid not only in our multi-island coordination but also our transition process! Let me know if you have any Prayers. Blessings, Pastor Emma
Reflections-December 27, 2025 I hope you all had a blessed Christmas! I am grateful to all who were on Island and able to attend our services on zoom, in person in Friday Harbor or on Lopez Island (a packed house at Center Church!) and those who were able to travel - I hope it has been filled with good things and ease of movement. I am working my way back from Bothell today grateful for time with family, good food and best of all naps. This week’s scripture is not an easy one, but it's an important part of the birth story of Jesus and the Holy Family. Christians know that Jesus was born to die for us; and thus, in our worship the reality of death is never far from our celebrations of life in Christ. The gospel this Sunday is the horrific story of Herod killing all the young children of Bethlehem in hopes of eliminating Jesus from the scene. It’s difficult and reminds us that there are always schemes at work trying to prevent God’s goodness and grace. Becky Moore shared this James Taylor song “Home By Another Way” at her Nativity Presentation earlier this month and it provides a good soundtrack to this week’s scripture where the Holy Family escapes to Egypt and the wise men find themselves warned to return home on a different path! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMNWOLzRgpI Come to worship: in the midst of death, we praise God’s steadfast love, and we receive the blessings God gives. "Blessing of the Innocents" by William Holman Hunt Hunt’s painting is the first of three versions of this unusual subject, which has its origins in the biblical narrative of the Flight into Egypt. When the final painting was exhibited, the artist provided an explanatory pamphlet. King Herod, threatened by the newborn “King of the Jews,” ordered the slaughter of all male infants in Bethlehem. Here the fleeing Holy Family is enveloped by “the embodied spirits of the martyred Innocents.” The infant directly below the Christ child displays his torn garment, a prefiguration of the wound in Christ’s side at the Crucifixion. “Airy globes” display Jewish dreams of the union of heaven and earth at the advent of the Messiah. In the largest bubble one can make out the sleeping figure of a patriarch with a “ladder or pathway up and down, which is traversed by the servants of God.”
Reflections-March 1, 2026 What a whirlwind week it has been across our beautiful islands, even with the wind on Sunday that made flying not possible. I am so grateful for the hold conversations, prayers and songs that were shared this week. With a transition meeting and Lenten Holden Evening Prayer/ Soup Dinner on Orcas, a Lenten Soup Supper on Friday Harbor, bulletin prep, wonderful meetings with folks and still one more Evangelism workshop tomorrow in Everett before I take some time away, it was a full week. While I may be behind on emails, I am not behind in prayer for each and everyone of you and for our church during this time of transition and our world! For we cannot fix everyting, but we can continue to do our faithful acts of love to keep the world going, one more minute, one more hour and one more day at a time. Blessings, Pastor Emma You Cannot Fix the Cruelty of This World -Megan Minutill But you can bake a loaf of banana bread to feed the bellies of your home. You can call your mother to check in and see if she wants to come over for dinner. You can take your toddler for a walk outside and say yes when he asks if he can run around in “beary-feet” and bring him to museums and musicals and read him a bedtime story every night. You can invite the ones you love over for dinner. You can write about the pain that you see. You can share your story so others know that they are not alone. You can vote. You can make art that feels like a hug. A breath of fresh air. A space where things get to bloom. You can be loud about the things that you love. You can shine your light, so others can see in the dark. You can hope that one day, this will all be enough.
Reflections-February 15, 2026 We often speak of mountaintop experiences as those joyous times we look forward to with excitement and look back upon fondly, such as summer camp or an annual hiking trip. The mountaintop moments in Sunday’s readings are different: awe-inspiring, yes, but also full of devouring fires, clouds, and fear. Vision is obscured, the familiar becomes unknown, and nothing is the same. People get lost in fires, clouds, and fear, unable to find their way, but God’s presence is where we get both lost and found. The truth is, we can no more plan our mountaintop times with God than we can stay there forever, as much as we think we would like to. God’s place is to invite, ours to respond, faces bowed to the ground. Eventually, of course, the time comes to leave that mountain, walking with Jesus down to the valley and getting dusty with the ashes of daily life. But that doesn’t mean there is nothing to do down in the valley. On the contrary, the traditional disciplines of Lent—fasting, prayer, and gifts to the poor—all help us maintain the eyes, ears, and heart to see and hear God whenever and however God appears. This coming Sunday we conclude the time after Epiphany by celebrating the Transfiguration of Our Lord, when Jesus went up a mountain and showed himself to be divine. Then next Wednesday we observe Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, as Jesus walks up another mountain and shows himself to be human. Come to worship, to wonder and to prepare for this season of Lent, together.
Reflections-February 1, 2026 This week’s scriptures offer us a moment to pray deeply for justice in our world. A reminder that God’s people have been praying this for a LONG TIME. Saying ancient prayers connects us with the past especially as we seek a different way forward. A Latin American prayer asks: “Lord, to those who hunger, give bread. And to those who have bread, give the hunger for justice.” The words of this more modern-day prayer do not sound so different from the ancient words spoken by the prophet Micah to God’s people. “What does the Lord require of you,” asks Micah, “but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). The hunger of God’s people has already been filled by the mercy of God, and so they are called by God to feed the hunger of others through lives of justice, kindness, and humility. In worship, God surrounds the gathered people with reminders of who and whose they are: we splash in the waters of baptism, are brought to new life in the word, are fed and forgiven through bread and wine. Around the table, hunger is satisfied, and a hunger for justice is renewed. From the table, God sends the gathered assembly, blessed and broken, to feed the hunger of others as, together, we await the fulfillment of the kingdom. May we keep feeding the world which so desperately hungers for food and peace. -Pastor Emma
Reflections-January 18 This start to the new year has been full, and serving two unique churches at the same time has its challenges. And this week when the annual paperwork for both communities is due, I am feeling a bit fatigued. Not to mention all that goes on in the world. So this week I am leaning on Jesus, the one who knows and understands our challenges. The one who feels our fatigue, our tiredness, our anger and our grief. May God continue to journey with us through all our emotions! A Prayer for the Tired, Angry Ones by Laura Jean Truman God, We’re so tired. We want to do justice, but the work feels endless, and the results look so small in our exhausted hands. We want to love mercy, but our enemies are relentless, and it feels like foolishness to prioritize gentleness in this unbelievably cruel world. We want to walk humbly, but self-promotion is seductive, and we are afraid that if we don’t look after ourselves, no one else will. We want to be kind, but our anger feels insatiable. Jesus, in this never-ending wilderness, come to us and grant us grace. Grant us the courage to keep showing up to impossible battles, trusting that it is our commitment to faithfulness, and not our obsession with results, that will bring in Your peace. Grant us the vulnerability to risk loving our difficult and complicated neighbor, rejecting the lie that some people are made more in the image of God than others. Grant us the humility of a decentered but Beloved self. As we continue to take the single step that is in front of us, Jesus, keep us from becoming what we are called to transform. Protect us from using the empire’s violence—in our words, in our theology, in our activism, and in our politics— for Your kingdom of peace. Keep our anger from becoming meanness. Keep our sorrow from collapsing into self-pity. Keep our hearts soft enough to keep breaking. Keep our outrage turned towards justice, not cruelty. Remind us that all of this, every bit of it, is for love. Keep us fiercely kind. Amen.
Reflections-January 4, 2026 I hope that the New Year finds you well and your 2026 is off to a good start. Even during winter, light is returning, slowly each and every day. May you relish the lengthening light. And may this art and blessing find you. Katalambano -by Amy Scott Robinson When light shines in darkness, the darkness is gone. In darkness, light cannot be swallowed or won, Contained or attained, or explained, grasped or gained, Seized or perceived, acquired or obtained. The dark doesn’t get it. The dark hasn’t found it. The dark cannot wrap understanding around it, For darkness cannot comprehend light, or know it, Cannot overwhelm, overcome, overthrow it; The dark has not conquered or crushed or controlled it The dark doesn’t get it. The dark cannot hold it. In Jesus was life, and the life was the light, because He held life – lightly – So that we’d hold it tight. I am grateful that retired Pastor Dennis Conrad can preach and lead worship on San Juan and Orcas Island, and Pastor Marc Hander, the Community Engagement Manager of Lutheran Community Services NW (Bellingham) can lead on Lopez Island. I look forward to being back with you all next Sunday. Blessings to each of you, Pastor Emma
Reflections-November 26, 2025 Endurance Not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls. —Luke 21.18-19 The endurance of love is not superhero strength but faithfulness, kindness in the face of fear, love amid the unknown. And when we are too weak even to rise up, divine Love endures in us. Remain faithful to that light shining within you and despite all loss and suffering, your soul will be fully yours; you will not perish, you will endure. - Steve Garnaas-Holmes This Sunday’s scriptures deal with the challenges of life both in the past and those we deal with today. The Greek word translated here as “endurance” is ὑπομονῇ (hypomonē), and among the gospel accounts is only used by Luke. It is also clustered strongly in Romans and Revelation. It is difficult to wrestle with needing endurance to “gain our souls” when we may be tired, uncertain, or feeling helpless. By looking at communities of endurance in scripture and in our own recent history and our own contexts can offer a sense of encouragement in equal measure to the conviction these words can evoke from us. May we keep the faith and not give up hope.
The following pages provide access to the texts of sermons given by our former Pastor Beth Eden during her tenure at the church between 2018 and 2025. The section listings begin with the most recent sermons first and provide access to her sermons given yearly back to 2018.
2023
Coming Soon
2022
Coming Soon
2021
Coming Soon
2020
Coming Soon
2019
Coming Soon
2018
Coming Soon