Words of Welcome

Exodus 3:1-15 In the movie Evan Almighty , God appears in the form of Morgan Freeman to a newly elected Congressman named Evan Baxter. Like many politicians Evan ran on a grandiose platform. His was: “To Change the World.” God seems to have been paying attention to the campaign and asks Evan if he’s serious about his agenda. When Evan says yes, God tells him to build an ark. I won’t go into the details of the movie, but this movie, and others like it, raises an interesting question: What would you do if God appeared to you in human form and asked you to do something that seemed kind of outlandish? Like build an ark and gather the animals up – two by two. We Americans say that we believe in God – in fact pollsters tell us that 95% of us are believers in God. But, who is this God and what does that belief mean for our daily lives? Recent studies suggest that our view of God can be broken into four categories –A Benevolent God, an Authoritarian God, a Distant God, and a C

Luke 10:38-42 Michael Phelps won 8 Olympic Gold Medals last week. That’s a pretty amazing fete. It took a lot of hard work and determination to reach that level of success, and he’ll be well rewarded for his efforts. Of course there have been a lot of other athletes who have devoted long hours and hard work to their efforts but came up short. Consider for a moment the hurdler Lolo Jones. She’s the best in the world, and she had the lead with just two more hurdles to cross. Unfortunately she hit the ninth hurdle, lost her balance, and stumbled across the line out of the medals. She’d worked hard too, but her reward will be different. In the Olympics there are far more stories about falling short than winning gold, but whatever the case, the basic story is one of commitment and dedication to the important things in life. Speaking of important things – Last weekend Cheryl and I finally got to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. We were thinking about Hawaii, but ended up in Fra

John 8:31-36 Years ago I attended a national Disciples Seminarian’s conference. During one of the sessions, a Disciple seminarian from Harvard told us that there weren’t a lot of Disciples in New England. In fact, most people in that part of the country thought the Disciples must be some kind of exotic cult. It’s true, Jim Jones was a Disciple, but I’ve never thought of the Disciples as either exotic or cultic. Whatever I might think, it’s quite possible that there are a lot of people who don’t know who the Disciples are. That is as true in Michigan as it is in New England. In fact, it’s quite possible that there those here this morning, who aren’t sure what the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) stands for! Now, I’m not a lifelong Disciple. I’ve spent quite of bit of my life in other branches of the Christian community, but I’ve become a committed Disciple! And it’s not because the Disciples let you believe whatever you want. I’m a Disciple because of what thi

Matthew 28:16-20 I know that not everyone here is a Simpson’s fan, but I am! I’ve come to love this TV family, especially the father – Homer Simpson. Homer is the proverbial couch potato, who’s content with his lot in life, and while he goes to church, he doesn’t take it too seriously. In fact, he’s more at home in front of the TV than anywhere else. You could say that he’s more of an observer of life than an active participant. And if you think about it, there’s something attractive about that lifestyle – just kicking back and letting life come to you. But, while Homer’s lifestyle seems attractive, is it a truly Christian one? This congregation has been asking the question – for some time: What does it mean to be a missional congregation? You were exploring this idea even before I got here, but now it’s time to really get serious about not only the discussion but taking active steps to become such a congregation, that is, if this is what God would have us do. Althoug