Words of Welcome

I Corinthians 8:1-13 "Give me liberty or give me death." While this statement may sound extreme, this declaration by Patrick Henry has inspired generations of Americans to believe that death is preferable to living under tyranny. Patrick Henry had political freedom in mind, but is this the only kind of freedom there is in the world? When Paul says "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom" (2 Cor. 3:17), he’s speaking to people living under Roman rule, and Rome was not a democracy. So freedom must be more than a political state of affairs. In a classic Peanuts comic strip Linus is holding a snowball and looking sheepishly into the sky, as Lucy walks by. She sees the snowball in his hand and says to him: "Life is full of choices! You may choose, if you wish, to throw that snowball at me. . . . You may also choose, if you so wish not to throw that snowball at me . . . Now, if you choose to throw that snowball at me, I wi

Mark 1:14-20 I know that some of you here today, maybe Lance or Elmer, could tell some really good fish stories. You could talk about dragging a shed out onto the ice and doing some really fun ice fishing; or maybe you could tell us about going out on Lake Huron and catching a really big bass. Something like that. Alas I can’t join you in telling such tales. I’ve lived my life near rivers and streams and lakes and oceans, but I’ve only caught one small fish, and that was when I was but a child. Since I can’t tell a good fish story, I’m going to rely on a famous author. In The Old Man and the Sea , Ernest Hemingway told the story of Santiago the fisherman. Santiago was an old and experienced fisherman, but at one point he’d gone out to sea eighty-four straight times without catching a thing. He would have given up, except this young boy kept cajoling him and encouraging him to keep going in the hope of making that last big catch. Yes, it was that boy’s faith in his fishi

1 Corinthians 6:12-20 I don’t like to meddle in people’s lives, that is, unless, of course, they’re family members. That’s a whole different story! The reason I don’t like meddling from the pulpit is that when you start pointing fingers at the moral and ethical lapses of your church members, they’ve been known to point fingers back at you. So, when it comes to things like sex and food and drink – I try to leave things well enough alone. Of course, Paul doesn’t have any of my qualms. He’s quite happy to point fingers, and he isn’t afraid of having them pointed back at him. Alas, he’s braver than me! 1. The Personal: Sex, food, and Other Addictions The Corinthian letters, one of which we’re dealing with today, deal with a lot of moral and ethical issues. It seems that this church had more than its share of problems, with and sex and food right at the top of their list of concerns. It shouldn’t be surprising to us that this congregation struggled with what we would call addictive behavior

Acts 8:26-38 What’s the scariest thing you can think of? Is it a monster under the bed? Probably not – unless you’re very young. Could it be jumping off the high dive into a swimming pool? Possibly, but I’ve done that – I’ve even jumped off a cliff into a creek. But I was younger then. Or maybe it’s skydiving. Now that’s scary! Jumping out of an airplane at I don’t know, 3000 feet, with nothing standing between you and the ground except a lot of air. Yes, there’s that parachute on your back, but what if it doesn’t open? I think I’ll pass! Just thinking about it is scary enough! Now, here’s my question for the day: Would you put evangelism on that list of scary things? Is evangelism the terrifying “E-word?” I mean, is this word – evangelism -- so terrifying that you’d rather we not talk about it? For some reason telling people our faith story is frightening. Perhaps it’s because our relationship with God is personal and we’re not sure how to talk about such thi