Words of Welcome

Matthew 14:22-33 When I was a kid, I went on a boat ride around Klamath Lake, which is probably the size of the Sea of Galilee. On the way home a storm kicked up and it bounced that boat around pretty good. Now, it wouldn’t compare to one of those big Great Lakes storms, the kind that would sink the Edmund Fitzgerald, but for a kid it was a bit unnerving. Back in the 1st century, storms, even on relatively small lakes, could be terrifying. Water was symbolic of life, but it was also symbolic of chaos. Remember those opening lines of Genesis, where the Spirit of God hovers over the “face of the waters,” and ultimately brings order out of chaos (Gen.1: 1-2). This morning’s text raises the question of faith – how much faith do I have, do we have, as we set out on an adventure with God? Sometimes our faith journeys are a bit like a boat tossed about on a stormy lake. We’re not sure where and how things will end, and our faith in God gets tested. This six-week adventure centered

Mark 2:1-12 If you’re a stickler for making sure that there’s “a place for everything,” and that “everything should be in its place,” then you might not want Jesus to stop by for a visit. From everything I’ve read, chaos usually follows in his wake. And as we’ve seen from today’s text, even houses get damaged when Jesus comes to town, though it would appear that in this case, it’s Jesus’ own house that gets damaged when he opens it up to the community. As the story goes, Jesus had just returned home to Capernaum from his sojourn in the desert. When word gets out that the preacher boy is ready to make his local debut everyone in town stops by to hear a word of wisdom or argue a fine point of theology. The house got so crowded that no one else could get in, which was unfortunate, since there was a disabled man in town who needed to see Jesus for some healing. But, this man’s friends had a lot of faith and they weren’t deterred by a full house. They simply climbed to the roof an

Acts 2:14, 32-39 We’ve reached the half way point in our Lenten journey, and I believe that God is doing something important in our midst. With Gay Reese as our guide, we have opened ourselves up to being transformed as individuals and as a congregation. I do think it is appropriate to say that we’re becoming a converted community. That is, God is unbinding our hearts and minds so that we might be open both to the future and to the community that lies just beyond our doors.1 There’s a new spirit and purpose in this congregation. Not so long ago our congregation was wracked by conflict and division. We were broken and many were angry. Over the past few years God has been healing those wounds and preparing the congregation for something new. That new thing is beginning to happen. Oh, you may only see the first shoots sticking out of the ground, but it’s happening right before our eyes. As this new thing grows and develops, it will move us beyond these walls and out into

John 4:7-10, 16-29 We’ve all had life-altering conversations. John has already told you his story about how he came into the church. I want to follow up with a couple of my own, even though I’ve essentially been in the church all my life. There have been moments, nonetheless, that have helped change the course of my life. I could mention Brent Smith’s invitation to join in a bible study while in high school, or Dennis Helsabeck’s invitation to go to Twin Oaks Christian Church, but of the many conversations that helped form the direction of my life, I’d like to mention two. The first story takes place in the summer of 1981. It was the final week of my brief tenure as a youth minister. I spent that week serving as one of three teachers at a high school church camp. At that point I didn’t really know what I would do next. I’d thought about seminary, but I wasn’t sure that I was either called to ministry or something else. That week I met Gary Railsback, the new recruiter from

Luke 5:1-11 Ice fishing came up during a conversation after our Ash Wednesday service. I’ve never gone ice fishing, and from what I’ve heard, I don’t know if I ever will go ice fishing. I did learn something, however. Apparently, you have to move around the ice, searching for just the right spot – or you’ll sit there all day in the cold and not catch a thing. Indeed, it may be necessary to go out into deeper waters, where those elusive fish might just be hiding. This morning’s scripture text offers us another fish story. In fact, this one might sound a bit familiar, because just a few weeks ago we heard Mark’s version of the story of Jesus inviting Peter, Andrew, James and John, to join him in a fishing venture. Luke’s version is a bit different, because in this one, Jesus goes out onto the lake to do some fishing with his new group of assistants. Despite their apparent differences, both texts offer us an invitation to join Jesus in the work of evangelism – that is, sharing th