Words of Welcome

1 John 3:16-24 What is love? We’ve been asking this question for centuries. And of course, love is a favorite sermon topic, so we preachers have had more than enough opportunities to offer our definitions. And yet, it seems as if this continues to be an appropriate topic to consider, because we still struggle with our definitions and with our practice of love. I know that for the broader world love is eternally connected to romance, but normally, when the Bible speaks of love, it has something else in mind. Indeed, love is the foundation of the Christian faith. Jesus summed up the law of God in two commandments – love God and love neighbors. Every thing else is simply commentary on these two commandments. And if you read through our text this morning, I’d venture to say that you wound find that we keep the first by keeping the second. When it comes to the biblical idea of love, I can’t think of a better pop culture example than the closing scenes of the old Star Trek movie

1 John 1:1-2:2 An ancient Easter hymn declares: That Easter day with joy was bright, the sun shone out with fairer light, when, to their longing eyes restored, the glad apostles saw their Lord. ( Chalice Hymnal , 229) On this second Sunday of Easter, as we continue to bask in the glory of the resurrection, I pray that our eyes have been restored so that we can see our Lord. Having had our sight restored, I pray that we might confess that “God is Light, and in him there is no darkness at all” (1 Jn. 1:5). This confession that God is light, should bring to mind various biblical texts and images that can help us better understand who we are as the children of God. And there is no better place to start than at the beginning, where God says: “Let there be light.” And when God saw the light, God declares that the light is good. Indeed, as we emerge from a long winter, we can readily affirm the truth of this statement – Indeed, the light is good! It’s good because it lights our pa

John 20:1-18 Rarely is there any “surprise” in a surprise birthday party. The tale-tell signs are everywhere — the clandestine phone calls and the secretive meetings. Besides, since you know that your birthday is coming up, you’re not at all surprised if your friends jump out from behind the sofa and yell: “Surprise!” A real surprise would be a long lost friend unexpectedly showing up on your doorstep. Or, you go out to dig a well in the backyard and stumble upon a complete T-Rex skeleton. That’s the definition of a surprise. It’s something that happens, which you wouldn’t ever expect to happen. Although the four gospel accounts of Easter morning differ to some degree in how they pass on the details of that event, they all agree on one thing. They agree that everyone involved was truly surprised to learn that the tomb was empty and the body of Jesus was missing. This is especially true of John's account, which carries with it a sense of the “who dunnit?” Indeed,

Isaiah 50:4-9a "Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me." That’s what you’re supposed to say when bullies pick on you and call you names. It would be nice, if names didn’t hurt, but from experience I can say – it’s not true. Names do hurt. Indeed, we’ve discovered that verbal abuse can be just as damaging to a child as physical abuse. James understood this to be true long before the psychologists caught on. He called the tongue a "restless evil, full of deadly poison." Indeed, the same tongue that we use to sing praises to God, we also use to curse those "who are made in the likeness of God." (James 3:1-12). Today we celebrate Palm Sunday, and as we wave our palm branches and triumphantly process into church the excitement begins to build. Yes, this is a time to shout out words of praise and give thanks for God’s gift of deliverance. Oh, if things would just stay like that, but if you know the story, you know that t