Words of Welcome

Matthew 6:7-13; Luke 13:18-21 We live in a modern democracy that enshrines the words:     We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. Didn’t the nation’s founders throw off a king in order to gain this independence?   And yet, week after week, we pray that God’s kingdom would be revealed and that God’s will would be done, both in heaven and on earth.  How do we reconcile our prayers with our politics?     I suppose we reconcile these two very different perspectives, by spiritualizing the kingdom of God.  We live in a democracy here on earth – where we get to run our own lives – and when we get to heaven, well, then God gets to be in charge!       Unfortunately, Jesus won’t let us off the hook so easily

Isaiah 6:1-8     Every Sunday we recite the prayer that Jesus is said to have taught his disciples.  It’s a prayer that many of us know by heart.  There is, of course, a debate as to whether this is a model for us to follow or a prayer to be said as is.  There are good arguments on both sides, but my sense is that this really isn’t an either/or situation.  Instead, we will be blessed both by using the prayer as a model and by using it as our own prayer to God.      John Calvin suggested that while the form has value, we shouldn’t feel so bound to the form that we’re unable to change a word or syllable.  The point is not the form but the meaning, but still the form has great beauty and meaning.  And so he writes:       Truly, no other can ever be found that equals this in perfection, much less surpasses it.  Here nothing is left out that ought to be thought of in the praises of God, nothing ought to come into man’s mind for his own welfare.  And, indeed, it is so precisely framed th

Psalm 51:1-17     A biology professor enters a faculty meeting, sits down, and then suddenly stands up and begins shooting.  By the end of the shooting spree, three lie dead and a number of others are critically wounded. Why?  Apparently, a faculty committee had denied a tenure appeal.  We wonder, sometimes, why such a  thing could happen, especially when the perpetrator is well educated.  Surely, I wouldn’t do such a thing?   Surely, I’m not capable of doing that which is evil?  And yet, this is the question we face as we come here tonight to have our foreheads smeared with ash.      Among the texts that we read this evening was one that focused in  on the question of guilt. While this text calls for repentance, it also offers hope of forgiveness and a new beginning in life.  That text is Psalm 51.  Traditionally, it’s supposed  to be David’s prayer of contrition, which he offers to God, after Nathan rebukes him for his rape of Bathsheba, and his complicity in the death of her husb

Job 38:1--11     The liturgical calendar may say that today is Transfiguration Sunday, and the social calendar might say that it’s Valentine’s Day, but I have another calendar that says that it’s  Evolution Sunday.  As you can see from the service, I decided to go with the latter calendar!  For the  fifth consecutive year churches and synagogues from  across the country will be focusing on the relationship between science and our confessions of faith.       Evolution Sunday and Weekend is observed on the weekend nearest Charles Darwin’s Birthday.   We  don’t do this because Darwin was a saint, or because  he had special spiritual knowledge that we need to pass on.  But, Darwin is important to our conversation, because he personifies the ongoing debate that has rocked our churches and society for decades if not centuries.  Although the debate started long before Darwin – just ask Galileo -- the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species changed the conversation between scie

1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Those of you who’ve been part of the God is Green study know that we’ve been talking about the ways our lives impact the environment. Although God may have given us a beautiful world to live in and the job of being good stewards of this gift, too often we’ve muddied the waters and trampled down the pastures (Ezk: 34:18). As we’ve been talking about our impact on the environment, a troubling question has emerged: “How much is enough?” That is, if our pursuit of bigger and better has a negative impact on the environment, what am I willing to live without? What would I be willing to sacrifice? That’s one way to ask the question of priorities, but we could ask it in other ways. For instance, since we seem to be in an ongoing economic crisis, one that grips our nation, our state, and our local communities, including the city of Troy, we might ask the question: what services do we consider important and essential? 1. Back to Basics I’m not sure that Pa