Words of Welcome

Micah 5:2-5a It’s been a little more than a week since news broke that more than two dozen children and adults were gunned down at a Connecticut school.  Many of us stopped to pray and possibly weep at this shocking news. In the past week or so we’ve engaged in many serious conversations about why and how this happened. The conversations will continue, because the problem of violence in our society remains unresolved. Although this is supposed to be a season of great joy, sadness continues to hover over our nation.  With Christmas just two days away, many wonder – where is God? As we ask these questions, the prophet Micah declares that help is on the way.  Rising from the little town of Bethlehem will be a ruler, whose “origin is from old, from ancient days.” The words “help is on the way” can be comforting and empowering. In the old western movies I grew up on, it always seemed like the cavalry, often led by John Wayne, showed up just in time to save the day.  Ther

Philippians 4:4-7 I was looking forward to preaching this sermon.  Not only has it been a couple of weeks since last I got the opportunity, but joy a great theme to preach on this close to Christmas.  The service itself is designed to highlight this theme.  We’ve already lit the candle of joy, and all our hymns speak of joy as well.   But, the joy of this Advent and Christmas season has been interrupted by the horrific tragedy that hit our nation on Friday.  I think that most of us are still reeling from the shock of learning that a young man entered an elementary school and killed twenty-six people, twenty of whom were small children, before turning his gun on himself.  We can’t hear a word from God this morning without acknowledging the grief and anger that wraps our nation.    We began worship this morning listening to the voices of our children singing the Friendly Beast song.  They blessed us not only with their songs, but more importantly with their presence.  And

John 18:33-37 The election season is over, so isn’t it time to get on with life. After all there’s work to be done.  Remember there’s that fiscal cliff to resolve, immigration reform to tackle, and then there’s the ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act.  Besides all of this there are roads and bridges that need to be built or repaired.  The laundry list is long and getting longer.  And that’s just the stuff on our government’s plate.  As for us, the Christmas shopping season is racing into top gear!   Although we all seem to enjoy complaining about politics and politicians, isn’t it human nature to complain about the people in power.  At least in this country, if you don’t like ‘em, you can toss ‘em out.  Though with gerrymandering that’s sort of difficult!  But, what if we lived instead under the rule of divinely sanctioned hereditary monarchs.  Wouldn’t that be better?  Although there are those who raise the cry Vox populi, vox Dei.  That’s Latin for

Hebrews 10:19-25 Some families have a little Thanksgiving ritual when they get together.  Everyone goes around the table and shares something for which they’re thankful. Now, this can be a rather uncomfortable ritual for some, since they’re not really sure how to answer the question.  Unfortunately, you usually can’t pass, so you have to make something up.  Since it looks like the Lions won’t be going to the Super Bowl this year, you might say –  “I’m thankful that the Lions will get a good draft pick.”  That would be a safer answer than saying that I’m thankful that a certain team that can’t be named won the World Series.  If we were to extend this ritual to this morning’s worship service, and went around the room, asking each of us to stand up and give an answer to the question of what we’re thank for, what would you say?  Don’t worry, we don’t have time to go around the room, so you’re safe.  But, what would you say?    This year’s stewardship theme –  “Abundant Jo

Mark 12:38-44 I know that you’re all glad that the election season is over.  Whether your candidates won or lost, if you’re like me, you’re enjoying watching TV a whole lot more than a week ago.  None of those annoying political ads are blaring at you. Your email inbox has gotten a bit lighter as well. But, here’s a bit of warning – once you give to a candidate or a party, you’re marked for life, and you can expect to get many emails asking for money.  All of this constant fund-raising can be a bit annoying, but it’s part of the game.  And, while, politicians will tell you that they welcome contributions of every size, they would rather you give the maximum amount than the minimum.  Not only that, but if you have a Super-PAC, there is no maximum, so give as much and as often as you can.  Since we were inundated with TV ads from Super-PACS, you know that a lot of really big givers gave a lot of money to these efforts to influence our votes.   So, to many people the question of

Ruth 1:1-18 I thought about singing Willie Nelson’s “On the Road Again,” but thought better of it.  But I could have used that song title as the title for this sermon.  It is, after all, a sermon about spiritual journeys in the company of others. Our text this morning reminds us that migration is a common theme in the biblical story.  Beginning with Adam and Eve’s departure from Eden and on through Abraham and Sarah’s journey from Ur to Canaan, Jacob’s various journeys, including a final one that took him and his sons to Egypt, and then the return of Jacob’s descendants to the Promised Land with Moses.  Jesus himself was an itinerant preacher, who traveled in the company of his disciples, and of course, Paul is known for his missionary journeys.  These journeys, like most journeys, have some purpose to them. It might be famine or it might be war.  It could be that God has sent a person on a journey to bring a message of good news. People came to the United St

2 Corinthians 8:1-12 How do you see the world?  Is the glass half empty or is it half full?  Is the economy getting better or is it getting worse?  Is your consumer’s confidence quotient going up or going down?  Is there an abundance or scarcity? Jesus was confronted with a large crowd of people.  They were hungry and there weren’t any McDonalds or Krogers nearby.  Jesus’ disciples got worried and told Jesus to send everyone away, before their hunger got the better of them.  But Jesus decided to have his disciples feed the crowd.  So he asked them – what foodstuffs do you have? They  responded – well there seem to be a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish.  Jesus said – that’ll do, and everyone went home satisfied with their meal!  As they Scripture says – With God all things are possible.   The Macedonian churches were experiencing poverty and distress, but they also were experiencing “abundant joy.”  And as a result, they overflowed with a “wealth of generosity.

Hebrews 4:12-16 We all have a few skeletons in your closet. There are things, secret things,  that we’d rather others not know about.   And, some things are best left unsaid.   Of course, it’s getting more difficult to keep secrets.  After all, as politicians are discovering, you never know who is recording your words and movements. But sometimes we, ourselves, put out in public things that come back to haunt us. You have to be really careful about what you post on Facebook and Twitter. You may think it’s just your “friends,” who see that picture or that comment, but there’s a whole lot of other people who just might see it as well.  So, as a rule of thumb, if you don’t want the world knowing your business, then don’t make it public record on social media.  You might also remember these three letters:  TMI or Too Much Information! Because I blog and am on Facebook, Linked-In, and Twitter, I’ve left a bit of a trail.  I’ve tried not to share anything too salacious, but