Words of Welcome

Acts 11:1-18   How does God speak to us, if burning bushes aren’t a normative experience?   In answer to this question, we’ve considered Scripture, Tradition, and Reason, but could  God also speak to us through our own experiences and the experiences of others?   The idea that God might speak through experience is both an attractive and dangerous idea, but can faith be alive if it’s not experienced?       An answer might be found in St. Augustine’s confession:   “Thou hast made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in thee.”   And Augustine’s confession is similar to that of the Psalmist:      Just like a deer that craves streams of water,         my whole being craves you, God.     My whole being thirsts for God, for the living God.            When will I come and see God’s face?  (Psalm 42:1-2 CEB). According to Augustine and the Psalmist this desire to be in relationship with God is written into our very being.  We won’t rest until

Third in a series of four Acts 17:16-21     I think we’ve established over the past few weeks that even if God doesn’t normally speak to us in an audible voice, we can still hear the voice of God.  We just need help.  There’s Scripture, of course, which we often call the Word of God, and it is normally our starting point.  After all, we read from Scripture every Sunday as part of worship.  But as the Gospel of John reminds us, Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh, not the Bible.  Although Scripture seems to be a central way in which God speaks to us, is it the only way we hear God speak?      We started to answer this question last Sunday with a conversation about Tradition, which is the ongoing story of God’s involvement in our world, beginning with Creation and continuing to this day.  Tradition is an important voice, but perhaps there are still others that might speak to us.  If so, could Reason be one of those ways in which God speaks?         In planning wo

Mark 7:1-13   I expect that most of us have never heard God speak directly to us in an audible voice.  We’ve never had a burning bush or Damascus Road experience.  So, if this is true, then how can we hear God’s voice?      Last Sunday we talked about how God might speak to us through Scripture, but even if it is the Word of God, is it the only voice through which God speaks?  Going forward I suggested a couple of other possibilities including Tradition, Reason, and Experience.  Having spoken on Scripture, as you might expect from this morning’s anthem, today I’m going to speak on Tradition.      Now, in Mark 7 we find Jesus confronting an angry group of religious leaders who are appalled that Jesus’ disciples hadn’t properly washed their hands before eating.  While it may sound like an issue of good hygiene, it was really more a question of following tradition.  These leaders didn’t appreciate the disciples’ lack of respect for the way things have always been don

2 Timothy 3:14-17 I know what you’re thinking.  This sounds more like a lecture series than a sermon series.  You’re wondering – will he put on his preacher’s hat or his professorial one.  It’s a good question.  Let me try on this professorial hat for a moment. As I see if this hat fits, I can say that the series is inspired by questions that came up during our “Ask the Pastor” conversation last August. The questions that I hope to address with this series include:  How do we hear God’s voice so we know what we should be and do?   And, how do we actually know if it’s God’s voice or some other voice that we are hearing?   If you’ve ever heard Billy Graham preach, you know what he thinks.  It’s just:   “The Bible says . . .”    If you want to know what God wants us to do, just read your Bible.  Or, as it’s sometimes put:  “The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it.”  Or does it?   If you read very far into the Bible you quickly discover that it says a lot of d