Words of Welcome

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29 “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” That’s what the crowd shouted when Jesus rode into Jerusalem. Perhaps they sensed that Jesus was enacting the 118th Psalm as he entered the gates of the city in triumph. Yes, this was the day the Lord had made, and so they rejoiced and were glad in it! ( Mk. 11:1-11 ) The Psalmist declares: “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.” We’ve been invited to join Jesus in entering those gates so we can give thanks to God whose steadfast love endures forever. Palm Sunday serves as a transition point between the season of Lent and Holy Week. The opening lines of the 118th Psalm serve as a perfect closure to our Lenten emphasis on the covenants God made with the people of Israel. That is because God’s steadfast love is the foundation for these covenants.  The Hebrew word that is translated here as “steadfast love” is chesed. This is a powerful word of a

Jeremiah 31:31-34 What does the future hold for the Michigan Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)? Some of us participated in listening sessions this past week so we could learn about a proposed partnership with the Illinois-Wisconsin Region. If this happened, the Rev. Teresa Dulyea-Parker would become our Regional Minister after the retirement of the Rev. Eugene James.  Why am I bringing this up? Well, it has to do with the way we envision who we are as a church. Our connection as a congregation to the Region and to the General Church is defined in terms of a mutual covenant. In theory, we’re not a hierarchical people. Pastor Eugene is not my boss, though he is my pastor. If we ended up partnering with the Illinois-Wisconsin Region, we would add another form of covenant to our other covenant relationships.    As we have discovered during this Lenten season, there are different kinds of covenants. Some are unilateral, like the covenant God made with Noah. Others a

The Brazen Serpent (Mt. Nebo) - Giovanni Fantoni     Numbers 21:4-9   When I read the Old Testament passages for Lent, I envisioned a sermon series on the biblical covenants. After all, Disciples use covenant language to define our existence as a people. It’s even more appropriate because the congregation, Region, General Church, as well as the church at large is in a season of transition. Every reading from the Old Testament fit perfectly, except for today’s reading.  Nevertheless, I decided to stretch the definition of covenant so I could speak about the “Healing Covenant.” Whether I succeed in this is yet to be determined. This story is challenging because it features poisonous snakes sent by God to bite the people of Israel because they had spoken against God and Moses. There was an additional challenge, and that had to do with the symbols we’ve been using to set the Table. Pastor Rick let me know that if I was going to put live snakes on the Table he would stay home

Exodus 20:1-17 The God who created the universe is a covenant-making God who called Abraham and his family to leave their homeland for an unknown future. God promised to bless the nations through Abraham’s descendants. We’re included in this covenant through our faith in Jesus.   This covenant-making God would liberate Abraham’s descendants from slavery in Egypt. When God met up with the people at Mount Sinai, God covenanted with them in preparation for entering the land of promise. This covenant included a few rules and regulations to help the people flourish in the land of promise as a free people.  I invite you to envision for a moment the scene at the base of the mountain. If you’re like me, Moses will look a lot like Charlton Heston with a gray beard. As the story goes in the Book of Exodus, Moses went up the mountain to meet with God. God told Moses that “if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all peoples. Indeed, the whole ea