Words of Welcome

Acts 5:27-32 This morning we continue our Easter celebration with a reading from the Book of Acts.  It’s the first of five readings from Acts that focus on what I want to call “Transformative Encounters.”  Over the next five weeks I’ll be offering a sermon series  that explores how encounters with the Risen Christ transform lives. This morning we begin our journey with a reading from Acts 5.  We find Peter and John standing before the Council a second time.  They’ve been arrested because they won’t stop preaching about Jesus.  The last time they were thrown in jail, angels liberated them.  But, this time, they must face their accusers, who according to Luke, are rather upset.  They hoped that after Jesus died, his followers would disappear, but for some reason they were still hanging around.  They were becoming pests and the authorities wanted to see them to go away.   Peter steps forward, and answers their demand tha...

John 6:24-35 We live in an entertainment age, where it’s often  difficult to tell what is real and what’s an illusion.  We can be mesmerized by glitz and glamor, and find ourselves listening intently as celebrities tell us what we should wear, eat, how we should vote and what we should believe.  In such an atmosphere, it shouldn’t surprise us that we sometimes mix entertainment with faith.  But, this isn’t new.  Anglican revivalist George Whitefield supposedly made  people weep simply by pronouncing the word “Mesopotamia.”   In the 19th century revivalists drew great crowds to hear them preach, while hundreds  gathered to hear Alexander Campbell debate his religious rivals on topics that ranged from socialism to baptism.  More recently Aimee Semple McPherson rivaled her Hollywood neighbors with her spectacles, while Robert Schuller’s grand productions – at least until the Crystal Cathedral fell into bankruptcy -- drew thousands. ...

Acts 5:27-32 When I was a child, we began every school day with the Pledge of Allegiance. In doing this we declared our love and support for our nation. I doubt if I really understood the implications of my pledge; it was just something I said every morning as school began. Only later, when I got older, did I begin to understand what it means to give my allegiance to my country. I also learned that not everyone agreed on what allegiance means. Do I, for instance, have to love it or leave it, as the old bumper sticker suggests? Do I have to agree with everything our government does in order to be a loyal citizen? With these questions about loyalty and allegiance circling in our minds, Christians face another question – is allegiance to the nation the ultimate allegiance? Or, does our allegiance to God trump our allegiance to family, to community, to nation? As we think on these questions, consider for a moment those who risked their lives in the 1930s and 1940s to hide their Jewish n...

Revelation 5:11-14 What are your priorities in life? Tragedies like the Virginia Tech shootings can be wake-up calls. For a moment we stop and think about what’s important in life. Tragically such events happen every day somewhere in the world, but usually we don’t take much notice of them. Indeed that same day nearly 200 Iraqis died in four separate bombings. Now, my sermon today isn’t about what happened in Blacksburg or in Baghdad, at least not directly. But perhaps there are connections to be found. This morning’s text comes from Revelation and ultimately it’s a word concerning allegiance. For early Christians, especially those living at the end of the first century, long before the church received favored status from Constantine, being a Christian was tricky, even dangerous. The emperors didn’t care what you believed as long as you would swear allegiance to them as well. Just call me "Lord" they said, and everything will be okay. THE CHALLENGE OF THE POWERS Revelation is...