Words of Welcome

Matthew 12:38-42 When I plan out my sermon schedule, I decide upon a text and then try to come up with a good title. Then, when I actually sit down to write the sermon, sometimes a few months later, the direction the sermon takes may have changed.  So, when I read this passage, a famous phrase from  Seinfeld  came to mind.  Remember the Soup Nazi?  He made great soup, but he was very particular about how you ordered the soup.  If you ruffled his feathers, he would say: “No soup for you!”   In reading this passage some months ago, I heard Jesus saying to the religious leaders in his audience, who came to him asking for a sign, “No signs for you.”  What I originally heard in this text was the demand that many make on people of faith to prove the existence of God.  That can be a very intellectual pursuit.  Theologians and philosophers from Anselm to Aquinas to Kant, have expended a lot of energy trying to prove that God exists. ...

Note:   The text for this sermon is taken from an alternative lectionary -- Beyond the Lectionary: A Year of Alternatives to the Revised Common Lectionary   (David Ackerman).   Daniel 6:16-27 When we last visited the story of Daniel, he was interpreting ‘the writing on the wall” for the Babylonian king Belshazzar.  As you might remember, the news wasn’t good.  Now, there’s a new king in town named Darius the Mede. Even though Belshazzar promised Daniel the number three position, Darius is hoping to make Daniel his Prime Minister.  That would be number two in the kingdom.  Unfortunately for Daniel, not everyone is happy with his promotion.  A group of his colleagues, who seem to think that Daniel is an interloper, begin plotting against him.  But, when their private investigators can’t turn up any dirt on him, they decide to use his religion against him. Knowing that kings like to be flattered and that Daniel will only pray ...