Words of Welcome

  1 Corinthians 12:12-31a The church is more than a building but it’s also more than a voluntary association of people. At least, that’s what Paul thinks. According to Paul, the church is much like the human body, which has many parts. If the body is healthy, all of its parts work together in harmony. The same is true of the church, the Body of Christ.  Paul tells us that we’re joined together as the Body of Christ through our baptism into Christ. It doesn’t matter if we’re slave or free, Jew or Greek, because we’re all one in the Spirit of God. Paul doesn’t give us a detailed anatomy lesson when he describes the Body of Christ. He just assumes we all have a basic knowledge of how the body works. He focuses our attention on the diversity of parts in both the human body and the body of Christ. In a healthy body, every member plays their part. You may notice that Paul uses a bit of humor and sarcasm to get his point across. He asks us to consider the possibility that ...

John 20:19-31 Last Sunday the sanctuary was filled with color and the music was stirring. We declared: “Christ the Lord is Risen Today. ” And who can forget the powerful strains of the “Hallelujah Chorus” on the organ as the service concluded. Most of the tulips are gone, but there are still signs of Easter’s glory in the sanctuary. That’s good news, because the season of Easter has just gotten started. There are still Easter hymns like “Thine Is the Glory” to sing, and encounters with the risen Christ yet to be explored. In the Gospel of John, Easter morning begins with Mary Magdalene’s encounter with the Risen Christ. This makes her the first witness to the resurrection. After her encounter with Jesus, she went and shared the good news with the rest of the community. Despite Mary’s good news, fear still reigned among the disciples as evening rolled around. They locked themselves in a room somewhere in Jerusalem out of fear of the religious authorities. They’ve heard goo...

The Preacher - Charles White (1940) - Huntington Library 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 When Paul wrote the letter we know as 1 Corinthians, he addressed a congregation in distress. They were divided into factions and were involved in all kinds of bad behavior. Paul planted this congregation and loved it, like a parent loves a child. Like a parent, he had high hopes for his children. But, when he moved on from Corinth, things didn’t go as planned, and he was forced to intervene.  You might say that he was acting as a Regional Minister. Last Sunday we heard Paul reveal that each member of the church was given “manifestations of the Spirit for the common good” ( 1 Cor. 12:7 ). This revelation leads to Paul’s definition of the church as the “Body of Christ.”  In using the image of the body to describe the Christian community, Paul drew on an analogy that went back centuries in the Greco-Roman world. But, he put a new spin on the image, turning it on its head. Instead of u...

2 Corinthians 12:2-10 Do you remember the story of Androcles and the Lion?  It’s one of Aesop’s Fables that often appears in children’s books.  Remember how Androcles escaped slavery only to face a lion in the forest?  It’s as if he was jumping from the frying pan into the fire.  Thinking the lion would kill him, he begins to run away.  But as he does this he hears the lion moaning in pain.  So, he turns around and discovers that the lion has a thorn embedded in its paw.  What to do?  Does he remove the thorn and risk death, or does he turn his back on the suffering lion?  In spite of his fears, Androcles pulls the thorn out of the lion’s paw.  As for the lion, he joyfully licks the face of his savior, and from that moment on they become good friends.  Now, their friendship will get another test when both get captured and face each other in the arena.  When the lion refuses to kill Androcles, the emperor is so amazed th...