Words of Welcome

  Ephesians 4:1-16 In our last encounter with the letter to the Ephesians, we heard the author, who I’ll call Paul for the rest of the sermon despite questions about his authorship, speak about Jesus tearing down the dividing walls of hostility. While there are many kinds of dividing walls in our world, I believe Jesus has called and gifted us to participate with him in tearing down these dividing walls.  Here in Ephesians 4, Paul begs us to maintain the “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” As we seek to maintain this unity, he speaks of the gifts of grace God pours out on the church that help equip us for ministry in the church and the world.   We begin this morning with a call to the Ephesians to “walk in a manner worthy of their calling.” They will fulfill this calling by living lives of humility, gentleness, patience, and love. That same calling has been given to us so that when we embody these virtues, we can “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the...

Psalm 133 It seems providential that on the Sunday when I’m preaching on the call to Christian Unity as a founding vision that we begin a  Week of Compassion  emphasis that has its theme “We Are One.” We began worship this morning singing “ Somos Uno en Christo ” – “We are One in Christ.”  We sang it in both Spanish and in English as a reminder that the body of Christ embraces many languages and people. No matter our differences in appearance and culture, in Christ we are one.   Barton Stone, one of our founders, declared that  “unity is our polar star.”   It is the guiding principle for the Disciples as a movement.  Thomas Campbell, another founder, declared that the  “Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one; consisting of all those in every place that profess their faith in Christ and obedience to him in all things according to the Scriptures.”   Campbell and Stone were commi...

1 Corinthians 1:10-18 If you go to Beijing, you’ll find the body of Chairman Mao nicely entombed, and if you’re in Moscow, you’ll find Lenin’s body on display, although he’s not as popular as he once was. Back at home, there aren’t any Presidential corpses on display, but depending on your political affiliation, the names FDR and Ronald Reagan may stand out in your pantheon of Great American Heroes. It would seem that many seemingly larger than life figures, both living and dead, get elevated to almost divine status. Today’s living pantheon includes sports heroes, politicians, super models, film stars, media celebrities, and even big time preachers! Although there are those who relish in tearing down society’s idols, often sharing the most intimate details of these “heroes’s” lives in the various tabloids, we seem to enjoy basking in the glow of knowing even just a little bit about these larger than life people. If we get the chance to meet them, we do so with a great deal of shynes...

John 17:20-26 I don’t think I need to remind anyone that there’s an important election on the horizon. Yes, in just a few weeks we’ll elect the 44th President of the United States, among others. Electioneering, as we all know, can be strident, divisive, and even angry. Candidates and their supporters often speak in black and white terms, sometimes even demonizing the other side. The reason they do this, is that it helps them solidify the base – their brand. What’s true of politics, is true of many other areas of life. Consider college football. You can’t root for both the Oregon State Beavers and the Oregon Ducks, USC and UCLA, and I’m just assuming, though I’m new to Michigan, that you can’t root for the Wolverines and say nice things about the Spartans. Indeed, if you drink Pepsi, then surely you won’t like Coke! The danger in all of this, is that we end up polarized, which leads some of us wondering if Rodney King had the right idea after those LA riots several year...

Acts 3:17-26 "Boy the way Glen Miller played, songs that made the hit parade, guys like us we had it made, those were the days, and you know where you were then, girls were girls and men were men, mister we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again, didn't need no welfare states everybody pulled his weight, gee our old Lasalle ran great, those were the days!" So sang Archie and Edith Bunker way back in the 1970s. If I were to sing something similar, I would probably change the lyrics just a bit. I might replace Glen Miller with the Beatles or maybe the Moody Blues. I don’t know if I’d exchange Richard Nixon for Herbert Hoover, but I guess I’d have to sing about our old Galaxy 500 rather than an old Lasalle. When we reminisce about the good old days, it always seems like yesterday was better than today. We call this nostalgia, but when we get nostalgic, it always seems like the best days of our lives happened when we were kids. I remember my father tal...

John 8:31-36 Years ago I attended a national Disciples Seminarian’s conference. During one of the sessions, a Disciple seminarian from Harvard told us that there weren’t a lot of Disciples in New England. In fact, most people in that part of the country thought the Disciples must be some kind of exotic cult. It’s true, Jim Jones was a Disciple, but I’ve never thought of the Disciples as either exotic or cultic. Whatever I might think, it’s quite possible that there are a lot of people who don’t know who the Disciples are. That is as true in Michigan as it is in New England. In fact, it’s quite possible that there those here this morning, who aren’t sure what the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) stands for! Now, I’m not a lifelong Disciple. I’ve spent quite of bit of my life in other branches of the Christian community, but I’ve become a committed Disciple! And it’s not because the Disciples let you believe whatever you want. I’m a Disciple because of what thi...