Words of Welcome

John 12:13-25 What does it mean to be the Church of Jesus?  Could that be the question raised by Jesus’ actions in the Temple?  In this story, Jesus makes a rather bold claim on the Temple. This is his “father’s house,” and it’s been turned into a marketplace.  The house of God, which Jesus was claiming for his father, was supposed to be the place where God could be encountered.  The Temple in Jerusalem was a magnificent building, much like a grand medieval cathedral. Herod the Great had begun rebuilding the Temple put up after the end of the Exile. This replacement for Solomon’s Temple was small and uninspiring. It would never do in an age when grand temples were being built across the Roman Empire. Herod built palaces and fortresses, but he also needed a Temple that could be a showplace to not only impress his subjects, who resented him for being an outsider appointed by the Romans, but also the tourists who passed through the city. The Temple Jesus ...

Matthew 22:15-22 Cheryl and I recently attended the Troy Community Coalition’s annual Celebrity Dinner , and were seated next one of Troy’s City Council members. When one of our table companions realized that there was a politician and a preacher at the table, he said: “I guess we can’t talk about religion or politics tonight.” As you know religion and politics are forbidden topics in polite company, but I love to talk about both of them. I don’t have a choice about the one – I’m a preacher after all – but I’ve been interested in politics for as long as I can remember. My childhood dream wasn’t to grow up a be a preacher, it was to grow up and be a politician. As you can see, I didn’t fulfill my dream of being a Congressman, but I still love politics. Unless you’ve already voted, I expect that most of us will be going to the polls on Tuesday. The issues before us are many. There are ballot measures, local and state races, and of course there’s that historic presidential elect...