Words of Welcome

Exodus 16:2-15 When you are hungry, a good meal is always welcomed.  It doesn’t have to be fancy.  It just has to be filling.   I remember back to my early days living in the Pasadena YMCA.  I didn’t have a lot of money, so I lived on a daily ration of a micro-waved frozen poor boy sandwich and cupful of imitation kool-aid.  I kept the poor boys and the gallon jug in the little fridge at the bookstore where I worked.  You can imagine how I felt when Peggy, the store’s assistant manager, would invite me home for a meal and the opportunity to wash my clothes.  It was like manna from heaven. As we continue our journey through the Exodus story, the thrill of freedom confronts the reality of hunger.  The people begin complaining – again –  “Did you bring us out here to the desert to starve to death?”  If only we’d stayed back in Egypt where we could enjoy the “fleshpots of Egypt.” Yes, perhaps slavery is better than starvati...

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...