Words of Welcome

  John 20:19-31 According to the Easter Sunday reading from the Gospel of John, Mary Magdalene got up early in the morning to visit the tomb where Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus had laid Jesus’ body after his death on the cross. When she arrived at the tomb, to her horror, she discovered that the stone sealing the tomb had been rolled away and the body missing. Of course, Mary will end up encountering the risen Jesus who commissioned her to tell his followers the good news that he had risen from the dead. This morning, we pick up John’s story a few hours after Mary’s encounter with Jesus. While Mary had told Jesus’ disciples that he was alive, it doesn’t appear that everyone believed her story. That’s because they had hidden themselves behind locked doors out of fear of the authorities. Then suddenly Jesus appeared in the room, greeting them with a word of peace. After greeting his stunned followers, he showed them his wounds so they would know that he wasn’t a ghost.  Wh...

Mark 10:2-16 We are broken people who live in a broken world. That’s not a message we like to hear, but it’s true. This message is revealed in the opening chapters of Genesis. While things start okay, things go downhill after Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit. After their exile from the garden, one of their sons, Cain, kills his brother Abel because God prefers Abel’s gift over Cain’s. Things get so bad that God, in frustration, decides to send a flood and start over with Noah. But even then, things don’t get much better. That’s just the way things are. Noah and his descendants were just as broken as his ancestors. The problem of brokenness remains part of our reality to this day.   We see this brokenness revealed in our relationships as families, communities, nation, and the world. It’s like a virus that eats away at our inner being. Every aspect of human life seems to be vulnerable to this malignancy of the human spirit. This includes the most intimate of human rela...

  Mark 7:24-37 Before we headed to Northminister last Sunday for our joint service, we spent time in John 6 . In John 6 we heard Jesus offer himself as the bread of life. This morning we heard a word of wisdom from Proverbs 22: “Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor” ( Prov. 22:9 ). Bread also figures in our Gospel reading from Mark 7. So, what’s with all this talk of bread? Could this talk of bread have spiritual implications? Mark 7 opens with Jesus having a conversation with a group of religious leaders about the religious importance of washing one’s hands before eating. This topic came up because Jesus’ disciples had neglected this religious rite. The issue isn’t hygiene but what tradition says about what it means to be clean or unclean in the eyes of God. According to Jesus, what makes us clean or unclean aren’t external things but what goes on in the heart ( Mk. 7:1-23 ). After Jesus had that discussion with the religious leaders, ...

  Mark 5:21-43 The Gospel of Mark offers us a fast-moving story. Everything seems to happen immediately, one thing after another. Since Mark’s Jesus rarely stops to teach, it’s mostly action. If you like action movies, you’ll like Mark’s Gospel. Mark stops long enough in chapter 4 to offer us a few parables, beginning with the Parable of the Sower, but we quickly move on to the next destination.  In fact, after that long day of teaching, Jesus got in a boat heading across the lake and fell asleep. He was so sleepy that not even a big storm could wake him up. When his frightened disciples, several of whom were fishermen, finally woke him up so he could share in their suffering, he stilled the storm allowing them to safely reach the opposite shore. No sooner had they emerged from the boat than a demon-possessed man ran toward him. Jesus responded by delivering the man from his demons, sending them into a herd of pigs that ran into the lake and drowned. Since that didn’t ma...

  Acts 4:5-12 When Peter and John went to the Temple to pray they encountered a man who had been lame since birth. When the man asked for alms, they healed him. After that the man who couldn’t walk got up and danced for joy. This display of excitement on the part of the man who had been healed drew a crowd. As this crowd gathered in Solomon’s Portico, Peter took that opportunity to preach a sermon that focused on the resurrection of Jesus ( Acts 3 ).  When the religious authorities heard about this disturbance in the Temple, they got annoyed, especially because Peter and John were proclaiming “that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead.” You see, the Temple authorities, including Annas the High Priest, were members of the Sadducees Party, which didn’t believe in a resurrection. So they had Peter and John arrested ( Acts 4:1-4 ). This morning we pick up the story on the day Peter and John stood trial in the Temple Court because they had caused a commotion in the ...

  1 Peter 2:18-25 As you know, Pastor Dan decided to spend Eastertide working through 1 Peter in his sermons. There’s some really interesting stuff in 1 Peter, but unfortunately for me, he left me the most difficult passage to work through. Peter begins this passage by telling slaves to obey their masters even if that leads to suffering. He tells the slaves in the Christian community that if they suffer, they should make sure they’re suffering for doing what is right. If you suffer for doing what is right, you’ll receive God’s approval. I don’t know about you, but this passage makes me rather uncomfortable. Not only does Peter speak about suffering, but he seems to give approval to slavery. In fact, many proponents of slavery, especially here in the United States appealed to this and passages like it to defend slavery. Now, I could have avoided the discussion of slavery. After all, the creators of the Revised Common Lectionary chose to omit verse 18 and begin the reading in ver...

Christ Before Annas (top); Peter Denying Jesus (bottom) Acts 4:5-12 When Peter and John went to the Temple to pray they encountered a man with a disability. That encounter led to a healing and a dance of joy on the part of the man who was healed, and finally to Peter’s sermon in Solomon’s Portico ( Acts 3 ). Apparently, these activities in the Temple courts didn’t go over well with the Temple officials, who had Peter and John arrested. This morning we turn the page to find Peter and John standing before the religious authorities. They want to know who authorized them to heal and preach in the Temple. That is, “by what power or by what name did you do this?”  I can empathize with the religious authorities because I’m the chair of the regional commission on ministry. This commission has the responsibility to authorize and hold accountable the people who serve as Disciples ministers.  Obviously, the two Apostles didn’t get their credentials from the Temple authorities, but ...

The Brazen Serpent (Mt. Nebo) - Giovanni Fantoni     Numbers 21:4-9   When I read the Old Testament passages for Lent, I envisioned a sermon series on the biblical covenants. After all, Disciples use covenant language to define our existence as a people. It’s even more appropriate because the congregation, Region, General Church, as well as the church at large is in a season of transition. Every reading from the Old Testament fit perfectly, except for today’s reading.  Nevertheless, I decided to stretch the definition of covenant so I could speak about the “Healing Covenant.” Whether I succeed in this is yet to be determined. This story is challenging because it features poisonous snakes sent by God to bite the people of Israel because they had spoken against God and Moses. There was an additional challenge, and that had to do with the symbols we’ve been using to set the Table. Pastor Rick let me know that if I was going to put live snakes on the Table he w...

Mark 1:29-39 Qoheleth wrote long ago that there is a season for everything under heaven, including a time to heal (Eccl. 3:1, 3). Is this a time when healing is needed? With all the brokenness present in our world, including the physical, mental, and emotional toll of COVID, the answer is yes. We need the “balm in Gilead” that makes “the wounded whole.” So, “Heal me, hands of Jesus, and search out all my pain; restore my hope, remove my fear, and bring me peace again” [Michael Perry, Chalice Hymnal , 404].  According to Mark, Jesus immediately left the synagogue and entered the home of Simon and Andrew. Just to catch you up on the story, Jesus went to the synagogue in Capernaum that Sabbath morning with Simon, Andrew, James, and John. Whether or not he was the scheduled preacher that day, Jesus proclaimed the good news and cast out an unclean spirit. Mark reports that everyone who heard him preach was amazed because he taught with authority. As a result, his fame spread through...