Words of Welcome

Mark 6:14-29 Have you ever made a wager you’ve come to regret? Even if you’re not a gambler, and I’m not, maybe you’ve made decisions you later regret. If I put the question that way, I confess that I’ve made plenty of decisions I’ve come to regret. Fortunately, I’ve survived them! At least, so far! This morning we meet up with Herod Antipas, son of the infamous King Herod the Great, and the self-styled King of Galilee. While he had royal titles,  he was a vassal of the Roman Empire, which meant that whatever power he had, came from Rome. Rome put him in charge of Galilee, which is where Jesus lived and John the Baptist frequented. According to Mark’s Gospel, Herod Antipas made a wager that involved the death of John the Baptist that he came to regret, but more about that in a moment. The reason John’s death appears in the story is that it involves Jesus’ growing popularity in Herod’s territory. Herod was concerned that Jesus might be John, who had been Herod’s nemesis, risen...

    William Holman Hunt's "The Light of the World" Matthew 3:1-12 Someone’s Knocking at the Door, Somebody’s Ringing the Bell Someone’s Knocking at the Door,  Somebody’s Ringing the Bell Do me a favor and  open the door and let em in.  (Paul McCartney) Paul McCartney’s song might not be your typical Advent hymn, but it does capture the essence of this morning’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew. It would appear that someone is knocking on the door of our lives. So, will you open the door? Now, if you open the door, the person knocking could be John the Baptist who wants to warn us that change is in the air. The person bearing this message might seem a bit off-putting. According to Matthew John was an interesting character who dressed in camel skin clothes and toted a lunch pail full of locusts and honey. This is the message John brings to those who open the door: "Change your hearts and lives!  Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” (Mt. 3:2, CEB).  ...

  Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 In the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, three convicts break free from a chain gang and head off on a journey. Everett, Pete, and Delmar have many interesting encounters and adventures that mirror Homer’s story of Odysseus. Along the way, the trio comes upon a group of people lining up to be baptized in a river.    When Delmar hears the people singing Down to the River to Pray he runs down to the river and jumps to the front of the line so he can be baptized by the preacher without delay. When he rises from the baptismal waters, he believes that he is now a changed man. The old Delmar had been buried with Jesus in the waters of baptism and as he rose with Jesus he was a new creation ( Rom. 6:1-4 ). Filled with joy, he shared the good news with his companions:  Well that's it boys, I been redeemed! The preacher warshed away all my sins and transgressions. It's the straight-and-narrow from here on out and heaven everlasting's my reward! A...

This Armenian Gospel book was produced in (1455 CE) at the monastery of Gamałiēl in Xizan by the scribe Yohannēs Vardapet and was illuminated by the priest Xačʿatur. Mark 1:4-11 What does baptism mean to you? What does your baptism say about who you are as a person? As a Christian? How does it define your identity and the way you live in the world?  You may have heard this before, but I’ve undergone several different baptisms over the years. I’ve been told that the nurses at the Catholic hospital where I was born threw some water on me and blessed me just in case I didn’t make it. A bit later I was officially baptized at St. Luke’s of the Mountains Episcopal Church, where my parents made the appropriate vows to raise me in the faith. Because I wasn’t sure whether any of this had really taken hold, I decided as a teenager to redo things. So, I was immersed in a creek at summer camp. Then there’s that baptism in the Spirit thing that I experienced a bit later.  As you ca...

  John the Baptist, Rosary Basilica, Lourdes Isaiah 40:1-11 Imagine this scene: You’re standing in the heavenly courts when God gets up to speak. God tells the heavenly council: “Comfort, O comfort my people.” Yes, “speak tenderly to Jerusalem” because the city has paid the penalty. Therefore, the time for healing has begun.      Then a voice from the council responds: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God” so that “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” That’s good news for exiles living in Babylon because that means it’s time for God to lead them home on a brand-new freeway!   Then a third voice offers a word of caution. While God is faithful, people are a lot like grass that withers when “the breath of the Lord blows upon it.” Nevertheless, despite our tendency to fall short of God’s expectations, God’s word stands forever. In this, there is hope.  So, let us go to the mountain a...

Luke 7:11-17 John the Baptist was sitting in jail waiting to be executed. As he sat there in that cell, he wondered if he had fulfilled his calling. Had he prepared the way for the one would bring God’s salvation to the world? Was this Jesus, whom he baptized, the one they were waiting for? (Lk 3:1-6). With all of these questions running through his mind, he decided to send a few disciples to check things out. These disciples asked Jesus: “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for someone else?” ( Lk 7:18-19 CEB). Jesus told them to tell John how he healed people of their diseases, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead, and brought good news to the poor. Look around you: What do you see? What do you hear? Go back to John and report what you’ve seen and heard.  This question comes after the Centurion’s slave was healed, from a distance, on the basis of the Centurion’s faith ( Lk 7:1-10 ). It comes after Jesus travels from Capernaum to the village of Nai...

The Visitation  Luke 1:46-55                 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that God had chosen her to bear a child, saying:        “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  31  And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.    He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.    He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”   ( Luke 1:31-33 ). After Mary heard Gabriel’s message, she had a choice. She could accept this mission, or she could turn it down. You see, God gives us choices. Although Mary could have said no, she said yes, even though she did raise some good questions about how this was going...

Acts 19:1-7 Yesterday was the Day of Epiphany, which marked the end of the Christmas season for both east and west. Yesterday was the appropriate day to sing “We Three Kings” to remember the visit of the magi to the home of the Holy Family. Yes, if we still had our creche scene out, yesterday would have been the appropriate day to add the “three wise men.” Of course, if we follow scripture the Holy Family would have taken residence in a house, and the shepherds and the sheep would have gone back to their fields.   That was yesterday. Today we gather on the First Sunday after Epiphany, which is a season of light and revelation. On this day we remember the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan at the hands of John the Baptist, who declared that while he baptized with the water, someone would come who would baptize with the Holy Spirit ( Mk 1:4-11 ). It’s appropriate on this first Sunday after Epiphany, as we remember the baptism of Jesus, to remember our own baptisms, and re...

Matthew 21:23-32 Aimee Semple McPherson was a famous Pentecostal evangelist during the first half of the 20th century. I love talking about her because she was a pioneer in so many ways. I might not agree with her theology or her politics, but I have always admired her persistence in answering a call to ministry when very few women were given permission to preach. Not only did she preach, but she launched a radio station in the early days of radio, a denomination, and a college. When the religious authorities questioned her right to preach, and demanded she show them her “credentials,” she simply responded that God had called her, the Spirit had empowered her, and she had no choice but to preach. If the religious authorities had a problem with her call, then they should take up their concerns with God.  After Jesus entered Jerusalem on that first Palm Sunday to shouts of adoration from the crowd, he went to the Temple and began to teach and to heal. The religious leader...

Matthew 14:13-21 After Israel crossed the sea to freedom, they began to complain that Moses had led them into the desert to die of starvation. Slavery was bad, but starvation was worse. God had compassion on the people, and promised to give them bread from heaven  (Exodus 16:1-4 ). Then, the morning after God made this promise, the people looked out and found a white substance covering the ground. They gathered it up and made bread from it. They called it manna. This manna sustained the people of Israel during their journey across the desert ( Exodus 16:13ff ).  As we continue with our “Eating with Jesus” sermon series, we hear Matthew’s report that Jesus has retreated to a deserted place after Herod Antipas had John the Baptist beheaded. Most likely he went into the wilderness to pray about his future. Would his fate be the same as John’s? It was there, in the wilderness, that Jesus shared bread from heaven with hungry people caught in a deserted place. Accordin...

Mark 6:14-29 It’s your birthday and you’re really hoping to get a special present.  It could be a new bike, a red wagon, a doll, a new Ford Fiesta.  You’ve left lots of hints, and you’re hoping that you’ll get your heart’s desire.  So, did you get what you wanted?   Or did you get something else?  And if you got what you wanted, is it what you hoped for?  Herod Antipas was the king in Galilee, which is where Jesus hailed from.  When his birthday approached, he decided to throw himself a party.  You can do that if you’re the king.  As Mel Brooks put it in History of the World, Part 1 :  “It’s good to be the king!”  So, Herod sent out to the invitations to all the movers and shakers from the neighborhood and invited them to a big banquet.  His wife, Herodias, who was also married to his brother, offered up her daughter whom tradition names Salome – as the entertainment.   You may know Salome’s name, be...

Matthew 3:13-17, Isaiah 42:1-9 What is your calling in life? That is, who are you at your core? And how do you know this to be true? What were the signs that confirmed this sense of calling or vocation? Pushing this even further – Where does God fit into your sense of vocation? There are those, mostly hyper-Calvinists, who believe that God plans every moment of our lives, while others believe that God doesn’t play any role at all – it’s all up to you. I imagine that most of us fall somewhere in between these two extremes. We believe that God is present in our lives, guiding our choices, but we also believe that we have freedom to choose. So, given this freedom, how do you discern God’s call on your life? How do you know when God takes delight in what you’re doing with your life? 1. Epiphany, Baptism, and the Call of Jesus I raise these questions with you as we begin our observance of the season of Epiphany. This is a season that allows us to acknowledge the light of God, which ...