Words of Welcome

    1 Timothy 1:12-17           We’ve heard a lot of bad news this past week. Of course, for this congregation, Marilyn’s death hits us hard because she has been such a steadfast part of the life of this congregation. She will be missed. But that’s not the only bad news we’ve heard this week. That’s because once again, gun violence is in the news. The most talked-about act of violence was the murder of political activist Charlie Kirk in Utah. That same day, a student walked into a school in Colorado and wounded two classmates and then killed himself. Then I read the news of a father in Port Huron, who shot and killed his seventeen-year-old son and wounded his other two children. This kind of news, which seems increasingly more common, ends up numbing us to the ongoing violence in our world. People wonder where God is present in all of this. The word we hear this morning from 1 Timothy speaks of God’s mercy that strengthens us as we navigate this w...

  Lorenzo Scott, Baptism of Jesus Matthew 3:13-17 Who do you think you are? That question might sound a little harsh, but I mean it in a positive way. Since this is Baptism of Jesus Sunday, we get to reflect on Jesus’ baptism as well as our own. In our reading from Matthew 3 this morning, God reveals something important about Jesus, but also about each of us. Paul writes in Romans 6 that baptism allows us to participate in the life of Jesus. So how might the word that God speaks concerning Jesus’ identity at his baptism help us define our own identity? Might we also be numbered among the beloved children of God, with whom God is well pleased? It wasn’t that long ago that we were celebrating the birth of Jesus. We got to sing carols, light candles, and ponder the message of Jesus’ birth. That celebration continued through Friday when the season of Epiphany began with the magi’s visit to the Holy Family. This morning we jump forward several decades. The baby Jesus is now a full...

2 Samuel 23:1-7 Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, knew that the  Roman emperor didn’t appreciate it when people challenged his authority. So, when Pilate asked Jesus “Are you the King of the Jews?” he wanted to know if Jesus was going to cause him problems with the emperor. Jesus answered this question by telling Pilate that yes he was a king but his kingdom wasn’t of this world ( John 18:33-37 ). Since Pilate didn’t know what to make of this answer he decided that executing Jesus was the wisest course of action.   Pilate didn’t quite understand the meaning of Jesus’ reply but he is in good company. Theologians have been trying to make sense of that statement to this day. If Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world, then what does that mean for us?  We know from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, that Jesus’ primary message had to do with the kingdom of God. This is especially true of his parables. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus even tells a group of reli...

  Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 We lit the pink candle this morning, which means it’s time to rejoice. This is the message the prophet delivered to a group of people who had returned home from exile in Babylon:  “I will rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation.” Paul puts it this way in his first letter to the Thessalonians: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” ( 1 Thess. 5:16-18) .  So, in the words of an old Three Dog Night song, let us sing: “Joy to the world, all the boys and girls, now Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, Joy to you and me.” When the exiles returned home from Babylon, they found their homeland lying in ruins. To get a sense of the devastation that is envisioned by this post-exilic prophet, we might think in terms of what we’ve observed from the wars in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. When you surve...

  Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23 Give thanks because God is good! Let us also give thanks because God’s “steadfast love endures forever.” When it comes to the love of God, we’re not just talking about feelings. When Scripture speaks of God’s steadfast love, that love is rooted in the covenant that God first made with Abraham and then reaffirmed at Sinai and in Jesus’ institution of the Lord’s Supper. While we might not always be faithful to that covenant, God’s commitment to this covenant is permanent.      While God remains faithful to the covenant, the Psalmist speaks for all of us when he confesses that “we and our ancestors have sinned.” Yes, we’ve been known to exhibit quite a bit of faithlessness. While the Psalmist begins by giving thanks for God’s steadfast love, the Psalm also provides a lengthy accounting of Israel’s many failures after God delivered them from Egypt. One of those moments of faithlessness came at Mount Horeb while Moses was up on the mountain, mee...

Rembrandt, Paul in Prison Philippians 1:21-30 Paul wrote his letter to the Philippian church from a jail cell, and yet the defining word for this letter is joy. We see this in Paul’s word of thanksgiving for the Philippian church: “I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy for all of you” ( Phil 1:3-4 ). He’s grateful that he can share in their “progress and joy in the faith” (Phil. 1:25). Now, this joy isn’t rooted in their circumstances. After all, Paul is in jail and they’re suffering some form of persecution. Nevertheless, they’ve found joy in God’s presence. It’s for this reason that Paul can write: “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say rejoice” ( Phil. 4:4 ). This joy that marks the letter is rooted in a spirit of friendship and affection.  Now, Paul does have a life and death dilemma. He’s ready to die and be with the Lord, and yet he knows he still has work to do. So, he declares: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain”...

Psalm 85:8-13 According to our UCC friends, “God is still speaking.” While I would agree, what is God saying to us? So, as the Psalmist declares: let us “hear what God the Lord will speak.” And, let us not only listen to the Lord, but following the Hebrew, which might be in the footnotes, let us not return to folly. It’s believed that this Psalm was written after the end of the Babylonian exile. Therefore, the Psalmist, asks the people how they will live in this new post-exilic reality. Will they follow God’s lead or turn back to the folly that led to the exile? I don’t know about you, but it feels like we’re in a season of exile. Life is anything but normal. We can’t go to the movies or gather together in large groups. While outdoors is better than indoors, nothing is completely safe. Professional baseball and basketball have returned but without fans. The NFL and the NCAA authorities are trying to figure out how to play football this fall. I will admit that I’m a bit ...

Zechariah 9:9-12 Yesterday the nation celebrated Independence Day, though this year the celebration was somewhat muted. Most parades, public fireworks displays, carnivals, and other “normal” events were canceled. But, maybe we can use this moment to envision a freedom that extends beyond the nation. Maybe we can use this time to envision what God’s realm looks like. The reading for today from Zechariah 9 invites us to reflect on a different kind of parade from the ones we normally experience on the 4th of July. Jesus embodied this vision in his “Triumphal Entry” on Palm Sunday when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to shouts of joy. While we can’t avoid the connection to Palm Sunday, perhaps we can take a broader look at Zechariah’s message. With Zechariah, perhaps we can ponder what the restoration of peace might look like as God’s dominion extends from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. We rarely turn to Zechariah, which is the second t...

Trinity Church, Speyer, Germany Organ pipes Psalm 100 When I was growing up in the Episcopal Church, I regularly encountered  Psalm 100 in our worship services. And we knew the Psalm by its Latin title: Jubilate Deo. While the wording was different at points from the NRSV, the message was the same: “make a joyful noise to the Lord.” Although there are times when we need to be still in the presence of the Lord ( Ps. 46:10 ), there are also times when we need to turn up the volume and let loose before the Lord. It might come in the form of song or it might come in the form of dance. Just remember that David danced before the Lord when he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem ( 2 Sam. 6:12-15 ). It’s worth noting that this invitation to make a joyful noise before the Lord goes out to the entire world. But here is the question of the hour: Why should we make a joyful noise before the Lord? After all, we’re living in a difficult moment in history. We hav...

Mount Shasta from the north Psalm 104:24-34 “O Lord, how manifold are your works!” Through God’s Wisdom, “all things bright and beautiful” are being created, and all God’s creatures depend on God’s Spirit for sustenance. This is true also for the new creation in Christ. So, with the Psalmist “I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.” The connection between the 104th Psalm and Pentecost is subtle, but the Psalm’s witness to the work of the Spirit is there. It’s there in the references to God’s Wisdom and God’s life-giving breath. It’s there in the presence of the Spirit through whom God renews “the face of the ground.” The Spirit comes not only on the Day of Pentecost, when the Spirit’s presence gave life to the church, but the Spirit has been present since the beginning of creation. We hear this word about the renewing presence of the Spirit during a pandemic and while the nation is faced with the question of wha...

Micah 6:1-8 Don’t let the sermon title fool you. This is not a sermon about the famous Charles Dicken’s novel that some of you read during high school, but which I seem to have avoided. Nevertheless, according to Scripture, God has placed great expectations on God’s people. God is gracious and merciful, but God also sets a high bar for us. Here in the sixth chapter of Micah, an eighth-century prophet who lived outside Jerusalem, reveals God’s Great Expectations.  The words we find in the eighth verse of this chapter are well known to us. They tell us what is good and what God requires of us. According to Micah, God would have us “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” We hear these words in the context of a divine lawsuit that God brings against the people. The jury for this case is the mountains and the hills. Nature itself will hear and decide God’s case against Israel. When God stands before this jury, God asks the people,...