Words of Welcome

Acts 2:14a, 36-47 Brett will often ask me “what’s going on in church-land today?” Even if his question is job-related, it is a good question. What is happening in church-land? What does it mean to be church? To use the words of a song by Bill Thomas, do you “see a church with a vision; ... a church with a mission?” [ Chalice Praise , 133.] Although we are still in the season of Easter, the reading from Acts 2 takes us to the Day of Pentecost and beyond. Easter is awe-inspiring, because it invites us to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. It invites us to take hold of the promise that in Christ life conquers death. But the story of resurrection continues in the life of the new community which was commissioned to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world, as Jesus directed on the day of his ascension(Acts 1:8), and then formed into a dynamic missional church by the Spirit on Pentecost. 

Matthew 28:16-20 To “Give a Witness” is to offer a testimony about what God is doing in your life and in the world.  It’s also a good way of thinking about this morning’s text, in which Jesus gives the “Great Commission.”    “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you.” What memories does this passage stir?  When did you first hear it?  How does this verse speak to you today?  Just a few moments ago we commissioned the delegates for the General Assembly in Nashville, and the theme of this assembly is “Tell It!”, which is another way of saying “give a witness.”   What stories would you want to tell about what God is doing today? Giving a Witness to a Relational God Although by tradition this is Trinity Sunday, Disciples of Christ have always been a bit ambivalent about the Trinity. ...

Isaiah 65:17-25 When I opened up my Bible on Monday and turned to Isaiah 65, the message of this text leaped out at me. What I heard from this prophetic text was our missional calling to join God in ministry in the world. My thoughts quickly ran to a book that I’d just finished reading that talks about the future of Detroit. The book is called Reimagining Detroit , and it’s written by Free Press journalist John Gallagher, who lays out some of the directions that the city and people of Detroit could take if they hope to experience a renaissance or rebirth. I also thought about the conversations we’ve been having about Motown Mission . As my thoughts ran back and forth between this text and the world in which we’re living, I saw in a clearly stated fashion the biblical foundations of our call to ministry. In reflecting on this conversation between the text and our world, I heard this message: God is about to do a new thing in this world and we get to participate in that new thing. Now...

Note: This is the sixth and final sermon in my series on our congregational core values. ____________________ Psalm 95:1-7a O come, let us sing to the Lord ; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed. O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord , our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. It’s All Saints Day, and so today we join with all the saints in heaven and on earth in singing “Holy, Holy, Holy,” to the Lord our God, the Almighty. We do this because, as the prophet Isaiah declares, “the whole earth is full of his glory” (Isa. 6:3). We sin...