Words of Welcome

  Eph esians 5:8-14 You may have heard the phrase “It has come to light.” That phrase often suggests that you are about to hear bad news. Whether it is a matter of moral or criminal behavior, you never want to hear those words. That is especially true if you’ve had some dealings with Jeffrey Epstein. If you’re in his files or visited his island, you might be in trouble. Look at what happened to the guy formerly known as Prince Andrew. Not only did he lose his title and place in the line of succession, but he was arrested for making the monarchy look bad. So, when the light shines in the darkness, it usually brings to light the bad things done under the cover of darkness.  Our reading for the Fourth Sunday of Lent from Ephesians 5 talks about leaving behind darkness and walking in the light. This letter addresses a number of practical questions about what it means to live the Christian life in the context of a pagan culture, which embraced ethical and moral conduct that dif...

  Romans 5:1-11 Six years ago, the world was shutting down because COVID was on the march. That included our church services. Everyone was uncertain about what the future held. Would this last a few days or weeks? No one knew at that moment. Just a few weeks earlier, I had shared with the folks at Central Woodward my plan to retire at the end of June 2021. Since I was giving them a nearly eighteen-month head start, I thought we had lots of time to prepare the church for the future. Suffice it to say, things didn’t work out the way I planned.  As the saying goes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. While we might not be facing a global pandemic, the recently launched war with Iran is making people just as anxious, uncertain, and fearful as we were six years ago. That’s because we don’t know what the future holds. We know that gas prices are going up dramatically, and the stock market is going down. We don’t know how long the war will last and what form it w...

  Matthew 2:1-12 Most creche scenes feature both shepherds and the three kings who kneel before the baby Jesus lying in a manger. While this setup makes for a nice Christmas scene, Matthew and Luke tell very different stories about Jesus’ birth. Luke offers us shepherds while Matthew tells a story about magi who follow a star to Judea. In other words, the shepherds and the three kings come from two different stories.  This morning we’re following Matthew’s version, in which Matthew’s magi from the east, who follow a star to Jerusalem where they visit King Herod. They ask Herod where they might find the newborn king of the Jews, whose star they saw rising in the sky.  This request made by the magi frightened Herod because he didn’t know that such a child had been born in his kingdom. Besides, he didn’t welcome possible rivals to his rule over Judea. Nevertheless, the crafty king asked his advisors where the Messiah was to be born. They pointed the magi to Bethlehem b...

  Ephesians 1:3-14 With a new year beginning, we can begin thinking about what 2022 will bring? We start the year with COVID still hanging over our heads, along with much political uncertainty and polarization. It’s easy to get discouraged, but we’re not without hope. We don’t know what this year will bring, but we take confidence in the promise that God has “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.” So blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  We opened worship singing about a “star shining in the east beyond them far, and to the earth it gave a great light.” [ Glory to God , 147 v. 2]. We’ll close our worship singing about the “Star of wonder, Star of night, Star with royal beauty bright” that will “guide us to thy perfect light!” [ Glory to God , 151]. These hymns promise that God will guide us through life, blessing us with spiritual gifts and calling us to ministries of blessing. As we follow the star, guided by God...

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 We started our Lenten journey with a word from Paul about sin. Is it a nature problem or nurture problem? St. Augustine voted for nature, while John Locke advocated for nurture. As for me, I tend to go with Locke, but whichever way we go, sin is a problem.  The way toward the healing of sin’s impact begins with the confession of sin. This week we take a step back the chapter 4 in Paul’s letter to Romans, where the faith of Abraham enters the conversation. According to Genesis and Paul, Abraham believed God’s promise that the nations would be blessed through his descendants, and God credited this as righteousness. Therefore, Abraham was justified before God by faith and not by works. In Paul’s mind, the same is true for everyone who shares in the faith of Abraham. When we read Scripture, it’s good to remember that we live in a very different context than the biblical authors, including Paul. That means Paul may have a different set of concerns...

Romans 5:12-19 Lent is a season of reflection. It invites us to look inward, so we can take stock of our lives. We can ask questions like: Who am I in relationship to God? And, am I on the right path or have I strayed from it? If I’m going the wrong way, how do I get back on track? All of these questions are connected to the way we understand Sin and Death, as well as Grace and Righteousness.  The lectionary readings from the Gospel of Matthew and Genesis tell temptation stories.  In Matthew, Jesus goes into the Wilderness where Satan offers him power, glory, and comfort in exchange for allegiance. In the reading from Genesis, Adam and Eve take the bait and eat the forbidden fruit, which leads to their exile from the Garden. In our reading this morning from Romans 5, we start in the Garden, where the first Adam’s act of disobedience opens the way for death to enter human reality, but we end with a word about the Last Adam, whose obedience provides abundant grac...

Wedding Procession - Peter Bruegel the Younger Romans 1:1-7 It’s the Fourth Sunday of Advent, we’ve lit the Love candle, and the sights and sounds of Christmas are all around us.  The lectionary offers us a reading from Matthew 1 , where we find the story of an angel who visits  Joseph and informs him that Mary’s child should be called Emmanuel, because in this child God is with us. It also offers us a word from the opening greeting of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Since Paul hasn’t ever visited this congregation, this greeting is a bit longer than in some of his other letters. He wants them to know to whom he belongs. Paul introduces himself as a servant of Jesus and an “apostle set apart for the gospel of God,” which has its roots in the promises given through the prophets and recorded in Scripture.  This gospel or good news is focused on Jesus, the Son of David and the Son of God. Paul reveals to them that God has called him to share the good news of Jes...

1 John 3:1-7 Who am I? What is my identity? We’ve all asked these kinds of questions of ourselves. In that spirit, let me introduce myself to you, as I know myself relationally. I am Bob, the son of Robert and Beverly, brother of Jim, husband of Cheryl, and father of Brett. If that doesn’t tell you enough about who I am, I could add that I am pastor of Central Woodward Christian Church in Troy, Michigan. If you need more, I can show you my resume, which gives details about my occupational and educational background, along with a lot of other details.  Our reading this morning from 1 John adds another important element to my identity. In fact, it might be the most important factor of all, because it applies to all of us gathered here this morning. John invites us to “see what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.”

On the Way to Calvary - 15th century Huntington Library Romans 4:13-25 When we lived in Santa Barbara, we enjoyed hiking the canyons and hills behind the city. Some pathways were smooth and well-marked, while others cut across rock strewn creek beds. There were easy paths and more difficult ones. Such is the pathway of faith. It is often difficult to traverse, but the rewards are great. Our pathway of faith begins on the day that God invited Abraham and Sarah to pack their things and travel to a new land. God promised to make them a great nation, through whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed. Abraham, who was still known as Abram, was a young man of seventy-five and his wife Sarai was just a few years younger when God’s call came. Why not set out on a new journey that will lead to descendants and blessings? (Gen. 12). A few chapters later, Abram had another conversation with God. He and Sarai are now a few years older, and they still didn’t see any signs of d...