Words of Welcome

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...

  Romans 7:15-25a Next Sunday, Dan will begin a series of sermons from the Book of Romans that starts in chapter 8. The first verse of Romans 8 declares that “there is, therefore, no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.” Now that’s good news! Now, before we can hear the good news, we need to hear the bad news. I get to deliver the bad news. So, once again I get to set the stage for Dan to deliver the good news, even if I chose this passage!  I think Paul’s words in Romans 7 might resonate with many of us because it offers a rather realistic picture of human life. That’s because it speaks of the kinds of inner conflicts that we all face in life. You see, Paul wants to do the right thing, but he can’t seem to follow through. Why this is true, could be rooted in anxiety or a failure to recognize our own limits? We can even know what’s expected of us, and still fall ...

  Matthew 17:1-9, Exodus 24:12-18 This morning we return to the Mount of Transfiguration. We looked at Luke’s version back in February, and now we turn to Matthew’s version of the story. This version, like Luke’s, invites us to experience a moment of revelation as Jesus is transfigured and transformed.  Matthew invites us to ponder Jesus’ identity. He invites us to ask: Who is this Jesus we claim to follow? And, how is God present in and with him? The story of the Transfiguration takes us to one of those “thin places” where the metaphorical membrane separating heaven and earth becomes transparent and we can see the things of God more fully and clearly. We get to see Jesus unveiled, with his full identity shining through, even if only for a moment.   Matthew tells us that the Transfiguration event takes place six days after the conversation recorded in Matthew 16. In that chapter, Jesus asks the disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter responded to that...

1 Corinthians 15:12-20 The spirit of Easter has arrived early in three sets of lectionary readings from 1 Corinthians 15. Paul already revealed to us the core Christian message contained in the church’s confession “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures” ( 1 Cor. 15:3 ). That’s Paul’s message, but if this is true, why are some members of the Corinthian church questioning the truth of this message? Why cast doubt on Paul’s message about the resurrection? Paul’s question is as relevant today as it was in the first century. People are still asking questions about the resurrection. Some people have trouble imagining the idea of bodily resurrection, especially since scientific proof is difficult to come by. Paul did offer up witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus, but even that doesn’t suffice for many. It’s possible this was nothing more than a mass hallucination...

        You may know the old gospel song that goes like this: “Living for Jesus a life that is true, striving to please him in all that I do; yielding allegiance, glad hearted and free, this is the pathway of blessing for me.” This verse from that gospel hymn is a good basic definition of what it means to be a Christian. To be a Christian is nothing more and nothing less than yielding allegiance to Jesus and doing all we can to please him. If we do this, then everything else falls into place.            Now, yielding allegiance to Jesus begins by calling him Lord. As Paul told the Corinthians, calling Jesus Lord requires the help of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). If we give full allegiance to Jesus then nothing else takes first place in our lives—not family, friends, nation, a political party, or a political leader. This is why I’ve come to believe that the Lord’s Prayer is our pledge of allegiance t...

Exodus 3:1-15 Moses was on his way to work tending sheep for his father-in-law. When he got to Mount Horeb, he noticed a bush burning on the horizon. Since that’s not an everyday occurrence, he decided to check out this strange sight. When he got to the bush, he heard a voice calling his name: “Moses, Moses.” And Moses replied, “Here I am.” Then the voice said, “don’t come any closer and remove your sandals because you’re standing on holy ground.”  When it comes to removing his sandals, Ron Allen and Clark Williamson comment that “to be invited to remove one’s sandals was to be welcomed. Moses is welcomed into relationship with God as God simultaneously draws an ultimate respect from Moses. Moses is no longer an ‘alien’ (Exod. 2:22) but a guest.” [ Preaching the Old Testament , p. 80]. Now, Moses is ready to hear the next word in which God declares: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”  As we contempla...

Luke 2:1-20 For the past fifty years many of us have chosen to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special. As you may remember, Charlie Brown is struggling to understand the true meaning of Christmas. The commercial side of the season doesn’t hold any meaning for him. Finally, and after his failure to find the “proper” Christmas tree ends his attempt at directing the Christmas pageant, he cries out in near panic: “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”At that point Linus the Theologian takes center stage and recounts the Christmas story as told by Luke. After coming off the stage, Linus says to him:  “That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.” We’ve come here tonight because we want to take hold of this message shared with us by Linus the Theologian. Like Charlie Brown, we want to know what Christmas is really about. Luke offers us the most recognizable version of the Christmas story. He tells us about a very pregnant Mary who accompanies...

Song of Solomon 2:8-13 Every generation since the beginning of recorded human history has had its love songs. You might have a favorite and I might have mine. It’s likely that our differences of generation will influence our choices. Our scripture reading this morning is itself a love song, or at least a small portion of one of the great epic love songs ever written. As I was thinking about this song, a tune from my teen years came to mind. It’s one of Paul McCartney’s post-Beatles hits, and I think it fits the moment. The first stanza goes like this:  You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs I look around me and I see it isn't so Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs And what's wrong with that? I'd like to know 'Cause here I go again I love you, I love you I love you, I love you. Yes, what’s wrong with singing silly love songs?  There’s another song from those years that also s...

1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43 Having a house is a good thing. It doesn’t matter if you’re buying or renting, whether it’s big or small, it’s good to have a roof over your head. Soon we’ll be hosting SOS, and I expect that during that week many of us will pause to give thanks for our homes. Home ownership has its challenges, but it is good to have a home.  We can give thanks that as a congregation we have a roof over our heads and a fairly comfortable space to gather for worship, for fellowship, and for study. Since this building has been around for more than thirty years, it’s easy to take this blessing for granted, forgetting that it takes a lot of resources to keep up the place.  This morning’s reading from 1 Kings forms part of a story about a house built for God. We meet up again with Solomon, that wise king whom Susan introduced last week. He’s standing before the altar of the newly constructed Temple in Jerusalem, getting ready to deliver his prayer of dedi...