Words of Welcome

Acts 2:1-21 The reading from Acts 2 should be familiar, especially since it defines the meaning of Pentecost Sunday. Since it is so familiar, the worship committee decided to present it in a more dramatic fashion. In this reading we’ve heard about fire and wind and movement. We’ve also been invited to envision the work of God’s Spirit in the world. It is a work that involves God’s people.    The book of Acts focuses on the movement of the Holy Spirit. This movement begins with the commission Jesus gives the disciples in  Acts 1:8:   “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”   The rest of the Book of Acts flows out of this commissioning. That movement of the Spirit gets underway in Acts 2 and it continues to this day. That means we’re part of this movement of the Spirit.  Our story begins in an Upper Room, where the disci...

Luke 4:14-21 Monday was Martin Luther King Day, and I attended the Troy community celebration of Dr. King’s life. Our speaker reminded us that Dr. King’s message was quite revolutionary. Not only did he want to end segregation, he wanted to tackle two other related issues of his day: poverty and militarism. He recognized that poverty and militarism were related and that they disproportionately affected people of color. In taking up these causes he made enemies. At the time of his assassination he was trying to create a coalition of poor people whom he was going to lead in a March on Washington to make sure that Washington understood the plight of the nation’s poor and marginalized. 

Ezekiel 37:1-14 Do you need a vacation?  Is life pressing in on you? Do your bones feel dry and lifeless? It’s a holiday weekend, the sun is out, summer is near at hand, shouldn’t we all be sitting by a lake enjoying a bit of sunshine and relaxation instead of sitting here listening to the preacher talk about dry bones? Don’t answer that last question!! There’s a song from my childhood that goes like this:   “When you're weary, feeling small, when tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all; I'm on your side.” The words of this song echo those of Jesus:  28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”  (Matthew 11:28-30 ).   So, when you’re struggling with a heavy load and tears are in your eyes, do you hear Jesus calling out?...

1 Corinthians 12:1-12 When a storm hits, knocking out the power, life can get interesting.  No lights, no refrigeration, no stove, no heat, and no television or computer.  If you have a smart phone you might have access to the outside world, but if you don’t, you’re in the dark.  And that’s not a feeling we enjoy.  Of course, there’s also political power, which I won’t get into!   It seems that power comes in many forms.  It can be used to bless and it can be used to destroy.  Remember that the same atomic elements used to create electricity can be used to destroy cities and nations.   Although power can be dangerous – it’s also essential to life.  In this fifth sermon in my series on Reclaiming a Founding Vision, I want to affirm the power that comes to us from God through the Holy Spirit. Andy Crouch recently wrote a book about “Redeeming the Gift of Power."   Crouch writes that “Power is for flourishing – teeming, fru...

Revelation 2:1-7 We are inheritors of a tradition that has been passed down to us from generation to generation.  Over time this tradition has been adapted and amended.  Some of these adaptations have helped preserve the core message, while others have obscured it.  That message is rooted in the covenant God made with Abraham and Sarah that through their descendants the nations would be blessed. The message contained n this covenant was renewed in the ministry of Jesus and then passed on to us. Whenever this calling gets obscured, God finds a way to call us back to this founding vision.  In our reading from Revelation, the angel of God invites the Ephesian church to “remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first” (Rev. 2:5).  This call to repentance is a call to reset our lives to the original vision.   To use a computer analogy, whenever the system gets overly corrupted, it’s time to reset the system by...

Romans 8:22-27 Charles Spurgeon wrote that "any fool can sing in the day. When the cup is full, a person draws inspiration from it." But what happens when night falls and the cup is empty? Spurgeon wrote that when he experienced the "bliss of spiritual liberty," he could climb near the throne of God and "sing as sweet as seraphs." But confine me, fetter my spirit, clip my wings, make me exceedingly sad, so that I become like the old eagle -- ah! then it is hard to sing. In fact, it’s unnatural to sing during times of trouble, except perhaps to sing the blues. But, as Spurgeon wrote: "songs in the night come only from God; they are not in human power."1 I. THE PROMISE OF PENTECOST Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day on which we celebrate the promise, presence, and power of the Holy Spirit. It’s this Spirit who empowers us to sing even during the darkest of nights. It was on the Day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit fell on an uncert...