Words of Welcome

  Acts 3:12-21 When Peter and John went to the Temple to pray, a man who had been crippled since birth called out to them, begging for alms. I’m guessing that Peter and John had seen him before this, but this time they responded. Here is their reply laid out in the form of a song I learned long ago .  “ Silver and gold have I none, But such as I have give I thee, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,  rise up and walk. He went walking and leaping and praising God, Walking and leaping and praising God, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,  rise up and walk.” If you had been in the crowd and had seen this man “walking and leaping and praising God,” how would you have responded? When Peter saw that a crowd filled with amazement was gathering in Solomon’s Portico, he knew it was time for a sermon. Peter opened his sermon by letting the crowd know that it wasn’t the power or piety of Peter and John that made the man whole. It was faith in th...

Luke 4:16-21 Jesus was a church-going man. Actually, he was a synagogue-going man, but you know what I mean. So, when he went home for a visit after his ordination by the Holy Spirit and the training exercise in the desert, he went to the synagogue in Nazareth on the Sabbath “as was his custom.” As is often the case when young adults return home, perhaps from college, they get asked to help with the service. In this case, the leaders asked Jesus to read the scriptures and share a word of interpretation. Now preaching in your home church can be a blessing or a curse, depending on what you have to say. Sometimes it’s not wise to go home and share everything you’ve learned at seminary. The people back home might not like those newfangled ideas you learned at school and won’t appreciate your message.  That’s what happened to Jesus after he opened the scroll to Isaiah 61 and read about how the Spirit fell on the messiah, anointing him to bring good news to the poor and preac...