Words of Welcome

Christ Before Annas (top); Peter Denying Jesus (bottom) Acts 4:5-12 When Peter and John went to the Temple to pray they encountered a man with a disability. That encounter led to a healing and a dance of joy on the part of the man who was healed, and finally to Peter’s sermon in Solomon’s Portico ( Acts 3 ). Apparently, these activities in the Temple courts didn’t go over well with the Temple officials, who had Peter and John arrested. This morning we turn the page to find Peter and John standing before the religious authorities. They want to know who authorized them to heal and preach in the Temple. That is, “by what power or by what name did you do this?”  I can empathize with the religious authorities because I’m the chair of the regional commission on ministry. This commission has the responsibility to authorize and hold accountable the people who serve as Disciples ministers.  Obviously, the two Apostles didn’t get their credentials from the Temple authorities, but ...

Psalm 62:5-12 I must confess that I don’t always place my full trust in God alone. Perhaps like me, you hedge our bets and occasionally look elsewhere. Maybe you put your trust in an institution. Or it could be a political leader or maybe a family member. Perhaps you only trust yourself and nobody else.  The Psalmist invites us to sing a different song, one that makes this assertion:  “for God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken.” We opened worship this morning with the hymn “ A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. ” Martin Luther based this hymn, which is one of my favorites, on Psalm 46. While Psalm 62 isn’t the source of the hymn, the message is the same. It also proclaims that God is our fortress and our refuge.  As we sing this majestic hymn, we declare that God is “a bulwark never failing, our present help amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.” This is a truth we need to ...

2 Peter 1:3-11 All good things must come to an end, and so while there is much more to say about salvation we come to the end of our journey this morning. Over the past several weeks we’ve discovered that salvation is a complex idea. Because it can be seen as otherworldly it can seem irrelevant and even off-putting. Let’s stick with the here-and-now. But, as we’ve seen salvation is about more than Jesus dying for our personal sins so we can get to heaven. Salvation includes reconciliation, liberation, healing, and taking on a new identity in Christ. As we celebrate Ascension Sunday, it’s appropriate that we focus on salvation as union with God, or as we read in 2 Peter, in Christ we are becoming “participants in the divine nature.”   Eastern Christianity tends to be more mystical than western forms. They place great emphasis on becoming one with God, and they use the Greek word  theosis  to describe this union.  Theosis  can be translated as de...