Words of Welcome

Malachi 3:1-4 I will confess that house cleaning doesn’t sit at the top of my favorite things to do in life. While I clean my bathroom, vacuum the family room rug, and sweep and mop the kitchen floor each week, I much prefer working in the yard. Nevertheless, housework has to be done, and done regularly. That’s especially true if you’re going to invite people over for the holidays. So, we dust, vacuum, mop, polish, and wash the things that need to be washed. We do this because it’s important to put our best foot forward when company comes to the house.  The season of Advent has similarities to housecleaning. The readings from Scripture call to mind the need to get ready for the coming of God’s anointed. The challenge facing us during this Advent season is that too often it gets swept aside by all the commotion attached to the holiday season. Since the Christmas shopping season now begins sometime around Halloween if not before, Advent can get lost in the shuffle. Nevertheles...

Luke 9:28-36 This morning we join Peter, James, and John, as they hike up a mountain with Jesus, so he can take time to pray. We get to see what happens on the mountain through the eyes of these three disciples. What we see is truly amazing. We watch as Jesus’ face suddenly radiates light and his clothing became as white as new-fallen snow. If that wasn’t enough to catch our attention, two men appear and begin talking with Jesus. We soon learn that these two men are none other than the prophet Elijah and Moses the lawgiver. If you were there on the mountain top with Peter, James, and John, what would you make of this?  The three disciples had been with Jesus long enough by this point in the story to have seen some amazing things. They had to know there was something special about him. They’d seen him heal people and feed the five thousand. They’d heard him preach. In fact, just a few days earlier, Peter made the good confession that Jesus is the Messiah ( Lk 9:17-20 ). Neverthe...

  William Blake, Job and His Family  Job 42:1-6, 10-17 We’ve explored a few passages from the second half of the book of Job. What we’ve heard so far is a bit unsettling. We’ve met a God who is willing to make people suffer just to prove a point. Although God uses a hired hand to do this, God is said to be responsible for this “evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). As we’ve seen, this doesn’t sit well with Job. He wants to know why he has suffered at the hand of God. After all, he is innocent and righteous before God. So why are bad things happening to a good person like Job? Although the Bible is a sacred text, it’s also a very complex and human book. At times it even argues with itself. So, many of us read Job as a response to the conventional wisdom found in the Book of Proverbs. The message of Proverbs is quite simple. If you do the right thing, good things should happen. If you do bad things, then you’ll reap what you sow. That message makes sense on ...

Young Clergy Man Reading 1 Thessalonians 2:9-13 We come together to worship on the eve of an election. I know many of us are anxious about the outcome and the aftermath of this election. All I can say is, if you’ve not voted, drop off any absentee ballots at your clerk’s office or go vote on Tuesday. Then pray hard! We also gather on All Saints Day to remember and honor all God’s saints, “who from their labors rest.” The word we hear from Paul and his companions to the church in Thessalonika is the oldest document in the New Testament. This is about as close as we get to the very beginnings of the Christian story, which continues to unfold into our day. This community lived with a great deal of anxiety. Part of this anxiety was rooted in their expectation that Jesus was going to return any minute. With this expectation came questions about those who had died. Would they get caught up with Jesus when he returned? I don’t think we experience the same kind of anxiety as the Thessaloni...

Romans 12:1-8 When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? What kind of life did you want to lead? Maybe you knew from a very young age what you were going to do when you grew up, but I tried on several possibilities in my mind. At one point I thought about being an oceanographer and then a photographer. Back in ninth grade, I took a class called “Self Understanding through Occupational Exploration.” One of the class assignments required visiting with people whose jobs we might pursue. I chose to visit an attorney and toured a radio station. I will confess that at one point I even thought about being a politician. As you can see, ministry wasn’t among my earliest aspirations. We tend to answer the questions about what should we do and who we should be in terms of our vocations, our jobs. Early in life children are encouraged to decide on a vocational path, but is this the only way to answer these questions? What if we thought in terms of Leading Liv...

The Light of the World, William Holman Hunt Keble College, Oxford 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 We began the service by singing: Shine, Jesus, shine Fill this land with the Father's glory Blaze, Spirit, blaze Set our hearts on fire Flow, river, flow Flood the nations with grace and mercy Send forth your word Lord, and let there be light. With this song we ushered in our celebration of Jesus’ transfiguration.  Transfiguration Sunday brings the season of Epiphany, the season of light and revelation to a close. The Gospel of Mark tells us how Jesus took Peter, James, and John on a hike up a mountain. When they reached the summit, the three disciples watched with amazement as Jesus’ whole being was transformed. His appearance radiated dazzling light, and his clothing was brighter than bright. But that’s not the end of the story. Before they knew it, Moses the Lawgiver and Elijah the Prophet joined Jesus on the mountaintop. While these three figures—Moses, Elijah, and Jesus...

Job 42:1-6, 10-17 We’re only exploring a few passages from the book of Job, but even so you may be feeling a bit unsettled by what we’ve heard so far. The God we’ve met appears to control everything, and that means God is responsible not only for the good things but the bad things. Though it does appear that God uses a hired hand, The Adversary, to do the dirty work. At the same time, we’ve been hearing from Job, who has been suffering greatly despite his claims to be innocent and righteous before God. The question we’ve been hearing all along is: “why me?” And that question leads to another: Who is God?  The Bible is a sacred text, but it is also a very complex book. At times it seems to argue with itself. In many ways the message of Job offers a counter weight to the message of Proverbs. The message of Proverbs is quite simple. If you do the right thing, good things should happen. If you do bad things, then you will reap what you sow. When we read Job, we hear him cry...

Exodus 33:12-23 Is it okay to argue with God?  Moses thought so.  So did Abraham. You might say that to argue with God is to intercede with God. And it seems as if God invites us to bring our concerns into God’s presence. As we bring our journey through Exodus to a close, the people are about to leave Sinai. They can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  There’s only one problem, God isn’t sure whether to continue on with them.  God has had enough dealing with this “stiff-necked people,” and while God hasn’t unleashed his wrath on them, he’s not sure how long this can continue.  Apparently, that Golden Calf affair was the last straw. If God isn’t sure whether it’s a good idea to continue on, Moses won’t hear of it.  To Moses, there’s no point going on to the Promised Land without God. This story pictures God as something of a frustrated parent.  Like parents often do, God has thrown up his hands because these children won’t sto...

Romans 12:9-21 Sometimes you come across a passage of Scripture that could take several months of sermons to explore.  This is true of today’s reading.  With sentences coming at us in rapid-fire fashion, it demands a great degree of reflection.  Since I’m not planning an extended series at this moment, I will try to refrain from dwelling too long in every nook and cranny of Paul’s message.   Each statement is an imperative sentence that speaks to what it means to live the Christian life.  It’s fitting that this reading comes on Labor Day Weekend, because it will take a lot of work to fulfill Paul’s expectations.   The key to this passage is the call to “let love be genuine” (vs. 9).  Everything that follows is an expression of genuine love.  It’s not romantic love.  It’s not just friendship.  It’s Agape love.  When it comes to defining love, I’ve been turning to theologian Tom Oord for help.  His basic definition...

Acts 5:27-32 This morning we continue our Easter celebration with a reading from the Book of Acts.  It’s the first of five readings from Acts that focus on what I want to call “Transformative Encounters.”  Over the next five weeks I’ll be offering a sermon series  that explores how encounters with the Risen Christ transform lives. This morning we begin our journey with a reading from Acts 5.  We find Peter and John standing before the Council a second time.  They’ve been arrested because they won’t stop preaching about Jesus.  The last time they were thrown in jail, angels liberated them.  But, this time, they must face their accusers, who according to Luke, are rather upset.  They hoped that after Jesus died, his followers would disappear, but for some reason they were still hanging around.  They were becoming pests and the authorities wanted to see them to go away.   Peter steps forward, and answers their demand tha...

Philippians 3:4b-14 We live in a culture of success.  The more you have and the bigger you build, the better.  Look at sports teams.  The Yankee’s payroll annually stands above 200 million.  They might not always win the World Series, but the owners are willing to pay whatever it costs to win now.  The Dodgers are trying to do the same thing in the National League.  We’ll see if it works out for them.  Or think about Apple.  It’s net worth is greater than that of many countries.  Not only that, but it  currently sits on 137 billion dollars in cash – and growing rapidly.    Jesus points us in a different direction.  For Jesus, life doesn’t consist in an abundance of possessions. Remember the parable he told about the Rich Fool? He told of a man who reaped a huge harvest.  Since his barns couldn’t hold it all, he tore them down and built new ones, so he could sit back and eat, drink, and be merry.   U...