Words of Welcome

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Before leaving on my sabbatical, I preached a sermon from Genesis 12 entitled “Reclaiming a Founding Vision.”   In  Genesis 12  God covenants with Abraham and Sarah, promising to bless the nations through their descendants. That is, I believe, our founding vision.  In Christ we become children of Abraham so that we might be a blessing to the nations.   Sometimes we get so caught up in the business of religion that we forget our calling.  Fortunately, God remains faithful to this covenant, and has a way of rekindling that vision  in our hearts.  The title of that sermon, “Reclaiming a Founding Vision” served as theme of my sabbatical.  Since pastors are tempted to get focused on the mechanics of the institution rather than the vision that guides us a congregation, the sabbatical provided me the opportunity to remember and reclaim that vision for my life, so that I can lead this congregation in fulfilling our calli...

Isaiah 65:17-25 When I opened up my Bible on Monday and turned to Isaiah 65, the message of this text leaped out at me. What I heard from this prophetic text was our missional calling to join God in ministry in the world. My thoughts quickly ran to a book that I’d just finished reading that talks about the future of Detroit. The book is called Reimagining Detroit , and it’s written by Free Press journalist John Gallagher, who lays out some of the directions that the city and people of Detroit could take if they hope to experience a renaissance or rebirth. I also thought about the conversations we’ve been having about Motown Mission . As my thoughts ran back and forth between this text and the world in which we’re living, I saw in a clearly stated fashion the biblical foundations of our call to ministry. In reflecting on this conversation between the text and our world, I heard this message: God is about to do a new thing in this world and we get to participate in that new thing. Now...

Joshua 1:1-9 It was really just a few days ago that the family left California and headed East in our two-car caravan for the Promised Land – Michigan that is. We had to travel through Sin City , cross deserts and mountains, rivers and corn fields. We wandered through nine different states and touched the edge of Chicago before we crossed the state line into Michigan . Even then the journey wasn’t over, because we hadn’t reached our final destination. So, we continued driving across the state, entered the Detroit area, stopped in at the Morehouse domain, had dinner and picked up a key to the new house. Only then could we finally cross the threshold and claim our new house in Troy as our own. I could expand on the journey a bit more, but that would take more time than is available. I could also show you some pictures, but that too must wait until another day. The journey east, however, isn’t so much about a new house as it is a new calling and a new ministry. ...

Psalm 116:12-19 "There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea; There’s a kindness in God’s justice, which is more than liberty." (F.W. Faber, Chalice, 73) This is good news. We serve a God who is gracious and compassionate and we get to celebrate that grace and compassion, that mercy and kindness, as we come together for worship. The ancient Israelites held great Fall festivals to give thanks for God’s wondrous bounty and sing songs like the one in Psalm 116. They thanked God for the bounty of the harvest and for hearing their cries when they were going through difficult times, like when death and anguish were their lot in life. These songs remind us that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift. And so, we join the Psalmist in asking: "What can I give back to God, for the blessings he’s poured out on me?" (116:12 MSG). Growing Faith and Giving Thanks Giving back to God takes faith, and faith, as Hebrews says, is "the assurance of thing...