Words of Welcome

Luke 4:1-13 We’re tempted to take shortcuts, especially when we feel pressured, vulnerable and weak. The LA Times recently ran a story about the prevalence and the acceptability of cheating among high school athletes. In fact, the survey suggests that coaches are encouraging their student-athletes to cheat and cut corners academically to gain the advantage. When we’re confronted with the possibility of sure success, it’s often easy to rationalize our choices. We say to ourselves, no one’s getting hurt and I’m just helping myself out. You see how easy it is? Luke tells the story of the day Jesus encountered the Tempter. He asks the question: Who is Jesus and what’s his calling? If he’s the Son of God, then what does that mean? The story picks up as Jesus is ending a forty-day fast in the desert, and the tempter puts the question to him – why not take a short cut and achieve your dreams? If only all our choices were easy ones – black and white, two equally powerful but strikingly differe...

Exodus 34:29-35; Luke 9:28-36 I'm not a big mountain climber, but in my youth I climbed a few. Once I climbed Diamond Peak in Oregon. Standing more than 9000 feet above sea level, it wasn’t Everest, but it still wasn’t an easy hike for a thirteen-year-old Boy Scout. When I got to the top, I found a view that was breathtaking. I could see for miles in every direction, from the high plains of central Oregon in the east to the fertile Willamette Valley to the West. Looking north and south I could see the whole spine of the Cascade range punctuated by high peaks. Far below was Crescent Lake, the site of our Scout camp and off in the other direction was Odell Lake, both crystal clear and blue. There’s something truly awe inspiring about great mountains; they remind us of our own smallness and the grandeur of creation. When we stand on a mountain top, we also might find ourselves drawn into the presence of God. GOING TO THE MOUNTAIN From the earliest times we’ve gone to the mountains lo...

Proverbs 8:22-31 When you see the Grand Canyon, a Hawaiian sunset, or Crater Lake for the first time, I doubt that science questions will pop into your mind. You’ll probably say something like, "wow, isn’t that beautiful!" And then, after taking in the sights for a bit and likely taking a few pictures, you may finally stop to think about how these things of beauty came to be. The first reaction is aesthetic and even spiritual; the second is scientific. Science deals with the how and faith deals with the wow! Those two different reactions suggest that there’s more than one way to look at things. Neither one is right nor wrong, they’re just different. The scientific angle is extremely important, and it should be honored. But it doesn’t always tell the whole story. That’s where faith comes in. They’re not competitors, they’re complements. For centuries now people have been arguing about the relationship of religion and science. Some people believe they’re opposed to each other, ...

Luke 6:17-26 Today is Super Bowl Sunday, the biggest day in football and in advertising. Americans must choose, Bears versus Colts. Payton Manning or Rex Grossman. Lovie Smith or Tony Dungie. The nation will stop for a few hours and pay attention only to football and to advertisements. At the end of the day, someone will give thanks to Jesus for helping him achieve his dream! I can make this prediction with some degree of confidence, because it happens every year. For some reason, God seems especially interested in who wins the Super Bowl. While God is caught up in deciding the outcome of the Super Bowl, there are other questions begging for an answer. Like the AIDS epidemic wreaking havoc on sub-Saharan Africa. Genocide in Darfur, war in Iraq, or the aftermath of Katrina. Poverty in our country and around the world. Global warming and the extinction of species. Corporations giving CEO’s multimillion dollar bonuses, severance packages, and retirement gifts, even while they lay off tho...

1 Corinthians 13 Love covers a multitude of sins, or something like that! Love can be romantic, but that’s not always true. When I say "I love Cheryl," hopefully that means something different from saying "I love the San Francisco Giants" or "I love pizza." Because "love is a many-splendored thing" it’s about feelings and emotions, but all too often feelings and emotions can change from one moment to the next. And so love can be fickle and fleeting. Consider the teenager who falls desperately in love, one day, thinking it’s the real thing, and yet more often than not, by the next day they’ve moved on to someone else. We say "God is love," but do we have in mind an emotion that’s fleeting and dependent on the moment? Our English word "love" has many nuances and uses, but the Greeks had four very precise words for love, which C.S. Lewis placed into two categories: Gift-Love and Need-Love. Lewis wrote: "The typical example o...

Nehemiah 8:1-10 Legend has it that when I was a very young child I would stand up in my crib and preach. I'd shake my finger and prattle away, speaking to no one in particular. I can't say that I was a great preacher in those days, but I did make an impression on my grandmother, who told my mother: "Someday Bob will be a preacher." Now, I can't confirm this story since my memory doesn't go back that far, but if it’s true, I hope I’ve improved on the quality of my sermons! It takes a bit of audacity to be a preacher. Barbara Brown Taylor compares the preacher to a tight rope walker: Watching a preacher climb into the pulpit is a lot like watching a tight rope walker climb onto the platform as the drum roll begins. The first clears her throat and spreads her notes; the second loosens his shoulders and stretches out one rosin-soled foot to test the taut rope. They both step out into the air, trusting everything they have done to prepare for this moment as they su...

Isaiah 62:1-5 A bride always stands out at a wedding. Even the groom is overshadowed by her presence. To give you a sense of the disparity between bride and groom, let me tell you about a Midwestern tradition called the groom’s cake. Being from the West Coast I’d never heard of such a thing, but in Kansas, it seems that every wedding reception has a groom’s cake. Compared to what has to be called the "bride’s cake," this little cake is humble and nondescript. It’s just a simple ordinary cake – no tiers, arches, or fountains. It’s just cake, frosting, and maybe the groom’s name. Perhaps the reason why a bride stands out on her wedding day is that she’s simply more beautiful than the groom. No one pays much attention when the groom and his attendants enter the sanctuary with little fanfare, but when the bride's maids begin to enter everyone pays attention. They know that the real show is about to begin. The crowd turns and watches expectantly, hoping to get a good look at t...