Words of Welcome

Exodus 3:1-15 In the movie Evan Almighty , God appears in the form of Morgan Freeman to a newly elected Congressman named Evan Baxter. Like many politicians Evan ran on a grandiose platform. His was: “To Change the World.” God seems to have been paying attention to the campaign and asks Evan if he’s serious about his agenda. When Evan says yes, God tells him to build an ark. I won’t go into the details of the movie, but this movie, and others like it, raises an interesting question: What would you do if God appeared to you in human form and asked you to do something that seemed kind of outlandish? Like build an ark and gather the animals up – two by two. We Americans say that we believe in God – in fact pollsters tell us that 95% of us are believers in God. But, who is this God and what does that belief mean for our daily lives? Recent studies suggest that our view of God can be broken into four categories –A Benevolent God, an Authoritarian God, a Distant God, and a C...

Luke 10:38-42 Michael Phelps won 8 Olympic Gold Medals last week. That’s a pretty amazing fete. It took a lot of hard work and determination to reach that level of success, and he’ll be well rewarded for his efforts. Of course there have been a lot of other athletes who have devoted long hours and hard work to their efforts but came up short. Consider for a moment the hurdler Lolo Jones. She’s the best in the world, and she had the lead with just two more hurdles to cross. Unfortunately she hit the ninth hurdle, lost her balance, and stumbled across the line out of the medals. She’d worked hard too, but her reward will be different. In the Olympics there are far more stories about falling short than winning gold, but whatever the case, the basic story is one of commitment and dedication to the important things in life. Speaking of important things – Last weekend Cheryl and I finally got to celebrate our 25th Anniversary. We were thinking about Hawaii, but ended up in Fra...

John 8:31-36 Years ago I attended a national Disciples Seminarian’s conference. During one of the sessions, a Disciple seminarian from Harvard told us that there weren’t a lot of Disciples in New England. In fact, most people in that part of the country thought the Disciples must be some kind of exotic cult. It’s true, Jim Jones was a Disciple, but I’ve never thought of the Disciples as either exotic or cultic. Whatever I might think, it’s quite possible that there are a lot of people who don’t know who the Disciples are. That is as true in Michigan as it is in New England. In fact, it’s quite possible that there those here this morning, who aren’t sure what the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) stands for! Now, I’m not a lifelong Disciple. I’ve spent quite of bit of my life in other branches of the Christian community, but I’ve become a committed Disciple! And it’s not because the Disciples let you believe whatever you want. I’m a Disciple because of what thi...

Matthew 28:16-20 I know that not everyone here is a Simpson’s fan, but I am! I’ve come to love this TV family, especially the father – Homer Simpson. Homer is the proverbial couch potato, who’s content with his lot in life, and while he goes to church, he doesn’t take it too seriously. In fact, he’s more at home in front of the TV than anywhere else. You could say that he’s more of an observer of life than an active participant. And if you think about it, there’s something attractive about that lifestyle – just kicking back and letting life come to you. But, while Homer’s lifestyle seems attractive, is it a truly Christian one? This congregation has been asking the question – for some time: What does it mean to be a missional congregation? You were exploring this idea even before I got here, but now it’s time to really get serious about not only the discussion but taking active steps to become such a congregation, that is, if this is what God would have us do. Althoug...

Luke 5:33-39 Heraclitus supposedly said: "All things are in a state of flux." In other words, change is part of life. Whether we like it or not, nothing ever stays the same. And to prove his point, that old Greek philosopher pointed to a river and said, you can’t step into the same river twice. Why? Because the water that runs down the river is ever changing. And so it is with life. You might say that change defines modern life. Fashion and music tastes change from day to day. The same is true of hair styles. We look back at old photos and laugh at the big hair or the big glasses. And as for technology, as soon as you get that computer out of the box, it’s already obsolete. I don’t know if you ‘ve noticed it, but politicians have been talking a lot about change – where they differ is in the kind of change they propose. But this is the year of change! The church is nearly 2000 years old, so you’d think it might be immune to change, but even in the church change has become the ...

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. ...

Matthew 17:1-9 We’ve all had life defining experiences. They may not be Damascus Road, Mt. Sinai, or the Mount of Transfiguration types of experiences, but whatever they might have been, they helped define our lives and transform us into the persons we are today. If we look back on them, even years later, we can remember the event vividly. There are historical and public events that define us – events like Pearl Harbor, the assassination of Martin Luther King, or 9-11. These events define generations and eras. Those of you who grew up during World War II see things differently than we who grew up during Vietnam or the first Gulf War. Because they’re public events, we share them with the multitudes, and so even strangers can find a connection through them. There are also very personal events that mark us as individuals. We may share these events with a few people, but the circle is much smaller and deeply personal. I’m talking about events like a marriage, a birth, a divorce, a ...