Words of Welcome

Psalm 34:1-8 Taste and see that the Lord is good! Taste and sight are two of the senses that help make life what it is. For instance, when we sit down to a meal, we take in the smell, the sight, and then the taste. It might be sweet or savory. Some like the sweetness of cake and others like the savoriness of chips. Some like kale and others don’t. So, when it comes to taste, we’re all different.  If you want to know more about such things, I suggest watching episodes of Good Eats with Alton Brown. He makes a big deal about how our taste buds work. He likes to illustrate his message, since the viewer can’t smell or taste the food he is demonstrating. He might show a chart of the tongue, pointing out the  different sensory areas found on the tongue. There is sweet, salty, savory, sour, and even bitter. Yes, there is a sensor in our tongues that looks for bitterness.

Psalm 51:1-12 There’s a fairly well known biblical story that features King David, Bathsheba, Uriah, and Nathan the Prophet. The story, which is found in 2 Samuel, begins with David spying on the wife of Uriah, one of his military officers, who is away at the front. When David sees her bathing, he grows covetous. He likes what he sees, and as King he believes he can have whatever he pleases. So he sends for Bathsheba, sexually assaults her, and sends her home. He believes he can do this without consequence because he has no equals, or so he believes. Before too long word comes to David that Bathsheba is pregnant. Since Uriah is away at the front, David knows that questions will be raised as to the father. He’s afraid that fingers will point his way. So, he calls Uriah home, hoping Uriah will share his wife’s bed. Then, when the child is born, no one will be the wiser. Unfortunately for David, Uriah is an honorable man, who refuses to take advantage of the comforts of home when...

Note:  This sermon was shared as part of our annual outdoor service, which is less formal. Because of the nature of the text for the day, it is laid out as a more participatory sermon. Psalm 23 “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” These opening words of the 23rd Psalm are deeply embedded in many hearts and minds. We turn to this Psalm in times of grief and doubt and fear. We look to this Psalm in the hope that the Lord is with us, restoring and protecting us, as we journey in life. Since most of us are deeply familiar with this Psalm, and because we’ve gathered for worship in a different space, I want to make this a more participatory sermon. We’ve already heard the Psalm read from the NRSV, but I’m going to read it again a couple of times from other translations, including the King James, and then I have some questions for us to discuss. 

Psalm 48 We began worship by singing “Great is the Lord.” We heard Mike sing “How Great Thou Art.” Then, we shared together in the reading of Psalm 48, which opens with the words “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised in the city of our God.”  Yes, great is the Lord who is “faithful and true” and who dwells in Zion! This week as we turn again to the Psalms, we encounter one of the “Songs of Zion.” These songs celebrate Yahweh’s position as the cosmic king, who rules over all things. In these songs of Zion, human kings, like David and Solomon disappear. While the people of Israel asked Samuel for a king to fight their battles for them, this Psalm declared that it’s God, and not these earthly kings and their military prowess that provide security to the nation.

Psalm 130 Children as young as three-months-old, are crying out for the comforting arms of missing parents. Most of these families who have come to our border are trying to escape violence that probably originates here in the United States. I believe that the God who redeems Israel has heard these cries of lament, and invites us to do the same. Whatever our feelings about the immigration issue, surely the cries of these children touch our hearts. If we are God’s hands and feet and voices, then we have to answer the question: how will we respond to these cries? We hear the voice of the Psalmist: “Out of the depths, I cry to the Lord. Lord, hear my voice!” The Psalmist cries out to God: “Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.” This is a song of lament that’s numbered among the Songs of Ascent. These are the songs pilgrims sang as they made their way to Jerusalem. This song is darker than the 133rd Psalm, which we heard last Sunday. This song has a pen...

Psalm 133 The 133rd Psalm is one of my favorite passages of Scripture, because it speaks to one of my passions in life. That passion is the pursuit of Christian unity. It’s a blessing to hear the words: “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” This is especially true when the course of history seems to be pulling nation and world further and further apart. The Psalmist reminds us that there is a better way, a way of unity. Perhaps this is why I was moved so powerfully the other evening, as  the Madrigal Chorale brought their concert to a close by singing Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.” Yes:  I see trees of green........ Red roses too   I see em bloom..... For me and for you   And I think to myself.... What a wonderful world. Yes, what a wonderful world we live in, a world of God’s creation. Our Disciple identity statement offers a vision of wholeness taking hold in a fragmented world. This is a ...

Mark 4:26-34 We just finished studying the Gospel of Mark in the Wednesday afternoon Bible Study. Our group discovered that Mark is full of surprises. His gospel proclaims the “good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” ( Mk. 1:1 ), but for some reason Jesus tries to keep this news a secret.  Even though the disciples spend their days and nights with Jesus, only the demons seem to recognize him for who he is. When you read Mark, it’s difficult to set aside stories from Matthew, Luke, and John. We want to read into Mark’s story what we know from the other gospels, but if we do this, we won’t hear Mark’s version of the story. There is one word that stands out. That word is “immediately.” Mark’s story moves quickly. He rarely stops to let Jesus catch his breath. He starts with the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan at the hands of John the Baptizer. Mark doesn’t have an infancy narrative. His family appears only once and they come to take home, because they thought he had...