Sermons

May 29, 2016

Texts:
     Luke 7: 1-10;
     Galatians 1: 1-12
     1 Kings 8: 22-23, esp 41-43

Luke tells us that after preaching the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus came into Capernaum, a village by the Sea of Galilee.  There a centurion, a Gentile soldier in the garrison of the Roman occupiers, comes to tell Jesus about his beloved servant who is near death.  He asks Jesus to heal the servant.  The centurion is probably what Luke calls elsewhere a "God-fearer," a Gentile who respects the God of Judaism.  He has even helped his Jewish neighbors build their synagogue and he obviously has a good relationship with the town’s Jewish elders – rare at the time.  But the centurion says he feels too unworthy to have Jesus come into his house where the servant lies dying.  So he asks his Jewish friends to plead his case to Jesus, a Jew, and they do so willingly, also noteworthy because Jesus is regarded with suspicion by many of his fellow Jews.  Their actions show amazing cultural sensitivity: not knowing Jesus personally, the soldier sends representatives of Jesus' own community to ask on his behalf, and the Jewish leaders seem to be confident enough of Jesus’ power to ask him to heal the sick servant.  And Jesus heals him.  The story has many meanings, but for our purposes this morning I want to point out two.  The first lesson points to the faith of the centurion, a non-Jew.  His faith was so remarkably strong that Jesus exclaims in astonishment, “I have not found such faith even in Israel.”

Tests: Genesis 11.1-9;
Acts 2.1-21

Thank you for the opportunity to be with you today, and to offer the teaching on Pentecost Sunday.  To witness this time of re-commitment and communal dedication is a real gift, one that calls each of us to bring our fullest selves forward, leaning in to listen for our how own desires might align, or perhaps be re-aligned, with the Spirit’s work in the world.  While The Potter’s House has commanded my fullest attention over this past year, Eighth Day remains a home community and space of belonging for me.  Words cannot express my gratitude for your ongoing accompaniment and encouragement of us at The Potter’s House, and all the ways that you share in our mission and make it possible.

We have no transcript of Mike's teaching but a video has been uploaded to Facebook, which you can see here.

May 1, 2016

Texts:

Leviticus 25:10
Luke 4:18-21
Colossians 1:10-13

It is an honor to be with you today.  I am always honored to get share my experiences, especially with you, 8^th Day Church.  I have so much to learn from you and your faith and am humbled that I get to share mine. 

Today, I’d like to share a bit of myself with you.  I’d like to share about the experiences I’ve had and what motivates me in life.  Most importantly, I’d like to share with you about the Jesus that I know and love. 

I grew up in a Christian faith environment, believing that God was good, that God loved humanity and cared deeply for us.  At the same time, I had the privilege of living in Africa for four years when I was younger, as my parents were teachers there.  Having that cross-cultural experience at a young age has impacted me and shaped my perspective on life.  When you’re a young boy of eight or nine and you see children your age homeless and starving on the streets, while you go home at night to a warm meal and loving parents, that tends to leave a mark. 

I am going to being my talk by reciting a poem that I have known since I was in college.  It will be the basis for my talk.  It's called "The Touch of the Master's Hand" and was written by Myra Brooks Welch, perhaps you know it also. 

‘Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.
'What am I bidden, good folks,' he cried. 
'Who'll start bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar.  Then two!   Only two? 
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?

Three dollars once, three dollars twice,
Going for three...' but no.
From the room far back a gray haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin
And tightening the loosened strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet,
As a caroling angel sings

Texts: Luke 10:30-37 (Good Samaritan Story)
           John 4:1-40 (Woman at the Well)

Good morning.  Thanks for opportunity to share with you today. 

As most of you know, I've been involved in a mixed-raced mission group here within the Church of the Saviour, focused on racial justice and healing, for the past several years.  I want to share this morning some things I've been wrestling with out of that experience. 

I'm beginning with a very familiar story, Jesus' parable of the "Good Samaritan."

The Good Samaritan story is usually related in a general way to teach children and adults to be kind to strangers, or to those in need, but it deserves more careful study. 

The Samaritans were people who lived in what had been the Northern Kingdom of Israel.  Samaria, the name of that kingdom's capital, was located between Galilee in the north and Judea in the south.  The Samaritans were a racially mixed society with Jewish and pagan ancestry.  Although they worshiped Yahweh as did the Jews, their religion was not mainstream Judaism, and they were despised by ordinary Jews.[1]

Texts:
     Acts 5:27-32[i] (See the end of this teaching for a copy of these texts)
     John 20:19-31[ii]

Christ is Risen!  Christ is Risen Indeed!  Alleluia.

There are many things I’d like to talk with you about today, but there are three aspects of this remarkable Resurrection story.  There are three streams that have come to my awareness in working with these two passages, both John 20 and the amazing Acts 5 passage.  I want to bring three stories together.  One is the story of one person’s individual resurrection experience, after having a near-death experience, and after coming through that his view from the other side.   He is talking about the experiences that led him to believe.  The second piece is the belief that comes through this remarkable book, Jonathan Sacks’ Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence.   There is a stream of belief that comes out of his ability to integrate the three Abrahamic Traditions and really confront some of the ways violence is a temptation but not a necessity when dealing with all of these traditions together.   In fact he uses the Genesis passages as well as lots of other contexts to express a belief in something he calls covenantal listening.   This kind of listening makes it possible to interpret scripture in a new way.   I’ll talk more about that later.   The third stream I want to bring in is how these resurrection awarenesses show up in our community.   So, hopefully I’ll bring those three stories together today.    

Easter, March 26, 2013

Text is not available.

Palm Sunday, March 19, 2016

Texts:
Psalm 31:9-10,
Isaiah 59:4-9,
Luke 22:14 – 23:46
Philippians 2:5-11

Today I want to pull you into this array of scriptures as a participant.  Being a participant is much more rewarding than being a spectator.  This is the way the lectionary scriptures are chosen week by week.  Each week there is a larger story and then the specific stories within that larger story.  The goal of scripture is always to pull us in to be participants. 

By participant I mean the texts take on meaning for us personally and as a community.  A German philosopher, Martin Heidegger said, “Only that which presents itself as possibility-for-me, that is, as something I can decide, has meaning.”

Let’s think about that for a moment.  When we are spectators, the action is out there whether past, present or future.  When you and I are participants, we are drawn into possibility.  Opportunity is given to choose something that empowers us to make a shift or a change, however slight or huge.  More about this as we move along. 

March 13, 2016

Last week David discussed the dangers of dualistic thinking in Rabbi Jonathan Sacks’s book, Not in God’s Name.  This involves the idea that there are people of a “true faith,” and that they, therefore, have the right to reject, demonize and destroy those who are not members of that “true faith.”  The Jews were called by God to be light to the world, to welcome the stranger, to show the world what love of neighbor and justice could be.  My sharing about my trip to Israel-Palestine today is a perfect example of how Israel, its government and many of its people are carefully, purposefully and strategically demonizing and destroying the Palestinian people with the excuse that God gave the Jews the land.  That is not Jesus’ path.