Sermons

Texts:
Philippians 2:1-10[i]
Isaiah 53:10-12[ii]
Ps 31:15-17[iii]

What do we really NEED from one another?  When you come right down to it—and this comes up again and again in our Servants mission group as we care for one another in the Body and Mind of Christ—what we NEED from one another is relationship.  Connection and attachment to one another for the highest and best purposes but also for ordinary and extraordinary purposes.  Friends, I encourage you today to do this!  To be with and for one another in this kind of unity would make all of our joy complete.

In all the highs and lows life brings, may we hold one another, esteem and value one another in such a way that wonderfully keeps us mindful of how others are, in fact, better.  How often do we actually SEE one another in our totality as "better"?  Jesus did.  Even his disciples, as he took leave, were left with many gifts of his presence and poise in the center of the most traumatic situations one can imagine.  Jesus found ways to, directly and indirectly, relate to others for their relational responses, their connection to him and to his life's—and death's—ultimate meaning.

Text: I Samuel 3:1-18

“The word of the Lord was rare.”  The word of the Lord was rare when Samuel was a child.  This was a time of dry bones.  Eli had been Israel’s priest for many years.  Just before this passage, the author painted a picture of Eli’s sons’ unfaithfulness.  They, the priests, weren’t listening.  The people weren’t being offered God’s word.  In the I Samuel reading, Eli, who was rusty at listening to God, realizes at last (on God’s third try) that it is the Lord who is speaking to Samuel, and he tells Samuel how to respond.  In this passage, the mantle of God passes from Eli to Samuel when Samuel listens and responds faithfully.  The first message that God gives Samuel, immediately after this passage, is a word of rebuke to Eli and a prophecy of devastation to him and his family.  Samuel is afraid to speak the message.  What a challenging first message from God to have to deliver!   Rebuking and announcing devastation to your mentor and senior priest, when you are still a boy.  If I had been Samuel, I might have questioned whether this was the vocation I wanted.

March 26, 2017

Texts: Psalm 23  “Goodness And Mercy”
Samuel 16:1-13  “Anointing Of Young David; God Sees The Heart”
John 9: 1-41  “Jesus The Light Of The World; Healing Of The Blind Man”
Ephesians 5: 8-14  “Christians Now You Are Light”

MEMORY  TRUTH  COMMUNITY  SUFFERING  SOLIDARITY

I confess to feeling off balance since the election. Maybe you’ve felt uneasy too--out of control, transfixed by the news, outraged at the latest tweet; worried sick about our  immigrant friends and neighbors; attention distracted: captured by the  three-ring circus of Washington, by the pounding of the news cycle. The immediate is king. But at some level, we know better. Outraged, fascinated, obsessive attention does not get the world or my spirit to a better place.

“God’s solidarity with us.  And, God’s call to solidarity with one another”

“It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”  I spent most of my preparation, working on this material, for a long time, cursing the darkness, and then coming to a dead end.   Then my friend, David Hilfiker, asked me, “What’s your point?”  Then I realized, “I don’t have a point.”  I was “cursing darkness.”  

Then, one thing I did have was a quote from Karl Barth where he said, “When you’re doing your discipline of prayer, have your Bible in one hand and your newspaper in the other.”  I don’t know what people do today, if they read their news on their computer—keeping that nearby.  I thought that was good.  I got excited.

March 5, 2017

Texts: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
     Psalm 32
     Romans 5:12-19
     Matthew 4:1-11

Good morning. It’s a gift to be able to share with you all here on the first Sunday of Lent.

In reading and thinking about this week’s lectionary scriptures what stood out to me is the sheer extremeness of the stories and reflections. There is significant drama, deception, tragedy, and amazement in the story of the fall of man, in Jesus’ fasting and temptation, and Paul’s summary to the Romans of sin and grace.

This morning I will reflect on the physical and spiritual habitat described in these stories, what we can learn from that as we begin the season of Lent, and how this connects with our current times. Throughout this teaching I will refer to God as “God” and would like to say that to me that is an open name that can mean different things to different people. Please be free to replace the name in your mind with the name you might find closer describes who or what you think of as ‘God’ - The Life Force, Holy One, Great Spirit, etc.

February 26, 2017

A translation of this teaching into Spanish follows this English version

Good morning. I am pleased share with you all today and honored that my friends here accepted my invitation to help broaden, and make more visible, the message I will attempt to convey. I will seek to make my sharing somewhat brief, so that they might also direct a few words to us.

The Gospel reading of today places us on the cusp, on the transition point, between the epiphany and lent. It presents a scene of beauty, of grandeur and intimacy, and coming together in a profound way that unites the past with the present with the future, both within and beyond history.

February 19, 2017

Thank you all so much for inviting me to speak.  I know I am not a familiar face around here, but I consider myself an intentional advocate for social justice.  It requires more work for the justice to be intersectional and for all people.  I am not religious, but I do agree with the spiritual practices of service to mankind.  I can only speak of my experiences and hope that they will help and inspire someone else to speak their story.

Going through this Discipleship Year while being in one of the most forward-thinking places in the United States has opened up my eyes a lot.  I would like to start off with a quick story that will lead today's teaching titled “Who Am I Leaving Behind?”

February 12, 2017
Text: Matthew 5:21-37

Prayer of the Day:O God, strength of all who hope in you, because we are weak mortals, we accomplish nothing good without you. Help us to see and understand the things we ought to do and give us grace and power to do them, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

"If you wish to maintain love, you must maintain it in the infinitude of the debt….To love is to have incurred an infinite debt." (Kierkegaard, Works of Love, 186-7) This was written by Soren Kierkegaard, whom I consider one of the most profound Christian thinkers. He wrote this in his book Works of Love: a beautiful work on Christian ethics. We will keep Kierkegaard's insight in mind as we turn to our passage from Matthew.

This Gospel passage is harsh. Here Jesus teaches that if you call someone a "fool" then you are in danger of hell's fire.  If you look at a woman lustfully, you have already committed adultery.  He teaches that it is better to mutilate your body, throwing hand and eye into the fire, than burn in hell. He teaches that if you marry a divorced woman, you have committed adultery.  And if you take an oath, you are guilty of being in alliance with the devil.  This is part of Jesus' famous Sermon on the Mount; the sermon when he, like Moses, speaks to his followers and teaches us how to live.

February 5, 2017
Text: Matthew 5:1-20

I don't know whether to think of it as the Women's March of its day, or the Million Man March, or the March on Washington for Jobs and Justice, but there was some reason – some longing – that drove the multitudes under Roman occupation to be together on the hillside.  At this gathering, Jesus was the keynote speaker.

Of the many, Jesus named and blessed a particular subset.  He named and blessed the poor in spirit.  We can each only guess what he meant by that phrase, but to my thinking he was naming those who—under occupation—were depleted, exhausted, and without the inner resources for the demands of the day.  Do you know anyone like that today, who would gather with the masses for strength?  Then Jesus names those who mourn.  I've always thought of that identifier in a general way—anyone who is experiencing grief—but I am now thinking he may have been speaking specifically to those whose grief was tied to political oppression; someone, perhaps who has lost a loved one to police brutality, or lost a spouse to war, or had to give up a child to protective services.  Jesus continues, naming the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers in his descriptive blessing.

January 29, 2017
Text: 1 Corinthians 1:22-24

Some of you might remember Sophia Patrillo, the mother of Dorothy Spornaj on the TV show, Golden Girls.  She would begin a story with “picture this” and might say, “Italy, 1944” and then proceed with her story.  So, this morning -- picture this: today, 2017, you find yourself in a courtroom.  The defendant is accused of a crime for which the penalty is death.  You may or may not know the defendant, it really does not matter.  The verdict is in, the defendant is asked to rise and face the jury.  The verdict is read, “Guilty.”  In this case, the judge announces the sentence--death.  But you stand up.  You tell the judge that you will stand in the place of the defendant.  You accept the sentence of death on behalf of the defendant.  You are innocent of the crime; the defendant is, in fact, guilty.  This was not a case of circumstantial evidence; there is direct evidence of the defendant’s guilt.  Yet, you offer yourself up in place of the defendant.  A hush comes over the courtroom.  The people around you, they may or may not know you, look at you--incredulous.  What would make you do such a thing?  Why would someone who is clearly innocent of the crime accept the sentence of death for someone else?  They look at you and the question on everyone’s mind--to include the defendant--is the message this morning.