Sermons

July13, 2014

Scriptures:
Matthew 13:1-9
Romans 8:1-4

My sermon title today is “Learning about God.” My texts are:
Matthew 13:9:  “Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen.”
Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

This sermon is a follow up to David Hilfiker’s teaching last Sunday, and continues the conversation about racial reconciliation and healing. In this sermon I will be weaving together three themes, moving back and forth instead of in a straight line. My first theme is illustrated by a small child who speaks a yearning perhaps all of us feel, the yearning for concreteness in learning about God. My second theme is the accessibility of concreteness in learning and thinking about God as distinct from abstraction if we only look and listen for it. My third theme is the challenge of anti-racism as perhaps a call to 8^th Day.  Remember I am not following a straight line from one theme to another but weaving them together.

July 6, 2014

Acts 10:28-35
Col 3:11-16

The inclusion of all people within the worshiping community is a recurring theme in the New Testament.  “Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” (Col 3:11)   Jesus goes to Samaria; Peter baptizes the gentile Cornelius; slaves and nobles attend the same churches; and so on.  Today, we say, “Well, of course, everyone is welcome.”  We may forget that inclusion was a huge issue in the early church, and they faced it, actively and purposively.  All divisions disappear in the New Creation of being one body in Jesus.

That remains our vision here at Eighth Day: living, loving and serving Jesus as one body in a world that—like the Roman Empire—acts on the basis of division, inequality and violence.

This morning I want to reflect upon how we in this community have been talking with each other about racism.  Some of us have participated in the Damascus Road anti-racism training program, exploring the nature of prejudice, racism, white privilege and so on that are so firmly embedded in our American culture … and within each of us individually.  I’ve learned a lot.  As most of you know, I worked for 25 years in the black community here in Washington, but in Damascus Road I listened for the first time to the profound pain and alienation that most African Americans feel just living in white America.  It’s not just economically poor African Americans; it’s the experience of being black in a white culture.  I learned to believe the stories that my African-American friends tell me about their experiences of racism instead of dismissing them as exaggerations.  I’ve learned to identify myself as a “racist” but also as much more than a racist.  For me perhaps the greatest lesson has been how to work together with African-American friends against racism without paternalism or guilt.

June 29, 2014

Good morning. Thank you for having me back.

I imagine it won’t be a surprise to many of you that I’m going to talk about the changes unfolding in the life of Friends of Jesus Church, one of yourChurch of the Saviour siblings.It’s timely that I bringthe teachingat this moment, because just over two weeks ago, the Thursday after Pentecost, our church had its Commitment/Recommitment liturgy. During that service, six folks who have been involved in Friends of Jesus under the traditional Church of the Saviour practices were joined by four new members, who were coming into membership under our New Foundations practices. The ten of us joined together in claiming our belonging to this specific and unique part of the Body of Christ, agreeing to belong to each other for the year ahead.It was a very important time for our community, and many felt the presence of the Holy Spirit with us that evening.

June 8, 2014

Good morning 8^th Day Faith Community. Today, my teaching is on “Pentecost: Transformation in the Spirit.” I will be using the story of Pentecost to talk about the changes that I see 8^th Day going through at this point in our history. This is also Recommitment/Commitment Sunday. In the tradition of C of S, we do not become a member for life, but rather recommit as we are called on a yearly basis. At the end of my teaching, I will share my reason for wanting to recommit to membership in this community. After I speak, I would like some of you who feel led to share why you are joining or rejoining as a Covenant, Intern, or Community Member.

At the beginning of Lent, Marcia preached about the passage in which Jesus is explaining to Nicodemus how one must be “born again.” Jesus says, “unless one has been born over again one cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus is clearly mystified by this idea. Jesus is saying to Nicodemus, that he must see things in an entirely new way. I believe this requirement to be born again applies, not only to individuals, but to communities.

June 1, 2014 Sunday of the Ascension

Today we celebrate Sunday of the Ascension, when Jesus 40 days after rising from the dead, is lifted up to heaven and leaves his disciples  He gathers them in Mt. Olivet for the last time and one big question they ask him is: Is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?

This was also a big question in the early Christian communities who were mostly Jews—the hope for the restoration of the kingdom of David.  Filled with visions of power against the Roman empire that ruled over them, they ask: “Is this the moment? The time?”

But Jesus changes the topic.

Acts 7:55-60

I have been mulling over this story of the first recorded martyrdom—the stoning of Stephen—and wondering why it tugs at me so strongly. It most definitely is not the romantic lure of dying for the faith. Ihave more of the disposition of one who might bake cupcakes for the faith or send a letter for the faith…but boldly stand preaching in the public square, challenging my neighbors’ ideas about Jesus to the point of being killed? Um, no, that would be quite unlikely. But for all I know, it was unlikely for Stephen too.

What yields this kind of passion? We don’t know too much about Stephen other than he was one of the first seven deacons of the church,calledtohelp oversee food distribution to the Greek widows, whom some thought were being discriminated against in the early church—things weren’t automatically perfect even then, you know. He is identified as “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” Of course, all of them had received the recent outpouring of the Holy Spirit, like the rush of a mighty wind with tongues of flame resting on each one. It was undoubtedly a raucous time, with thousands more joining them every few days,as they were stretched and propelled beyond their comfort zones in many areas of life.

May 18, 2014

We don't have a written copy of Mike's teaching but here, for immediate listening and download, is an audio version.

Acts 2:14a, 36-41

But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified."Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?"Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him." And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation."So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added.

March 16, 2014

Scripture:
Genesis 12:1-4a
John 3:1-17

This is the second Sunday in Lent, a time in the church year when we move through the story of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem and his eventual death. This morning we start a series of Lenten teachings using the theme of the passion and promise of Jesus as it plays out in our lectionary scriptures. In coming weeks, we will hear from Jay Forth, Christian Peale, Fred Taylor, Patty Wudel on Palm Sunday and Joseph Deck on Easter.

March 2, 2014,

Exodus 24:12-18:
24:12 The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction."
24:13 So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God.
24:14 To the elders he had said, "Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them."
24:15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
24:16 The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud.
24:17 Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.
24:18 Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.