Sermons

February 23, 2014

Our suffering with God's presence in our lives creates personal growth and leads to our call

Romans 5: 3a-5: We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love in to our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom He has given us.

Matthew 5: 38-48: "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.  And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

February 16, 2014

Our Hebrew scripture for today includes that stirring command, “Choose life.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him.”

This is Moses speaking to the people of Israel, who are about to enter the Promised Land.  It’s a solemn altar call with heaven and earth as witness.

February 2, 2014

My teaching today will be the first in a series during which we will hear from a member of each of our current 8^th Day Mission Groups. I will define what we mean by Mission Groups in 8^th Day and at the Church of the Saviour and tell you about their structure and the way they operate. How the Call arises to start or join or join or explore a Mission. I’ll use my own Mission Group, the Family Support Mission Group to illustrate. Much of what I’ll say you can find on the 8^th Day website or in the Handbook for Mission Groups written by Gordon Cosby and Elizabeth O’Connor several decades ago.

January 19, 2014

Good morning everyone. It is wonderful to be here and worship together.

How shall I begin? Maybe with Howard Zinn’s premise. Howard Zinn, as many of you know, was a peace activist deeply opposed to the Vietnam War, and the author of such books as, The People's History of the United States, which focussed on the perspectives of Native Americans, African Americans, Trade Unionists and Feminists.

Howard Zinn writes this in another book entitled, You Can't Stay Neutral on a Moving Train:

 " I start from the supposition that...all we have to do is think about the state of the world today .. to realize that things are all upside down."  Zinn’s observation of the world’s “upside downness” might be applied to any age, don’t you think? The marginalized, poor and powerless people could always have told of what is drastically amiss in the world, if any were inclined to listen.  As did Jesus, himself. In the occupied Holy Land of Jesus’s day, his life, death, and resurrection all attest to the truth that “the world did not know him." (John 1:10).  Yes, a great deal was and is amiss in the world that God, nevertheless, has so loved.

Texts:
Isaíah:35 1-10
Matthew 11:2-11

Good morning. I feel privileged to be here before you all on this last Sunday before Christmas, as we await in quiet joyful expectancy of the coming of the birth of Jesus, Emanuel, of God who has come to dwell among us.

On this, the first day after the winter solstice, after six months of each day being shorter than the previous one, now the days begin to grow longer. Thus there is the juxtaposition of the earth spirituality traditions celebrating the return of the sun with Christian tradition of the coming of light into the darkness. And I do love how this comes together in the song of Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, where he declares, “because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring on high has visited us, to go give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of peace.”

[Espanol aqui] 

Readings:
Isaiah 35 1-10 
Mathew 11 2-11

Joy is the face of our positive feelings. It is the indicator that yes, positive changes are occurring in our life and in society. It is also the process of moving from suffering to peace, from slavery to freedom.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF ADVENT

Advent is the time of awaiting the birth of Jesus. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, this year on November 30^th, and ends on December 24^th. This tradition that goes back 2,000 years and served to help the faithful, who in their majority where dedicated to agriculture.

A RING OR WREATH decorated with evergreen and candles, was a symbol from northern Europe. Its circle is the universal symbol representing the uninterrupted cycle of the seasons of the year. THE EVERGREEN BRANCHES AND THE LIT CANDLES stand for the presence of life in the midst of the cold and dark winter.

December 1, 2013 - First Sunday of Advent

11/24/2013

I. Readings:

Colossians 1: 11-20   ^13-14 God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He’s set us up in the kingdom of the Son he loves so much, the Son who got us out of the pit we were in, got rid of the sins we were doomed to keep repeating.^15-18 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.