Monday, March 12, 2018

A Sign Unto You--Lent 2018

So.

Lent again.

As always, I put a lot of thought into what sort of Lenten practice I should encourage our congregation to undertake together. This year, our Lenten sermon series is "A Sign Unto You", and we're examining the symbols of our faith and how they help or hinder our ability to see Jesus. We're specifically addressing the cross, the (baptismal) font, the (communion) table, and the bible, plus a week on idols and, of course, Palm Sunday.

Symbols are kind of my wheelhouse, so I wanted to make sure that we connected beyond just an intellectual engagement with them.

On Ash Wednesday, we took four large cloths (two yards of fabric each--thanks, Joann's!) with a question written on each:

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Sermon: "A Sign Unto You: The Cross", Numbers 21:4-9/John 3:14-16/Mark 8:31-38 (February 18, 2018)

2/18/18

Sermon video here.

(This sermon was the first in our Lenten sermon series, "A Sign Unto You", where we'll be talking about the prominent symbols of our faith and how they help--or hinder--our ability to see Christ.)



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Here we are again at the beginning of Lent. Purple paraments, repentant reflection, and a new sermon series: a sign unto you. Over the next six weeks, we’ll be looking more closely at the signs and symbols of our faith, considering together how they help or hinder our ability to see Christ. It’s so easy to embrace symbols without putting a lot of thought into what they really stand for, isn’t it? It’s one thing when the symbols are just literary metaphors in high school English class (does anyone actually remember what Moby Dick was supposed to be about, anyway?) but when they inform our faith—the lens through which we understand the world around us—it becomes a lot more important to pay attention.

Monday, January 29, 2018

Sermon: "A Prophet Like You", Deuteronomy 18:15-20/Acts 2 (January 28, 2018)

1/28/18

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One of the gifts of the Revised Common Lectionary is that it draws our attention to things that we might not think about otherwise. For example, the last two weeks’ readings have shown us that prophets aren’t all cut from the same cloth: Samuel was earnest in his desire to serve God beginning in his childhood, while Jonah threw prophetic temper tantrums. Then this week, we get this informative flashback in Deuteronomy that provides helpful insight as to why God gave prophets to the Hebrew people in the first place. While we do tend to talk about prophecies often enough—especially around Advent—it’s less common to talk about the mechanics, characteristics, and criteria of prophet-dom. So I’m really glad to have this opportunity to dig into it, especially given a recent conversation I had. 

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Sermon: "It's Time to Trust", Genesis 22:2-3, 9-14/Luke 1:26-35, 38/Matthew 26:36-44 (December 24, 2017)

12/24/17--Sixth in an Advent Series, "It's Time..."


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A man of many years is trudging up a hill, back bent nearly in two with the effort. He’s never been the athletic type, but now, at well over 100 years of age, after a morning of splitting wood through his tears, he finds himself making a trek that he very much does not want to make. A quiet man, he learned long ago that asking questions rarely produces answers that he wants or understands, and yet he has so many. Why, after having to abandon his firstborn son, his Ishmael, should he have to lose his beloved Isaac too, son of his very heart? And by his own hand? He wipes the sweat from his brow. What could this possibly accomplish? What kind of God could ask such a thing? And what will he tell his wife, with whom he’s already been through so much?

Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Jumping into the Fray

On the radio today, I heard a DJ getting sassy because, from his point of view, saying "Happy Holidays" is TECHNICALLY accurate since Christmas is a holiday, but why wouldn't we say "Merry Christmas" since everybody knows we're celebrating Jesus' birthday?

Therefore, I give to you: some reasons to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas", from a Christian clergyperson to other Christians, especially the ones who are upset about this:

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Sermon: "It's Time to Wise Up", 1 Kings 3:5-14/Proverbs 8:22-26, 30-31/James 1:5-8 (November 12, 2017)

11/12/17

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Wisdom is a slippery topic. It’s one of those things we think we understand, but if we were asked to define it, most of us would stammer until we came up with an unsatisfying answer. When I asked some pastor friends this week for a definition off the top of their heads, most offered many examples of what wisdom looks like, or factors that contribute to wisdom; very few were able to tell me what it IS. And yet, it’s crucial to our understanding of God and our calling as Christians. There are 180 mentions of the word “wisdom” in the Common English Version OF THE OLD TESTAMENT ALONE. Wisdom literature is its own genre in the Bible. Wisdom is even personified in the book of Proverbs. But it still remains an elusive concept.

Monday, October 16, 2017

What You Should Know About "Me Too"

Let me begin this post by saying that some may feel that it's inappropriate. I'll reiterate that this thoughts and ideas on this blog belong to me alone (except for my sermons--I hope that at least a part of those come from God, too) and that I thought long and hard before deciding to post this. Hopefully, it will be helpful to someone, and for those of you who are made uncomfortable by it, hopefully you can understand why it was important for me to say.