Sermon: "Unlikely Companions (Third in a Series on “Hitchhiking with Jesus”: Who Do We Travel With?)", Matthew 15:21-28 (March 19, 2017)

3/19/17

Sermon video here.

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Picture this: the world is in crisis, a bad guy has the upper hand, and the powers that be have tried everything they can think of to fix the situation. But nothing’s worked. All resources have been used, all heroes have been sent, and now there’s nothing left to do but wait for death and destruction to rain down upon the world.

But wait a minute; what about that rag-tag bunch of misfits? You know, the ones that nobody believes in and might not even get along with each other, but are the only ones left willing to fight the good fight? What if…what if we sent THEM?

Ashes to Ashes

I love Lent.

It's the most visceral of the liturgical seasons; the one I most readily feel in my bones. I love how I have the opportunity to connect with Christ on every level of my being--mind, body, and spirit--through the study, ritual, and reflection that characterizes Lent. There's something about Lent that forces me to STOP and BE and FEEL and UNDERSTAND that the craziness of secular Christmas and the busyness of Advent don't allow.

This is also why I make sure that our services involve some participatory ritual as often as possible.

This year for our Ash Wednesday worship service, we reflected on

where are you divided?

and

where are you being killed?