Sermon: "I Don't Know", Daniel 12:5-13 (September 1, 2024)

Well, we’ve been working our way through the book of Daniel over the past month, and today we finally arrive at the last chapter. Since Deanna preached for me last week, I’ve actually had two weeks to sit with this passage, reflecting on everything else that’s come before it and how it all fits together. I’ve reread my sermons, listened to Deanna’s, and carefully studied the chapters that we skipped over. And now, thanks to all that, I can confidently tell you that I’ve got nothing.

I just don’t know.

Liturgy: 15th Sunday After Pentecost, Daniel 12 (September 1, 2024)

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Hymns

Hymn GTG #305, “Come Sing, O Church, in Joy!”
Hymn GTG #687, “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past”

Sermon: “Momentary Saints”, 1 Samuel 3:1-10/Revelation 21:1-6 (November 7, 2021)

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In Christian circles, we talk about “God’s kindom” or “the kindom of heaven” all the time, but we tend to have a limited understanding of what it is, precisely, that we’re talking about. We know it’s really, really good, that it’s “already and not yet” here (whatever that means), and that it will mark Christ’s return. Other than that, we’re pretty clueless.

That’s where apocalyptic literature like Revelation comes in handy. Hopefully, you remember that, theologically speaking, an apocalypse isn’t actually defined as a catastrophic event. Our English word is derived from a Greek verb meaning “to uncover or reveal”. And in the context of scripture, apocalyptic literature refers to writings that uncover or reveal God’s kindom to us.

Sermon: “An Apocalypse of the Non-Zombie Variety”, Luke 6:27-38/1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50 (February 24, 2019)

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Although most, if not all, of us are familiar with the term “apocalypse”, I would venture to guess that fewer of us actually know what it means. Many people assume that “apocalypse” means “end of the world”, and it usually has a pretty violent, catastrophic connotation. While a part of this understanding comes from the apocalyptic literature in our own tradition (like the books of Revelation and Daniel, for example), I’d argue that we have Hollywood to thank for the vast majority of what we think we know about apocalypses. We’ve been particularly informed by the “Zombie Apocalypse” genre of film and television.