Sermon: “A Biblical Case of Affluenza”, 2 Samuel 7:1-17 (October 20,2024)

For many celebrities, one of the first things they do when they become famous is to buy a new house for their parents.[1] It’s a way to say “thank you” for the support they’ve received over the years, especially if they struggled for a while before making it big. Some, like Chris Hemsworth and Margot Robbie, pay off the mortgage for the house that their parents already own, while others, like Pete Davidson and Justin Bieber, gift their parents an entirely new home.

Others, however, don’t just buy houses for their parents; they buy mansions. Celebrities like Beyonce, Rihanna, and Leonardo DiCaprio each spent multiple millions of dollars to buy new living spaces for their parents. Obviously, these celebs can afford such lavish gifts, and there’s no reason to begrudge them their success, but it certainly puts their prosperity on obvious display, doesn’t it? And regardless of their actual intentions, it makes it absolutely clear to everyone who the family breadwinner is.

Liturgy: 2 Samuel 7:1-17 (October 20, 2024)

     *You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*

Hymns

Hymn GTG #404, “What Is This Place?”
Hymn GTG #60, “Your Endless Love, Your Mighty Acts” (verses 1, 2, & 5)

Hymn GTG #475, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”

Sermon: “For the Briefest of Moments…”, 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 6:1-5 (October 22, 2023)

Now that we’re over halfway through the First Testament in this cycle of the Narrative Lectionary, it’s worth remembering where we’ve come from before we find out where we’re going next. We began this Lectionary Year with the second creation story in Genesis, considering what was dysfunctional about the relationship between Adam and Eve. Then, we skipped ahead to Abraham and Sarah’s communication problems, which were uncovered when they learned that they would have a son despite their age. Next, we spent a week with their grandson, Jacob, who would apparently prefer to wrestle with a stranger than have a conversation with him. After that, we picked up the story many years later with Moses and his excuses about why he shouldn’t have to free God’s people. We fast-forwarded past the plagues, the Exodus, and the Israelites wandering in the desert, and then we heard part of Moses’ final speech to the Hebrews, where he begged them to pretty please remember that there’s only one God and that it’s SO IMPORTANT to follow God’s commandments (spoiler alert: it doesn’t work). And finally, we spent last week with Ruth and Naomi in the time of the Judges, after the Israelites had settled into their new home and, as scripture puts it, “there was no king in Israel, [so] people did whatever they felt like doing.”[1]

Phew. That’s a lot of ground to cover in six weeks. Looking at the history of God’s people from a bird’s eye view like this, a theme begins to emerge – it turns out that human beings are really bad at living together. We just keep messing it up. Despite our best intentions and God’s best efforts, human beings are forgetful, selfish, combative, and divisive.

Liturgy: David Anointed King, 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 6:1-5 (October 22, 2023)

*You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*

Hymns:

Hymn GTG #37, “Let All Things Now Living”

Hymn GTG #74, “When God Restored Our Common Life”
Hymn GTG #769, “For Everyone Born” (verses 1, 2, 3, & 5)

Liturgy: David and Bathsheba - 1 Samuel 11:14-17, 26-27, 12:1-9 (October 23, 2022)

*You are welcome to use or adapt any of my resources for free, but I ask that you provide proper citation AND comment on this post to let me know.*

Call to Worship

Leader: Rejoice in the one who hears our cries!
People: Who offers forgiveness for our wrongdoing and answers our prayers!

Sermon: "THOSE PEOPLE", Psalm 26/Mark 2:13-17 (October 3, 2021)

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Generally speaking, I don’t like to preach from the psalms. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like *them*; on the contrary, I think they’re a wonderful collection of writings that represent the human side of the divine/mortal relationship very well. But that’s exactly the problem: I love turning to the psalms for empathy and solidarity in my personal faith life, but when it comes to community worship, preaching from the psalms feels like centering the message on humanity instead of God. Preaching from the psalms feels self-indulgent.