Toward Holy Wholeness
February 05, 2012
Texts: Isaiah 40:21-31; Mark 1:29-39
Ever have one of those days that just seemed to go on forever? Looks like Jesus had one like that - today’s Gospel passage is a direct continuation from last week’s so let’s review that background - in last week’s passage, Jesus and the disciples had come to Capernaum, a town that would serve as a base for much of their ministry, and when the Sabbath came, they went to the synagogue, where Jesus drove a demon out of a man. And word spread of that healing. And then we come to today’s passage - as soon as they left the synagogue, they went to the home of Simon Peter, where they found his mother-in-law ill with a fever. It’s still the same day - the sabbath - and Jesus meets the woman and lifts her up, and she returns to her usual work of caring for the family and providing hospitality.
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Ever have one of those days that just seemed to go on forever? Looks like Jesus had one like that - today’s Gospel passage is a direct continuation from last week’s so let’s review that background - in last week’s passage, Jesus and the disciples had come to Capernaum, a town that would serve as a base for much of their ministry, and when the Sabbath came, they went to the synagogue, where Jesus drove a demon out of a man. And word spread of that healing. And then we come to today’s passage - as soon as they left the synagogue, they went to the home of Simon Peter, where they found his mother-in-law ill with a fever. It’s still the same day - the sabbath - and Jesus meets the woman and lifts her up, and she returns to her usual work of caring for the family and providing hospitality.
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On a Mission
January 29, 2012
Texts: Psalm 111, Mark 1:21-28
Many of us read the opening line to Snoopy’s novel, again and again through the years we read the Peanuts comic strip. And we remember some other famous opening lines, whether from fiction or oratory:
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It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly a shot rang out! Many of us read the opening line to Snoopy’s novel, again and again through the years we read the Peanuts comic strip. And we remember some other famous opening lines, whether from fiction or oratory:
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Called to Living
January 22, 2012
Texts: Psalm 62, Mark 1:14-20
We’ve all heard the question, and many of us have asked the question: What do you want to be when you grow up? And most of us have probably answered this question in many different ways through the years. I was going to be a doctor all through grade school - that came to a screeching halt when I found out that although I liked math and science, they didn’t come easily to me. Then when I was a teenager, it became clear to all of us that I had some real gifts at arguing, so the practice of law looked like a good fit. I developed a strong faith in high school and early in college began to have a sense of call to ministry - but even so didn’t begin seminary until I was 38.
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We’ve all heard the question, and many of us have asked the question: What do you want to be when you grow up? And most of us have probably answered this question in many different ways through the years. I was going to be a doctor all through grade school - that came to a screeching halt when I found out that although I liked math and science, they didn’t come easily to me. Then when I was a teenager, it became clear to all of us that I had some real gifts at arguing, so the practice of law looked like a good fit. I developed a strong faith in high school and early in college began to have a sense of call to ministry - but even so didn’t begin seminary until I was 38.
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Looking Both Ways
January 15, 2012
Texts: John 1:43-51, 1 Samuel 3:1-20
The month of January takes its name from the Roman god Janus, who is the god of beginnings and transitions. He is depicted as having a head with two faces - one facing into the future, one looking back at the past, and so was the god of transitions of all sorts - from season to season, from youth to adulthood, from one understanding to another, from life to death.
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The month of January takes its name from the Roman god Janus, who is the god of beginnings and transitions. He is depicted as having a head with two faces - one facing into the future, one looking back at the past, and so was the god of transitions of all sorts - from season to season, from youth to adulthood, from one understanding to another, from life to death.
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Living Wet
January 08, 2012
Texts: Mark 1:4-11, Isaiah 55:1-13
In 1984, Robert Duvall won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in the 1983 film, Tender Mercies, one of my favorite movies. He played Mac Sledge, a country singer who had drunk himself out of a career and a marriage before the movie begins. The film concerns his redemption and new life, which come as he builds a relationship with a younger widowed mother, Rosa Lee, played by Tess Harper. At one point, Rosa Lee’s son, called Sonny, and Mack both decide to get baptized, and as they drive home after church, Sonny asks Mack, “You feel any different?”
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In 1984, Robert Duvall won an Oscar for Best Actor for his role in the 1983 film, Tender Mercies, one of my favorite movies. He played Mac Sledge, a country singer who had drunk himself out of a career and a marriage before the movie begins. The film concerns his redemption and new life, which come as he builds a relationship with a younger widowed mother, Rosa Lee, played by Tess Harper. At one point, Rosa Lee’s son, called Sonny, and Mack both decide to get baptized, and as they drive home after church, Sonny asks Mack, “You feel any different?”
Continue...
Ages and Stages
January 01, 2012
Texts: Ecclesiastes 3:1-13; Luke 2:21-40
Ten days ago when we were preparing the bulletins for printing, in the midst of planning for the five Christmas season services (starting with the Longest Night Service), of which this service is the fifth, I thought I’d be preaching about New Year’s Resolutions, and so I titled the sermon “Be It Resolved.” But one of my intentions for the New Year is to work more on my preaching –and one of the things that I know about preaching is that developing the sermon often involves letting go of some ideas. After three days of trying to mesh the direction that I found myself led to preach with the title I had previously chosen, I finally realized that I was working with the wrong title. So this sermon is titled “Ages and Stages” – and it really isn’t about New Year’s resolutions, but about processes that take place over our whole lives.
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Ten days ago when we were preparing the bulletins for printing, in the midst of planning for the five Christmas season services (starting with the Longest Night Service), of which this service is the fifth, I thought I’d be preaching about New Year’s Resolutions, and so I titled the sermon “Be It Resolved.” But one of my intentions for the New Year is to work more on my preaching –and one of the things that I know about preaching is that developing the sermon often involves letting go of some ideas. After three days of trying to mesh the direction that I found myself led to preach with the title I had previously chosen, I finally realized that I was working with the wrong title. So this sermon is titled “Ages and Stages” – and it really isn’t about New Year’s resolutions, but about processes that take place over our whole lives.
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A Cosmic Christmas
December 25, 2011
Texts: Psalm 98, John 1:1-14
The assigned Christmas day lectionary readings are so different than the familiar Christmas Eve readings – we often tend to think of “the Christmas story” as a single narrative – involving Mary, Joseph, the Angel Gabriel, the census, Bethlehem, shepherds, a lonely stable, the star, and eventually the three wise men. But as some of you already know, that story doesn’t appear in any of the Gospels – that story is a combination of the two very different stories that appear in two of the Gospels: Luke describing Mary’s experience with the Angel Gabriel, the manger, the census, Bethlehem and the shepherds. Matthew tells the experience of Mary, but mostly Joseph, an unnamed angel, Bethlehem, the star and an unspecified number of wise men. Mark’s Gospel begins with Jesus as an adult, and John’s Gospel, which we read today, is a more poetic rendering of the coming of Jesus – told from a cosmic perspective rather than the individual or family experience.
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The assigned Christmas day lectionary readings are so different than the familiar Christmas Eve readings – we often tend to think of “the Christmas story” as a single narrative – involving Mary, Joseph, the Angel Gabriel, the census, Bethlehem, shepherds, a lonely stable, the star, and eventually the three wise men. But as some of you already know, that story doesn’t appear in any of the Gospels – that story is a combination of the two very different stories that appear in two of the Gospels: Luke describing Mary’s experience with the Angel Gabriel, the manger, the census, Bethlehem and the shepherds. Matthew tells the experience of Mary, but mostly Joseph, an unnamed angel, Bethlehem, the star and an unspecified number of wise men. Mark’s Gospel begins with Jesus as an adult, and John’s Gospel, which we read today, is a more poetic rendering of the coming of Jesus – told from a cosmic perspective rather than the individual or family experience.
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Birth of a Vulnerable God
December 24, 2011
Texts: Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 2:1-20
For much of history, the most important attribute of what we think about a god was power – indeed often it’s the first thing people will say in describing God: all powerful. Never mind that such a portrayal is at odds with the Biblical picture of God, it’s what we want to see in a God. We like the picture of an omnipotent, impassive God – sort of a Divine Clint Eastwood. But as I said, such a portrait is at odds with the Biblical account of a God who is deeply touched by human concerns, and whose power – whether by God’s own choice or not – is limited in favor of human freedom.
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For much of history, the most important attribute of what we think about a god was power – indeed often it’s the first thing people will say in describing God: all powerful. Never mind that such a portrayal is at odds with the Biblical picture of God, it’s what we want to see in a God. We like the picture of an omnipotent, impassive God – sort of a Divine Clint Eastwood. But as I said, such a portrait is at odds with the Biblical account of a God who is deeply touched by human concerns, and whose power – whether by God’s own choice or not – is limited in favor of human freedom.
Continue...