The Armor of God: A sermon based on Joshua 24: 1-2a, 14-18 and Ephesians 6:10-20

Here’s a link to the worship video of this sermon which is also embedded at the bottom of the post.

Joshua 24: 1-2a, 14-18
Ephesians 6:10-20

And that building – it isn’t even half as old as our texts.

As some of you know, I spent almost 2 weeks in Scotland earlier this month.  I spent some of my time exploring the city of Glasgow, but for most of my trip I was a guest of the Iona Community at the 13th century abbey where they live in community and offer programming for pilgrims, learners, and visitors. Every morning and every evening in the sanctuary of that abbey I found myself in complete awe of the continuity of our faith – of the generations upon generations those stone walls had held, of the songs they had heard song, the prayers that were held in their crevices, the words of scripture that had echoed across their surfaces. It was breathtaking and centering and unifying every time we gathered, to be a part of something so ancient and so contemporary all at the same time.

It’s kind of amazing when you stop to think about it, that these words that we read on a Sunday morning (and hopefully more often than that!) have been read or heard for as long as the they have – a little less than 2,000 years for the text from Ephesians, at leas 2,600 years for the current form of Joshua. And still we turn to them.  Still we read them.  Still we question them. Still we listen for what God is saying to the church today through them.

That’s the good news about really old Scriptures.

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Faith in the storm: A sermon based on Mark 4:35-41 and Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32

Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32
Mark 4:35-41

A few weeks ago in our weekly e-mail that goes out on Thursday afternoons I set up a framework for thinking about the three stories in Mark’s gospel that we have covered beginning on June 9. It hasn’t really been a series in the “5 keys to faithful relationships” kind of way, but together these three stories, and therefore these three sermons have offered us ways to consider reactions to the news that in Jesus the kingdom (or kindom) of God is near. 

As we looked at the story of Jesus being hunted down by religious scribes who wanted to destroy him, of the way his own family thought he was out of his mind, the question before us, in response to *that* kind of kindom was “What if I don’t like the disruption it causes?”

When next we turned to parables about seeds hidden in the ground or too small to be significant we considered of the kindom of God, “What if I can’t see it?”

And two and a half or three weeks ago when I was thinking about the story for today, I was wondering about the disciples’ worry that Jesus didn’t care about the storm and their lack of faith, and I thought maybe they were doubting the kindom with a question along the lines of “What if it isn’t strong enough?”

But… well… best laid plans. As Pastor Michelle pointed out a few weeks ago, sometimes the sermon we thought we were going to preach on Monday or Tuesday when we pick hymns and write prayers isn’t the sermon we end up with when we write on Thursday or Friday (or Saturday or Sunday morning).

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Seeds of Mystery: A sermon based on Mark 4:26-34 and Ezekiel 17:22-24

Ezekiel 17:22-24
Mark 4:26-34

A few weeks ago, when we were still in the Easter season and reading from Jesus’ teaching in John about the vine and branches, I mentioned the advice given by a preaching professor that a sermon should not chase down a horticultural rabbit hole. I wasn’t too tempted that last time because I admittedly don’t know much of anything about growing vines. This week, as we hear the parable about a growing seed, I’m sort of tempted to fall down that hole, because my 3rd grade Brevard County Science Fair award winning project was titled “Are cotyledons necessary for the growth of baby bean plants?” The early growth of a seed is right up my alley. Or it was… at a 3rd grade level… close to 40 years ago.

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Who do you say that I am?

Mark 8:22-9:8

I wonder if Jesus would be the kind of person who googles himself. I mean, if this story lmgtfywere taking place today, of course. I mean, instead of asking his disciples, “Who do the people say that I am?” I wonder if today he would have just popped open his laptop, pulled up a browser, and typed his name in the search bar to see what showed up, to see who the people say that he is.

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We have work to do – a sermon for the funeral of Linda Williams, Micah 6:1-8, Mark 11:15-19

Micah 6:1-8
OI1575133924_apictureofLindaWilliamsPortraitjpegMark 11:15-19

 

Yesterday morning in worship, when I gathered with the children of the church on these front steps of the sanctuary, I asked them how they thought it feels not to know if there is enough food in the house to feed the family.  We were dedicating the non-perishable food collected by our congregation and donated to the Salvation Army for families that need assistance, and I wanted to engage them in what these donations would mean to the people who received them. The children offered beautifully empathetic answers – sad, worried, confused, scared. It went about how I thought it would go. Right up until one of our fourth graders declared, “Angry!”

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This One Thing – A confirmation sermon on Romans 8:18-39

Romans 8:18-39

Even though I don’t have my own yet, I have spent enough time with teenagers to know that the concept of fairness is pretty important to them.  Who am I kidding?  It isn’t because I spend time with teenagers that I know this; it’s because I was one.  And it’s because even just thinking about my years as a middle schooler brings my desire for fairness flooding back to mind.  I can remember the day of the huge algebra test that the fire alarm went off in third period.  The kids who had algebra third period got to delay their test after they already started it and had seen all the questions.  Only I had orchestra in third period not algebra.  Those of us who had algebra at any other time in the day still had to take the 3271430123_7380e85c9etest just like it was a normal day.  It wasn’t far at all!!!  Oh yeah, I remember that desire for fairness!

I also remember the typically adult answer the teacher gave.  The same answer my mom used to give when my sister and I would bicker over who had more chores to do, the same answer I give now when something stirs up that desire for fairness in my own children – – “Life’s not fair.”  Ugh.  Even though we know it’s true, both when we hear that answer and when we give it, it is just a hard statement to swallow

Life’s not fair.

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