Kingdom of God

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

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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

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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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Losing the labels: A sermon on Mark 3:20-35

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Psalm 130
Mark 3:20-35

The worship video for this sermon can be found on YouTube.

It’s always a little strange when we jump into the middle of a gospel story, but this one, probably a less familiar story, seems particularly confusing. I mean, there are some quotable one-liners that we could likely quote or summarize, “a house divided against itself… will not be able to stand.” But Jesus being restrained by his family? Them thinking he’s out of his mind? An argument with religious officials about whether or not he’s in cahoots with the devil? 

How did things escalate so quickly? It’s only chapter 3!

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A Different Kind of Kin(g)dom: A sermon based on Mark 1:14-20

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Mark 1:14-20

I mentioned last week that of the gospels, John has taken me the longest to connect with. This week we find ourselves in Mark, though, and Mark has long been my favorite. Maybe gospels are like children and we’re not supposed to have favorites, but I guess do. (Have a favorite gospel, I mean, not a favorite child.)

Mark’s gospel has a fast pace to it. For the grammarians among us, there are a lot of sentence fragments that start with “And then…”. The versions of shared stories that appear in Mark are typically short and lack some of the editorial detail or theological explanation. And yet, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a theological thread through Mark; it just means we get to piece it together from the way the stories are told and how the whole book is put together. I love this responsibility that is given to us, the readers, disciples of Jesus, the body of Christ. 

The story we explore this Sunday, the beginning of Jesus’ Galilean ministry and the calling of his first disciples (Mark’s version), gives us a huge hint about Mark’s theology and ultimate message about who Jesus is, why he lived, died, and lives again, and what it means to be his followers, his disciples.

The worship video for this sermon is available here. (The sermon is really from Mark, not Matthew, no matter what I said when introducing the scripture.)

This is it – a Good Friday sermon from Mark 15:33-47

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Mark 15:33-47

When I was at the grocery store earlier today I overheard one customer say to another, HappyGoodFriday“Have a happy Good Friday,” and it, well, brought about mixed emotions in me, to say the least.  On the one hand, in a time when our culture is growing more and more secular I wanted to jump up and down excitedly and shout, “Yes! It is Good Friday!  Someone knows it!”  On the other hand – – happy Good Friday?  Really?  I’m not so sure that’s the exact emotion we’re going for here.  But I think I’ll stick with my first impulse – – gratitude for the recognition that this isn’t just another day, that something happened, something important and horrific and life-changing, earth shaking, and kingdom altering even. Something happened on that Friday in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, and it wasn’t good, and it most certainly wasn’t happy, but it was something that changed the world forever, changed the world for the better. Continue reading →