Sermon
Sunday Worship, March 21, 2021
Unless You Become
the kingdom of God
as a little child will never enter it.”
If Jesus taught and did so many things the religious elite didn't expect, why are we surprised when he invites us to do what we may have never expected?
Rather than being a hindrance to Jesus' work, Jesus elevates the heart of a child as essential to entering the kingdom of God.
Jesus took the children up in his arms, laid his hand upon them, and blessed them, and he longs to do the same for us.
Sunday Worship, March 14, 2021
Lord of the Sabbath, Lord of Life
for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath;
so the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
I would rather know the ways of life than avoiding death, the ways of heaven than the way away from hell.
I would rather live entranced by God’s love drawing me toward him than to spend my life running from evil.
I would rather live each day following Jesus than hiding from the sins of my past.
The good news is that this is the life to which Jesus calls us, a life paid for on the cross, a life we are to share with others
By declaring himself as the lord of the Sabbath, Jesus offers an invitation to life, rather than a burden to bear.
Sunday Worship, March 7, 2021
New Life
otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,
and the wine is lost, and so are the skins;
instead one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”
God’s grace leads us to new life, not just a better life. Rather than recreating the past, Jesus calls for us to live fully in the present, looking forward to God's future.
May we be like new wineskins, receiving God’s mercies that are fresh every morning.
Sunday Worship, February 28, 2021
Expectations
not the righteous but sinners.”
It helps to know what you’re looking for if you want to find it. As we search, wrong expectations often mislead us.
If we want to know the reality of God’s love, presence, and power in our lives, we must look past our expectations of Jesus to see who he truly is.
Sunday Worship, February 21, 2021
Dare to Live Faith
“We have never seen anything like this!”
Often, the very things we think are interruptions are exactly where God is at work. All too often we expect God to do things the way we think he should, and if we do we can easily mistake God's purposes and presence as an interruption rather than the whole point.
In today's scripture Jesus' preaching is interrupted, but the interruption reveals Jesus as the Son of God.
Sunday Worship, February 14, 2021
Jesus Chooses
Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him,
and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!”
The many choices we make every day, both big and small, reveal what is most important to us. A man with leprosy says to Jesus, "If you choose, you can make me clean." Jesus chooses to do something others were afraid to do, he reaches out and touches this man others regarded as untouchable and heals him.
Jesus' choice to touch an unclean outcast reveals a powerful truth about the value God places on those in need, people regarded as unclean, and humility.
May we receive this grace for ourselves and generously share it with others - particularly those others avoid.
Sunday Worship, February 7, 2021
Into the Quiet
Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place,
and there he prayed.
We live in the midst of a busy and chaotic world with never ceasing demands for our attention and efforts. Faced with demands and expectations, Jesus found a quiet place and prayed. May we do likewise.
Sunday Worship, January 31, 2021
Divine Interruptions
“What is this? A new teaching—with authority!
He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
We all miss gathering together, hugs, and the fellowship of those we love. We all long to return to the way thing were, and there much of eternal value to that, but God never leads anyone back to the way things once were. Instead, God’s purposes and path fully embrace the present while leading toward what is yet to be.
Sunday Worship, January 24, 2021
Faith on the Edge
“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
The call of Jesus, by its very nature, takes us far beyond what we can do on our own, so God can accomplish, in and through us, what only God can do.
Sunday Worship, January 17, 2021
Bigger and Better
you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending
and descending upon the Son of Man.”
Philip and Nathanael recognized Jesus as the Messiah and had high expectations for him. What they did not expect was that God had big and better plans for them. And, if we dare, for us too.
