Down by the riverside I laid my burdens down and I'm travelin' light
Posted in Sermon Notes on Apr 17th, 2014
Series: Lord of Lent The Crucified King John 12:12-27; 19:16b-22, NRSV Reflections And when the story does turn the world upside down, or the order of nature anyway, by telling us that Jesus lives again, it isn’t suggesting that he didn’t really die, or that we won’t really die. The happy ending makes a promise […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Apr 13th, 2014
Series: Lord of Lent Trial Before Pilate, Part 2 John 19: 1-16a, NRSV Reflections I’ve often thought… that if I’d been a journalist in the Holy Land at the time of our Lord’s ministry, I should have spent my time looking into what was happening in Herod’s court. I’d be wanting to sign up Salome […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Apr 6th, 2014
Series: Lord of Lent Trial Before Pilate John 18: 28-40, NRSV Reflections Every call to worship is a call into the Real World…. I encounter such constant and widespread lying about reality each day and meet with such skilled and systematic distortion of the truth that I’m always in danger of losing my grip on […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Mar 30th, 2014
Series: Lord of Lent Arrest and Denial John 18: 12-27, NRSV Reflections Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality. A chastity or honesty or mercy which yields to danger will be chaste or honest only on […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Mar 21st, 2014
Series: Lord of Lent Kneeling Power, Kneeling Love: Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet John 13: 1-17, NRSV Reflections The horrified reaction of Peter … is the reaction of normal human nature. That the disciple should wash his master’s feet is normal and proper. But if the master becomes a menial slave to the disciple, then […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Mar 16th, 2014
Series: Lord of Lent Tears at the Tomb John 11: 17-44, NRSV Reflections To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Mar 7th, 2014
Understanding Jesus: He Gives Sight to the Blind John 9: 1-13; 18-41, NRSV Reflections “Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.” If it is “the Jews” whose actions illustrate this fact, it is only because they are the representatives of us all – as […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 28th, 2014
Understanding Jesus: Come To Me and Drink John 7: 37-52, NRSV Reflections We can’t be human without God. That’s what Christians believe. We believe that this human life is a great gift, that every part of it is designed by God and therefore means something, that every part of it is blessed by God and […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 21st, 2014
Understanding Jesus: Sustenance for our Soul John 6: 35-59, NRSV Reflections We never seem to be satisfied with what we possess or achieve; we are restless and crave what is novel. As Plato puts it, we are like leaky vessels. It is as though we were containers into which we keep pouring things, but we […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 13th, 2014
Trusting Jesus: The Development of Faith John 4:46-54, NRSV Reflections The setting in which this is happening to this man is a setting of suffering. The reason this man is willing to believe and able to believe and moving toward Jesus is because tremendous suffering has come into his life. What would possess a man […]
Traveling Light Relay
Down by the riverside I laid my burdens down and I'm travelin' light