Down by the riverside I laid my burdens down and I'm travelin' light
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 7th, 2014
Realizing the Life of Jesus Genesis 1:26-27, NRSV Reflections If we fail to believe that Jesus was like us in every way, tempted as a healthy male with a body that worked, we readily forget the wonder of his present humanity: that his choice to be God the Son this way was a permanent choice […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 5th, 2014
Understanding Jesus: Meeting Nicodemus at Night John 3:1-21, NRSV Reflections One night, a [Pharisee] came to Jesus and he wanted to know what he could do to be saved. Jesus didn’t get bogged down in the kind of isolated approach of what he shouldn’t do. Jesus didn’t say, “Now Nicodemus, you must stop lying.” He […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Jan 30th, 2014
A Miracle of Another Kind John 2:13-25, NRSV Reflections In the act of cleansing the temple, he (Jesus) cleansed people’s understanding, purged their imagination–an exorcism so that the people, clear-eyed on the matter of God’s sovereign authority, would be able to embrace salvation without distraction, without clutter. — Eugene Peterson Zeal of Jesus, Zeal of […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 28th, 2013
Lenten Sermon Series: Everyday Spirituality Everyday Wisdom Proverbs 3:1-12; 30:1-4, NRSV Reflections People often think of Christian morality as a kind of bargain in which God says “If you keep a lot of rules I’ll reward you, and if you don’t I’ll do the other thing.” I do not think that is the best way […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 28th, 2013
Lenten Sermon Series: Everyday Spirituality Everyday Awe Psalm 147: 1-11, NRSV Reflections There is nothing drab about worship: but something rather exciting as we wait for God to move. There is nothing clerical about it: every member is involved. There is nothing verbose about it: silence can be golden. “There was silence in heaven for […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 28th, 2013
Lenten Sermon Series: Everyday Spirituality Everyday Discipleship Luke 9:18-27, 51-62, NRSV Reflections The essential and primary invitation is to join God. We do this through becoming a disciple of Jesus who includes us in his own relationship with the Father. This is much more than joining the church. Becoming an adherent of the church without […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Aug 16th, 2012
Taste and See: Learning to Praise the Lord Psalm 34:1-8, NRSV Reflections The miserable idea that God should in any sense need, or crave for our worship like a vain [person] wanting compliments, or a vain author presenting his books to people he never met or heard of him, is implicitly answered by the words, […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Aug 8th, 2012
The Bread of Life John 6:24-35, 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 never get filled up […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Aug 3rd, 2012
Created for Good Ephesians 2:1-10, NRSV Reflections Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Aug 3rd, 2012
In Defense of Thomas John 20:24-31, NRSV Reflections Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.— St. Augustine Scars and wounds of our lives Thomas is a sincere doubter, not cynical He has his ups and downs in his faith journey; he […]
Traveling Light Relay
Down by the riverside I laid my burdens down and I'm travelin' light