Down by the riverside I laid my burdens down and I'm travelin' light
Posted in Sermon Notes on Jul 22nd, 2012
Looking for Love Jeremiah 2:1-6, 10-13, 18, 20-25; 3:12, NRSV Reflections All Desire risks disappointment or even agony. All desire can open the door to loneliness and shame. There is no person who can fill all of our emptiness. Even the best marriage or the healthiest friendship fails us at times. When we have been […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Jul 8th, 2012
No Kingdom without a Cross 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, NRSV Reflections Far too easily we settle for holiness rather than wholeness, conformity rather than authenticity, becoming spiritual rather than deeply human, fulfillment rather than transformation, and a journey toward perfection rather than union with God. Far too often we confuse our own spiritual self-improvement tinkerings with […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Jul 3rd, 2012
The Earth Shall Be Filled Habakkuk 2:12-14, NRSV Reflections How can the waters cover the sea? They are the sea. It looks as though God intends to flood the universe with himself, as though the universe, the entire cosmos, was designed as a receptacle for his love. We might even suggest, as part of a […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Jun 24th, 2012
Fear, Faith, and the Storm Mark 4:35-41, NRSV Reflections How can you live with the terrifying thought that the hurricane has become human, that fire has become flesh, that life itself became life and walked in our midst? Christianity either means that or it means nothing. It is either the most devastating disclosure of the […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Jun 17th, 2012
Filled with the Spirit Ephesians 5:15-21, NRSV Reflections However much we may wish it otherwise, when we receive the Spirit at conversion, divine perfection does not set in, but divine “infection” does! We have been invaded by the living God himself, in the person of his Spirit, whose goal is to infect us thoroughly with […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Jun 10th, 2012
Transformed by the Spirit… Together Acts 2:37-47, NRSV Reflections Historically, the Church’s ability to transform society has depended not upon a power of management over society or political brokerage of its own interests, but rather upon a willingness to exercise its freedom to redeem and re-create a fallen world.— Vigen Guroian, from Incarnate Love: Essays […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Apr 1st, 2012
Lenten Sermon Series: Songs of Lent Authentic King Philippians 2:3-11, NRSV Reflections But the decision to become human, and to go all the way along the road of obedience, obedience to the divine plan of salvation, yes, all the way to the cross — this decision was not a decision to stop being divine. It […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Mar 25th, 2012
Lenten Sermon Series: Songs of Lent Authentic Sacrifice Psalm 51, NRSV Reflections What we have lost… is a full sense of the power of God — to recuit people who have made terrible choices; to invade the most hopeless lives and fill them with light; to sneak up on people who are thinking about lunch, […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Mar 23rd, 2012
Lenten Sermon Series: Songs of Lent Authentic Gratitude Psalm 107:1-3; 17-22, NRSV Reflections Gratitude… is a response to grace. The compassionate life is a grateful life, and actions born out of gratefulness are not compulsive but free, not somber but joyful, not fanatical but liberating.— Henri Nouwen pain, loss, brokenness still exist when gratitude is […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Mar 18th, 2012
Lenten Sermon Series: Songs of Lent Authentic Direction Psalm 19, 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 […]
Traveling Light Relay
Down by the riverside I laid my burdens down and I'm travelin' light