Down by the riverside I laid my burdens down and I'm travelin' light
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 28th, 2016
The Cross And Evil: Jesus and His Cry of Abandonment Psalm 22:1-2; 23-24, NRSV Mark 15:33-34, NRSV Reflections ON a Thursday morning a few months ago, I got a call from my doctor’s assistant telling me that I have Stage 4 cancer. The stomach cramps I was suffering from were not caused by a faulty […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 19th, 2016
The Cross and Wisdom Isaiah 29:13-14, NRSV 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, NRSV Reflections In terms of human wisdom, Jesus was a perfect fool. And if you think you can follow him without making something like the same kind of fool of yourself, you are laboring not under the cross, but a delusion. — Frederick Buechner We […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 19th, 2016
Jesus is what God has to say Mark 9:2-9, NRSV Reflections Jesus is the true and living Word of God. Jesus is what the Law and Prophets point toward and bow to. Jesus is what the Old Testament was trying to say, but could never fully articulate. Jesus is the perfect Word of God in […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 19th, 2016
King Herod: Fear, Faith, and Doubt Mark 6:14-29, NRSV Reflections For many people, the opposite of faith is doubt. The goal, then, within this understanding, is to eliminate doubt. But faith and doubt aren’t opposites. Doubt is often a sign that your faith has a pulse, that you’re owning your path, engaged, thinking, feeling, that […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 14th, 2016
Jesus: Healing with Resurrection Power Mark 5:21-43, NRSV Psalm 131, NRSV Reflections Just as Jesus wasn’t coming to be a one-man liberation movement in the traditional revolutionary sense, so he wasn’t coming to be a one-man emergency medical centre. He was indeed starting a revolution, and he was indeed bringing God’s healing power, but his […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 14th, 2016
The Parable of the Sower Mark 4:1-20, NRSV Psalm 126, NRSV Reflections One of the best-kept secrets, and yet one hidden in plain sight, is that the way up is the way down. Or, if you prefer, the way down is the way up. This pattern is obvious in all of nature, from the very […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 14th, 2016
Putting New Wine into New Wineskins Mark 2:1-22, NRSV Psalm 103:6-14, NRSV Reflections If Christ is the answer, what are the real questions? Does God speak my language? How can we live out and share the gospel without domesticating the new wine? — Harvie Conn,Evangelism: Doing Justice and Preaching Grace Period of Epiphany Baptism of […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 14th, 2016
Birthed Into Mission Hosea 13:13, NRSV John 3:1-10, 16-17, NRSV Reflections Just as we are invited to step into the worship of the Trinity in which the Son glorifies the Father in the Spirit, so we are called to share in the mission of the Trinity in which the Father sends the Son by the […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 14th, 2016
Elijah: Faith with a Limp 1 Kings 18:20-39, NRSV Mark 9:1-8, NRSV Reflections Be joyful, keep the faith, and do the little things. — St. David of Wales, d.589 The main question: where is God? We need prophets’ voices that scream out but that is not a sustainable way to live spiritually In the Bible, […]
Posted in Sermon Notes on Feb 9th, 2016
Power that Crushes and Power that Heals 1 Kings 12:1-17, 25-29, NRSV Mark 10:42-45, NRSV Reflections Whatever controls us is our lord. The person who seeks power is controlled by power. The person who seeks acceptance is controlled by the people he or she wants to please. We do not control ourselves. We are controlled […]
Traveling Light Relay
Down by the riverside I laid my burdens down and I'm travelin' light