Follow Your Heart
Listen to the 8/29/2010 Sermon
Text: John 1:43-51
Follow your heart. It sounds so “culturally-correct” to say that, doesn’t it? It’s like the common advice of our culture, the most “heeded word” of the day. Every high school baccalaureate address would say: Follow your heart. It also sounds almost narcissistic, as if I’m the only one that matters. Follow your heart: to hell with everything else. As a Christian, are you to follow Christ, or follow your heart?
THE PARALYSIS OF QUESTIONS
Listen to the 8/22/2010 Sermon
Text: Matthew 13:10-17
When our daughter was five, Janelle asked me, “Do people sit up or lie down in heaven?” It might sound like an odd question, but at the time, it made perfect sense.
DISCOMFORTING ANSWERS
Listen to the 8/15/2010 Sermon
You have to be careful when you ask a question. You might get an answer.
There is such a thing as an open question and such a thing as a closed question. An open question is one where you are receptive to the multiple possibilities the question raises. And a closed question implies that you have only one answer in mind.
WHERE QUESTIONS LEAD US
Text: Luke 10:25-37
I had never before done this research: to look at the questions that people asked of Jesus and to explore where their questions led them. In the Gospel of Luke, I found 21 questions asked by different persons of Jesus. There are a number of other implied questions, but these are actual recorded questions asked of Jesus.
Jesus As Lover of Questions
Text: Matthew 15:21-28
There’s a young pastor who appears in a commercial on local television stations and offers an appeal to faith in Jesus Christ. He usually simply sits in a chair and talks directly to the camera and speaks clearly offering an invitation to faith. The part I like is that he offers no identification, no appeal to attend a particular church. He is like an anonymous giver: he expects no direct return. Some of you may know who he is but I have no idea.
BOUNDARIED LOVE
Text: Genesis 3:1-7
The first thing you learn about love is that there are no boundaries to love. Do you remember your first love? It just sort of moved in and took over? You were infatuated, preoccupied, overwhelmed! No boundaries, that first love consumed all that you were. You couldn’t dream of anyone else, think about anything else, accomplish anything else. You were smitten!
THEOCRACY OR DEMOCRACY: America at a Crossroads
Text: Luke 19: 37-44
My sister spent a number of years working in a tightly-controlled Islamic Republic in which the practice of any religion other than Islam was forbidden and illegal. The government generally tolerated foreigners quietly practicing their own religion, but was militant toward evangelization of their own people to a religion other than Islam.
LIKE A GARDEN: Weeding and Pruning
Listen to the 6/27/2010 Sermon
Text: Matthew 13:3-9
You can imagine what happens to an untended garden. Tending his garden was the one thing that kept my dad so vital well into his late 80’s. Everyday after retirement, dad worked his garden, plowing under crops that had already born their fruit, weeding, and ensuring that disease and unwanted animals kept their distance.
Will the Dust Praise Thee?
Listen to the 6/6/2010 Sermon by Kara Reagan here
Text: Psalms 30:9
This past weekend we celebrated Memorial Day--a time when we, as a nation look back on the sacrifices made by individuals and their families in order to ensure the greater good. We remember our foregone heroes and heroines. We remember lost friends and loved ones. We look back to our times of trial and testing and give thanks for those who saw us through. We take time to remember. And in remembering, we recall who we are, how we came to be where we are and to whom we belong.
God Planted a Garden
Listen to the 6/20/2010 Sermon
Text: I Corinthians 3:4-9, Isaiah 28:23-26
In four words, the Holy Bible describes God’s early interaction with the created world and with human beings: God planted a Garden. In some ways this is the beginning of theology, the beginning of our story. Our human story begins in the garden, God’s Garden, called Eden, in which the first man and the first woman had all their needs met.
Finding our way home
Listen to the 6/13/2010 Sermon
Text: Luke 15:11-24
Home. There is hardly a more compelling image or idea than home. When you are home, you are presumably safe. You are hopefully secure. You are where you are best known. You are surrounded by kin or by long-term relationship. Home is where you were formed and nurtured. Home is where you know the rules; you can more easily predict outcomes. Life at home isn’t always idyllic, but it is always familiar.
TONGUES OF FIRE IGNITING PRAISE
Text: Luke 19:39-40
Every human being stands in need of praise. I knew a woman who died at an old age whose mother never knew how to express love for her daughter. The young girl became devoted to her father, who tragically died when she was 12 years old. Because of this, the young woman developed such a tough exterior so that nothing hurtful could ever penetrate her again. She went on to become a highly successful businesswoman. But the scars of lacking praise as a child were evident until her dying day, well into her 80’s.
TONGUES OF FIRE INGITING HEALING
Listen to the 5/16/2010 Sermon
Text: Acts 3:1-10
When I began as a pastor, I wanted little to do with the supernatural aspect of Jesus’ ministry. I favored a more enlightened, intellectual approach. Did Jesus actually heal people? I would either avoid the question, or I would explain the supernatural away. Healing wasn’t plausible.
Tongues of Fire Igniting Unity
Listen to the 5/9/2010 Sermon
Text: Acts 2:43-47
Uniformity is one approach to unity, but it is a lousy approach. Uniformity asks that we forget our differences and conform to a shared whole. Baptists have never been good at uniformity and it goes back to our historic commitment to soul liberty.
Tongues of Fire Igniting Truth
Text: Acts 15:1-11
You are a truth. You are meant to be an embodied truth. You may not fully know your own truth, but you know some of it. Whether you present yourself as truth to others is your choice. Some people feel they have to live a lie in front of others. But, the truth is, we all conceal parts of our lives. No one goes around with life’s most embarrassing episodes recorded on a sign around the neck.
Tongues of Fire Igniting Dialogue
Listen to the 4/25/2010 Sermon
Text: Acts 8:26-36
“Talk is cheap.” That statement suggests that while actions matter, words do not. Talk is cheap when used to delay, prolong, pre-occupy or postpone. Talk may be cheap, but dialogue never is.
Talk is not dialogue. You enter into dialogue, but you don’t enter into talk.
“The pastor had a nice talk today.” That’s like saying that while it wasn’t a miserable sermon, it wasn’t memorable either. “I felt the pastor was really talking to me today, she was connecting with me.” That’s a different kind of talk.
Tongues of Fire Igniting Diversity
Listen to the 4/18/2010 Sermon
Text: Acts 10:34-36; Acts 2:1-18; Ephesians 2:14-18
With our nation’s first non-white President, it is hard to view his Presidency in non-racial tones. No one would have asked of George Bush, or Bill Clinton, “What impact does it have that our President is white?” They have all been white, since our nation’s founding; being white and being President is normative; we have all come to expect it, whether we be white, black, brown, yellow, bronze or tan.
THE CUP OF VICTORY
Text: Luke 22:42; 24:1-8
Jesus, the Victor.
By whose definition? He doesn’t look like a Victor to me.
He was born in a remote village. Born in Eldon, Missouri, I believe that gives legitimacy to my claim as a genuine hillbilly. Jesus was of similar pedigree. The day’s walking journey between the village of Jesus’ birth and his hometown is about as far as he traveled. We don’t even know what he did with his first 30 years. Perhaps the most famous person in history, and 30 of his 33 years were so uneventful as to be mostly hidden from us. When he finally emerged from obscurity and gained followers, not one was famous or respected. Not one had power or wealth. He never wrote a word. As far as we know, no one wrote a word about him during his lifetime. He didn’t have an advanced education or credential. No learned person of his day paid him much attention. He didn’t own one possession, except the clothes on his back. He didn’t have a wife or children.
THE CUP OF JOY
Listen to the 3/28/2010 Sermon
Text: John 12:12-16
“After my nine years with the Daybreak community, Adam, Michael, Bill, Tracy, Susanne, Loretta…, and many others…have become my friends. More than friends, they are an intimate part of my daily life. Although they are still as handicapped as when I first met them, I seldom think of them as people with handicaps. I think of them as brothers and sisters with whom I share my life. I laugh with them, cry with them, eat dinners with them, go to movies with them, pray and celebrate with them – in short, live my life with them. They truly fill me with immense joy.
THE CUP OF COLD WATER
Listen to the 3/14/2010 Sermon
Text: Matthew 10:42
When the Philippian jailer asked, “What must I do to be saved?”, Paul and Silas replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved.” (Acts 16:30-31) “The use of (the term) ‘believer’ is especially prominent in the post-resurrection community. During the earthly life of Jesus the primary term used to designate his followers was ‘disciple.’” (p. 656, Vol. 1, Anchor Bible Dictionary). The term, “disciple” is used 272 times in the four Gospels and the book of Acts and then its use ends abruptly and is not found in the New Testament letters and epistles. On the other hand, the term “believer” is found only once in the Gospels.
THE CUP OF BLESSING
Text: Psalm 23:5
To lift the cup, to make a toast, to offer a blessing, is common to many cultures around the world.
Henri Nouwen writes of his growing up years: “As I became older, I was allowed to have a glass of wine. It was a sign of adulthood. In 1950, when I was 18 years old, drinking wine was a luxury. In France and Italy, wine at dinner was part of daily life, but in Holland (with our family) it was a sign of a festive occasion. When we had wine there were special rituals: tasting and approving the wine, saying a few good words about it, pouring it into the glasses – only half-full—and most important of all, lifting it for a toast.
CAN YOU DRINK OF THIS CUP?
Listen to the 2/28/2010 Sermon
Text: Matthew 20:20-23
As a parent, I sometimes have wished I had a crystal ball, and could look into my children’s future. As young adults, couldn’t I help them with today’s choices if I knew the direction of their lives in 10 years? Am I an obstacle or blessing to them? Which of my worries for them are inconsequential? And what am I ignoring?
What Does it Mean to Forgive?
Listen to the 2/21/2010 Sermon
Text: Mathew 18: 21-35
GOD IN A NEW NAME!
Listen to the 2/14/2010 Sermon
Text: Exodus 3:13-15; Luke 4:14-30; Matthew 6:9
There is no doubt in my mind that I could say things this morning to upset you. I could say to you that after over two years as your pastor, I genuinely dislike each and every one of you. Or, I could begin this morning by mentioning each one of you by name and identifying things about you that I do not like. I could make up bald lies about you, further infuriorating you. I could begin cursing and use every profane word imaginable.
Building Bridges
Listen to the 1/24/2010 Sermon
Text: 2 Corinthians 5:16-20
That ours is a polarized society, a polarized age, can hardly be debated. Democrats and Republicans, always partisan, have now reached the point where civilized cooperation is nearly impossible. “Working across the aisle” is rare rather than typical.
Jesus, Gandhi and King: A Way of Nonviolence
Listen to the 1/17/2010 Sermon
Text: Matthew 5:38-48
Martin Luther King wrote his first book, Stride Toward Freedom, in 1958. He visited cities promoting the book and was met by enthusiastic crowds. “When he visited a department store in Harlem, however, the welcome was not as cordial. Black nationalists, unimpressed by King’s strategy of ‘love thy neighbor,’ shouted insults. Other blacks yelled at him because King was going into a bookstore owned by whites. Once inside, King began autographing copies of his book. One woman made her way forward, eager to meet the visiting author… ‘Are you Mr. King?,’ she asked. Receiving an affirmative nod, the deranged woman suddenly reached inside her dress and pulled out a letter opener…and thrust it deep inside King’s chest… King was rushed to Harlem Hospital with the letter opener still in his chest… ‘He’s lucky to be alive at all,’ doctors admitted. ‘The tip of the weapon had penetrated to the aorta. Just one sneeze or cough and he’d have been gone.’” P. 163 (Not Only Dreamers, David R. Collins, Brethren Press)
The Audacity of Hope
Text: Romans 8:19-28
Hope is a perspective on the future. Hope is the ability to look for evidence that something more positive in taking shape in the present, but will unfold more fully in the future. When Jesus told his followers to “keep awake” (Mt. 24:42), to be watchful of “signs” of how God is working, he had in mind our being hopeful about the future. But hope is always audacious. Someone can always challenge you: “How can you be hopeful when these ominous signs surround us?” Hope is looking for what cannot yet be seen, and what cannot yet be justified, and certainly what cannot yet be proven with any confidence. The Apostle Paul argues, “Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it in patience.” (Romans 8:24-25)
A GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
Text: Luke 2:8-20
Had it not been for the Wise Sages from the East, we may not associate gift-giving with Christmas. They are the first Gift-Givers to the Christ-Child, indeed, his only Gift-Givers. Mary and Joseph had almost nothing, and they were obviously separated and isolated from their families. There were no proud grandparents nearby, no doting aunts or uncles. No best friends, bearing gifts.
GIFTS ARE BUT SYMBOLS
Text: Matthew 2:1-12
They are known as the Gift Givers, these astrologers from the East. Whereas in the King’s Court of the Jews, the advisers were the scribes who would interpret the Law of Moses, in the royal courts of the East, astrologers were summoned to advise the decisions faced by a ruler.
What Do You Really Want for Christmas?
Listen to the 12/20/2009 Sermon
Text: Luke 2:36-38
We know the story of the Wise Men well. Yet, according to Scripture, there were only two Jews who knew what they wanted for Christmas. Only two knew what to expect. Only two had made room on their Christmas lists for the gift God intended to give. Only two. Not the mother. Not the father. Not the shepherds. Not the innkeeper.