For the first three Sundays in February we will reflect on what it means to be followers of Jesus, the Joyful Healer. In part it is about identifying with others, serving, and being prayerful. It takes training and requires clear communication.
February 5, 2012
Following the Joyful Healer: Identify with others, service and prayer
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9: 16 – 23 and Mark 1: 29 – 39
Sharing the love of God with others requires having the ability to get out of ourselves and identify with others. We see Jesus serving and healing many people but we also see him getting away to pray. Here are clues to the "whole" life.
February 12, 2012
Following the Joyful Healer Requires Training
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 9: 24 – 27
Why is it that we know that we need to be trained for a new job, we need to train to be a good at a sport, we need to practice to be a good musician, rehearse to be a good actor or actress, but it rarely occurs to us that the spiritual life takes training, practice, and rehearsal as well. Are you willing to go into training?
February 19, 2012
Following the Joyful Healer: Can You Hear Me Now?
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 4: 3 – 6
What is it that blocks some from seeing and hearing the good news of God's great love in the person of Jesus? How do we let the light in?
The Season of Lent
This year the season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 22. The word comes from the Anglo-Saxon word "lenten," which means "spring." It is 40 days in length plus Sundays. The season is a preparation for celebrating Easter. The 40 days remembers Jesus' 40 days of temptation in the wilderness, Noah's 40 days on the ark, and the Hebrew people taking a 40 year journey to the promised land. The season concludes with Jesus' journey to death and the tomb.
The season often includes sacrifice or "giving things up" for Lent, such as alcohol, sweets, fasting from food once a week, or even fasting from gossip. Taking on a new discipline like daily prayer, scripture reading, participation in a small group, or a service project can also be a part of our Lent.
One thing is certain, the more one participates in the season in an intentional way, the more meaningful is Easter when it comes around. I pray for a blessed Lent for you. Start the season off by joining for a simple meditative worship service on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22, at 6:30pm. The symbol of the ash and the mark of the cross will be explained and reflected upon.
Ash Wednesday Worship – February 22, at 6:30 pm in Celebration Hall.
February 26
Lent 1: New Beginnings
Scripture: Mark 1: 9 – 15
No sooner has Jesus had a powerful experience of baptism by John in the Jordan River then in the next scene he is driven into the wilderness for a time of struggle and temptation, haunted by his own personal demons. We all have our demons and they seem to show up uninvited at the most inopportune times. Lent is a good time to identify them and resist their destructive messages.
Past Sermons
January 2012
January 8, 2012
Celebrating the Water!
Scriptures: Genesis 1: 1 – 5 ~ Mark 1: 4 – 11
Epiphany means revelation or a revealing. Mark's gospel points to Jesus' baptism in the Jordan river as the moment that Jesus is revealed as Son of God. It is Interesting how an ordinary thing like water or broken bread or a cup of wine or grape juice can reveal extraordinary things to us. God is revealed in extraordinary ways through ordinary things. Maybe we, ordinary as we are, are marked for extraordinary lives.
January 15, 2012
Celebrating A Life: Dr. King
"Letter from a Birmingham Jail"
Dr. King's birthday has become a national holiday and in some ways this has made this incredible prophet of the 20th Century a bit tame. But how tame would you have found Martin Luther King, Jr. if you had been one whom his letter from jail was intended for in 1963? How should our church today respond to the questions and challenges raised at that time by Dr. King?
January 22, 2012
Celebrating a Big Gut Reaction
Scripture: the book of Jonah
Read the Book of Jonah in the Hebrew Scriptures, it is hilarious. It is about a very small minded, intolerant and reluctant little prophet who runs from the call of a very large minded, inclusive and loving God. Jonah owed his life to a gut reaction but he didn't really want a life with a God whose love included people that Jonah hated.
January 29, 2012
Celebrating a Life of Awe
Scripture: Psalm 111
Life is awesome. Practice praise, gratitude and awe - and you will begin a life of wisdom.
