Isaiah 7:10-16; Psalm 80:1-7,17-19; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-25 In this month’s National Geographic there’s an article titled “Veiled Rebellion.” It’s about the women of the Pashtun tribe in Afghanistan and the difficult lives they lead. Few of these women have any real power. It’s a man’s world and the foundation of a man’s world is a man’s honor. A man’s honor is judged by three things: gold, land, and women. “If any injury is done to a man’s land, women or gold, it is a matter of honor … [Read more...]
Sermons Archive
Great Expectations
Isaiah 35:1-10; Psalm 146:5-10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11 John the Baptist was starting to have doubts. At the beginning of his career John had seemed so confident. Jesus had come to him and John had baptized him, proclaiming him to be the long-awaited Messiah. Repent! Prepare the way of the Lord! But over time John began to wonder. Like everyone else, he knew what to expect from a Messiah. This is one who would be the new King David. He would free the land of foreign occupation. He … [Read more...]
God’s Directions, Course Corrections
Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7,18-19; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12 Preaching a sermon on “repentance” is an uphill climb. Just hearing John the Baptist’s command to Repent! is enough to turn off church-goers and church-abstainers alike. Why is that? We think of repentance as something that “bad” people need to do, right? We associate “repentance” with judgment, shame, guilt and scolding. So we’re offended by the idea that we might need to repent. But the biblical word for … [Read more...]
Windows 7
Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44 I’ve been thinking about last week’s sermon all week. You might remember that Pr. Jan Nesse invited us to think of Jesus as an icon. Anyone who has a computer knows what an icon is. You see an example of an icon on the back of today’s bulletin: the Internet Explorer icon. An icon is a symbol, but it’s more than just a symbol. If I use my computer mouse to click on that symbol, it opens up a whole other world that I couldn’t see … [Read more...]
Parable of the Salmon
Young salmon pass through several growth stages: egg, alevin, fry, parr and smolt. As they grow they face many dangers. Still, their direction is downstream, with the current. Likewise, the person of faith starts out feeding on basic teachings & going with the flow. They accept the basics of faith at face value and ask few questions. Distinctions between good & evil, right & wrong seem self-evident. After a year or more, smolts begin adjusting to salt water & grow strong … [Read more...]
Lessons From Geese
by Robert McNeish (1972) Following is a parable for how a community can work together toward a common goal: Fact 1: As each goose flaps its wings it creates an "uplift" for the birds that follow. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone. Lesson: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another. Fact 2: When a … [Read more...]
Love’s Perspective
Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 46; Romans 3:19-28; John 8:31-36 Election Day is this Tuesday. If you’ve been following the Seattle Times you know that during this campaign season they’ve been running a series of articles investigating the claims of candidates & campaigns. They call it “The Truth Needle” & report to what extent the campaigns are being truthful in their claims. Are the ads all true? All false? Usually, they’re somewhere in between. In John 8, Jesus says, If you continue in … [Read more...]
The Rabbi’s Gift
The Different Drum Version by Dr. M. Scott Peck This story was delivered as the message for Sunday, October 24, 2010. There once was a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. It was once a great order, but because of persecution, all its branch houses were lost and there were only five monks left in the decaying house: the abbot and four others, all over seventy years old. Clearly it was a dying order. In the deep woods surrounding the monastery there was a little hut that a rabbi … [Read more...]
…And Justice For All
Jeremiah 31:27-34; Psalm 119:97-104; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8 This past week my wife & I enjoyed watching a six-hour TV series called God in America. It was the story of religion in the history of our nation, beginning in the 1600s & continuing to the present day. Much of that history, as the program showed, is the story of a struggle for justice. In the 1800s, of course, our nation experienced a terrible war in the struggle over slavery. One of the shining lights in that story … [Read more...]
A Faithful Heart is a Grateful Heart
Jeremiah 29:1,4-7; Psalm 66:1-12; 2 Timothy 2:8-15; Luke 17:11-19 Today’s gospel reading is about gratitude. Many of you have heard this story countless times. So have I. There are many lessons to learn from this story, but the one that jumps out at me this week is the connection Jesus makes between gratitude & spiritual health. Ten lepers seek Jesus out. All do as they are told. They go to the priests as any ―unclean‖ person must do to get an official clean bill of health. On the … [Read more...]
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