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April 25th, 2022

4/25/2022

Acts 9:1-8; 17: 13-18, John 21:1-19
Our gospel gives us an account of a day in the life of Jesus shortly after his resurrection. He finds and does a quick repeat of the miracle of catching a large number of fish then shares a meal with the disciples who are gathered. The main body of this account centers on Jesus speaking with Peter, the same Peter who had denied him three times on Maundy Thursday. And three times Jesus gives direction for Peter going forward in carrying on the work of Jesus. "Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep.” Jesus reminds Peter and us that faithful living of the gospel is not passive, but active.
But, as you see from my title, I'm focusing on the apostle Paul today. If you look ahead in our lectionary schedule, you'll see that we'll be reading from the book of Acts for weeks in the future. And the central figure of Acts, other than the actions of the Holy Spirit, is Paul.

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Was it Worth It?

4/17/2022

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Was it Worth it? 1 Corinthians 15: 19-26 Luke 24:1-12 Easter
In light of the trip Julie and I are about to embark upon, in two weeks we'll be visiting the sites St. Paul visited on his missionary journeys. And in remembering our earlier trip to Israel to follow the footprints of Jesus, I want to begin today's message with a quote from Lucy Lind Hogan who is the Hugh Latimer Elderdice Professor of Preaching and Worship at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D. C. “Years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to the Holy Land with a church group. My husband was telling our eldest son that I would be going. 'Why?' he asked. I think my husband was a bit confused. His response was, 'Well, you know, Jesus.' I have long recalled my son’s response because I think he understood the angels’ admonition. He told his father, 'Tell her he’s not there.'

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What's in a Name?

4/10/2022

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Philippians 2: 5-11, Luke 19: 28-40

What's in a name? Do you know where this question originates? Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and her questioning why a family name needs to divide them. “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” I'm going to look at some names of Jesus in today's readings. I'm looking toward our reading from Philippians and the story of Christ's descent from heaven, life on earth, and his ascending back to heaven.
Speaking of names, our Matthew and Beth had an interesting plan for naming their kids. Their middle names were going to be the fruit of the Spirit. It may be easier to demonstrate how it starts. (on screen) Magdalene Love, Acacia Joy, Naomi Peace... the next girl would've been Esther Patience. Matthew was fond of saying, if they'd have had 9 kids to get all fruit of the Spirit, they'd name him Lackof...Lack of Self Control!
It is Palm Sunday and we read Luke's account. All four gospels tell about this parade into Jerusalem but with slight differences; different points of view if you will. Luke's is the calmest. If you listened closely, you will also notice some things missing from his account. Anybody? There are no palm branches, only John mentioned palm branches! And no Hosannas either, Matthew and Mark included that information! Luke doesn't mention the crowd naming Jesus the “Son of David” as Matthew and Mark do. Which brings me back to names, we get a couple of names in Luke's gospel account, the first being the obvious one, Jesus. You may not know that Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua. And the root meaning of his name is simply, “he saves.”

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Press On

4/3/2022

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Philippians 3: 4b-14; John: 12: 1-8
In our Philippians reading, Paul gave us a detailed explanation of his qualifications as a proper Pharisee, an exceptional Jewish law-keeper. As such he would have expected a proper reward and respect. But we know that his life took a big change. There are certain things in life that we can feel certain will go as expected. Let me share a few. The colder the x-ray table... the more of your body is required to be exposed. The softer your slice of bread, the harder the butter. No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationary. Here are some more random thoughts... I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger and bigger... and then it hit me. Two silk worms had a race; it ended in a tie. Last one... you know the problem with the gene pool today? There are no lifeguards!
Paul's gene pol was exceptional. He had the heritage and the resume' to be a great leader. Hear again the qualifications Darlene read for us: circumcised on the eighth day according to the law, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Not all of these mean a lot to us here in a Christian Church in the 21st century, but these were impressive qualifications; an impressive resume' if you will.
But he writes of a new resume' and what does he tell us that those qualifications mean for him now? “I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Wow, he has changed.

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April 25th, 2022

Was it Worth It?

What's in a Name?

Press On

Pastor Gordy

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