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Musings on the Mystery of God

5/30/2021

Isaiah 6: 1-8, John 3: 1-17 May 30, 2021 Trinity Sunday
I want to begin my sermon today with a quote about today being Trinity Sunday. It comes from Cláudio Carvalhaes, theologian at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He wrote, “Trinity Sunday is a heavy lift for preachers. While all other church festivals and holy days mark events, Trinity Sunday is all about an idea. An indefensible, unverifiable, seemingly inchoate idea that has animated the church for centuries.” A Sunday celebrating an idea; ideas really. A sermon on things that are beyond our comprehension. God is three. God is one. God is undivided. God appears everywhere. God is now. God has always been.

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Graduation Sunday

5/23/2021

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Acts 2:1-21, 2 Corinthians 4: 5-10 Pentecost
Graduation. What do you think of when you think of graduation? New opportunities? Challenges? Adulthood? How about a major life change? Graduation moves us from the life of a student to the life of...what? A real person! A fulfilled person! A person who is going places—whether we want to or not.
Pentecost. What does this term bring to your mind? Holy Spirit? Wind and fire? Fearful disciples? How about a major personality change? Pentecost moved the disciples from the life of fearful, doubting survivors to strong, brave, preachers. They became people who were going places, spreading the good news of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Whether they wanted to or not. And Pentecost meant that when we believe, we are also transitioned into a Spirit-fed life.
Graduation and Pentecost; each a moment of transition, a time of celebration, a line dividing lives into a before and after.

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The Pursuit of Happiness

5/16/2021

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Psalm 1: 1-6 Matthew 5: 3-10 May 16, 2021
(Young's Literal Translation)
3     ‘Happy the poor in spirit—because theirs is the reign of the heavens.
4     ‘Happy the mourning—because they shall be comforted.
5     ‘Happy the meek—because they shall inherit the land.
6     ‘Happy those hungering and thirsting for righteousness—because they shall be filled.
7     ‘Happy the kind—because they shall find kindness.
8     ‘Happy the clean in heart—because they shall see God.
9     ‘Happy the peacemakers—because they shall be called Sons of God.
10     ‘Happy those persecuted for righteousness’ sake—because theirs is the reign of the heavens. 11‘Happy are ye whenever they may reproach you, and may persecute, and may say any evil thing against you falsely for my sake
There are 150 Psalms in the bible. Today, Jayne read the six verses of the very first Psalm. And the very first word: Happy, in Hebrew, “asre”. And who, according to this psalm, are the “happy”? Those who “do do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers.” The psalmist starts with the negatives; ways that work against happiness: to follow bad advice, live in sin's ways, scoff at God's ordinances. But the psalm gives some specific things to do to be happy. Find delight in the law of the LORD and meditate on God's law day and night. The Hebrew bible is consistent in how it tells it's readers to be happy—to trust in the Lord and obey God's laws.

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Friends

5/9/2021

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Psalm 98 1-9, John 15: 9-17
In John's gospel, there are seven statements Jesus makes that begin with the two words, “I AM.” Every time he uses these two words he connects himself to God the Father. It ties back to when God appeared to Moses in the burning bush. When Moses asked God for a name to give to the people, God's answer in English is most often translated, “I AM who I AM.” And so in John, Jesus seems to take up the mantle of God when he says things like, I AM the good shepherd or I AM the true vine—statements we looked at these last two Sundays. Some of his others; I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the gate of the sheep pen.
In today's gospel, we don't get the direct I AM statement, but I'm going to suggest that we get a form of it. It is not part of his claim to divinity, but a claim to the intimate connection that he has with his disciples and by inference with us. He says, in effect, “I am your friend.”

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