Sermon 4-21-2013 Mark 8 and Galatians 5, baptism

Galatians 5 (gifts of the spirit)

Mark 8 (take up your cross)

Good morning friends. It is good to gather in worship with all of you this morning. After a week marked by bombings, an explosion, and a massive manhunt, it is right to come together in prayer, in worship, and to commit to one another again to follow the prince of Peace. Today we particularly focus on Christ's calling in our lives, as we welcome LL into our community in the ritual of baptism, the ceremony that marks formal entrance into the Christian community.

In the Easter season, we are surrounded by the New Testament stories of baptism-while we don't have any stories of Jesus baptizing people, as soon as Easter happened, there are all sorts of stories people being marked with water as part of the new community. Paul was baptized after his experience on the Damascus road. Peter baptized Cornelius and his whole household, after he saw the sheet descending, and learned that what God has called clean, no one should call unclean. Phillip baptized the Ethiopian Eunuch, who heard the gospel while riding in a chariot, saw the water nearby, and asked to be dipped right away.

Since the beginning, this ritual has marked entrance to the community of believers.

And so too then, do we come to the water this morning, claiming with these founders of the faith our commitment to Jesus, our willingness to follow Christ. In baptism we claim for ourselves the title of disciple- committing ourselves to Jesus as savior as Lord, making the public declaration that we are on God's side, and that we will do our best to follow faithfully where God calls us.

The danger, and the virtues of lists

A brief reflection on lists

As part of our congregation's work rewriting the covenant of membership, our annual commitment to one another that defines what it means to be part of our congregation, we've been talking about what should and should not belong in the document.

And one thing that has been a point of conversation is the following line:

Because we are Christian pilgrims on this earth, I recognize myself as a citizen in Christ's eternal kingdom that rises above all temporary, earthly kingdoms. This kingdom rises, too, above all superficial divisions of gender, race, sexual orientation, and culture, and the temporary bonds of worldly organizations and bureaucracies.

There are a couple of concerns-first, it's sort of a civic list-gender, race, sexual orientation, these are the non-discrimination words of the secular culture in which we live.

But there is another complain I've heard a number of times-a concern about lists. What about economic status? What about class? What about disabilities? There are more superficial divisions than just these that we have listed. The kingdom of God rises above ALL superficial divisions. Do we really need to say more than that? Is it useful to add these extra things?

Sermon Acts 9 and John 21-Peter and Paul, transformed, and on the road to transformation

Here is my sermon from this Sunday.
Every once in a while I preach a sermon that I didn't really get much out of writing, and I don't feel good about preaching, but Sunday waits for no one, and I just present what I have. And usually when that happens, it's 'just a sermon' (not to suggest that any sermon is 'just' a sermon, because we have gathered, and worshiped, and read the text, and at the very least my words are on the scripture, and come from a place of study and prayer, but people say thanks, and we move on with the week). This week, however, while I struggled with this sermon, and never quite felt like I got it where I wanted it, I've had at least 5 people mention that they particularly appreciated it. It is one of those humbling reminders-this work is not about me and my work, not about my internal experience, but about the connection between people and God, and it is my job not to get in the way.

Acts 9:1-20

John 21:1-19

Holy Humor Sunday

Every year, the Sunday after Easter, 

we celebrate "Holy Humor Sunday." This is a tradition I got from Lorraine Avenue Mennonite Church, where I grew up. Ostensibly the reason we do this is because Easter is a big joke on the devil, who thought he got Jesus' soul. I suspect mostly we like a Sunday to laugh together, and the Sunday after Easter is both an easy regular time to remember, and makes for a good chance to continue the celebration of Eastertime. 

Either way, it usually means no normal sermon.

This year, I was part of two bits-one, a Rick Steves impersonation (For those of you who do not know, Rick Steves is a PBS TV travel host who goes around Europe being geeky, and looks a lot like me), and second a Saturday Night Live skit with my wife. 

I am pretty sure both are covered under fair use, let me know if I'm wrong. 

You can find the Rick Steves video here

and the SNL weekend update skit after the jump (sadly, no video).

Easter sermon 2013

Easter: John 20:1-17, Isaiah 65:17-25

Christ is Risen!

 (Christ is risen indeed)

It is good to gather in worship with all of you on this Easter Sunday! I hope that this day finds you blessed, and filled with the hope of new life. May the meal that we eat together today bring to mind Jesus’ meal in the upper room with the disciples, may the eggs that you search for remind you of Mary’s discovery of the empty tomb, may that ridiculous Easter bunny herself bring to mind life and laughter and springtime, and the hope flowing in the world that is the core of the Easter story, and may you know light in the midst of darkness.

We’ve been talking this Lenten season about honor and shame-you may remember reflecting on how our sense of honor and our fear of shame can sometimes get in the way-get in the way of welcoming people back into community like the Prodigal son and his older brother, get in the way of God’s calling, as we cry out “get away from me Lord,” with Peter and Isaiah, get in the way of strange and beautiful departures from the ordinary way of doing things, stopping us from helping Mary wash Jesus’ feet, distracting us from things that might open up new spaces for God to work in the world.

The Easter story is in many ways a culmination of that trajectory, that journey towards a complete revisioning of honor and shame. The story of a crucified criminal, executed in the most humiliating way possible, raised on the 3^rd day to become savior of the world invites us to claim again that for God, honor and shame are a completely different animal than they are for us.