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2/27/2015 2 Comments Nobody's Perfect Psalm 25, Response #2
I Peter 3: 18-22 Mark 1: 9-15 First Sunday in Lent February 22, 2015 TEXT: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe the good news." (Mark 1:15). At a large University graduation exercise, the University President rose to address the graduates and confer the degrees. He began by explaining the meaning of the traditional Latin phrases used ... If a student graduates "Cum Laude," it means "With Honors." If a student graduates "Magna Cum Laude" it means "With High Honors." If a student graduates "Summa Cum Laude" it means "With Supreme Honors." Then he said, "There's a new honor I plan to use in the future to be called "Magna Cum Pellidentium." It means, "By the skin of your teeth." In the Lenten Season which has begun, the call to repentance is emphasized. It is a time to take stock of what we've been doing with our lives. It is a time to evaluate spiritual progress. And, in so doing, it becomes a time to acknowledge that, in terms of our life in the "Divinely Created School of Learning How To Love," we have yet to graduate with honors. The call to repentance means that we are not on the level of a Summa Cum Laude, or a Magna Cum Laude, or even a Cum Laude. For many of us, we fall into the Magna Cum Pellidentium category. We're living up to our Christian discipleship "by the skin of our teeth."
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2/27/2015 0 Comments We Can Handle It Job 7: 1-4, 6-7
Mark 1: 29-39 Fifth Sunday after Epiphany February 8, 2015 TEXT: "... and He cured many who were suffering" Mark 1:33 There is a story about a couple who had been married for more than thirty years. One evening, when the husband returned from work, he found his wife packing. "What in the world are you doing?" he asked. "I can't handle it anymore," she replied. "I'm tired of all the bickering and arguing and complaining that's been going on between us all these years, I'm leaving." Whereupon, the startled husband suddenly dashed to the bedroom, pulled a suitcase out of the closet, filled it with his belongings and ran after his wife, saying, "I can't handle it any more either. I'm going with you." The Old Testament Book of Job tells the story of a man named Job who is at a point in his life where he can't handle it anymore. He expresses himself as a man without hope. In Chapter Seven he complains that life is a "drudgery" ... that his eyes "will never see joy again" ... that he can but "lament the bitterness of his soul" (Jb. 7:1,7,11). Job's problem, as we discover later, was that he had not turned himself over to God. He kept on complaining, and challenging God, instead of listening to God. But his problem is resolved thirty-seven chapters later when he confesses to the Lord, I know You are all-powerful...I am the man who obscured your designs with my empty-headed words. I have been holding forth on matters I cannot understand, on marvels beyond me and my knowledge (Job 42:2-3). 2/27/2015 0 Comments Shake Up The WorldPsalm 29 Acts 19: 1-7 Mark 1: 4-11 Second Sunday after Epiphany January 18, 2015 TEXT: "And just as he was coming out of the water, He saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on Him" Mark 1:10 During a college music workshop, the great trumpet player, Louis Armstrong, was being asked questions about his early musical training, his trumpet technique, his repertoire, his singing style, etc. Then, a hush came over the audience in anticipation of the legendary Jazzman's answer to a young student's question: "Mr. Armstrong, what is Jazz?" Armstrong thought for a moment, then, with a touch of sympathy in his voice, replied, "If you gotta ask, you ain't got it." In today's Gospel Lesson, Mark tells us that "Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee" to the River Jordan where He was baptized. "And just as He was coming out of the water," Mark says, " He saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him" (Mk. 1:9-10). Later, Jesus promised His disciples that the Holy Spirit would descend upon them, "to teach them all things." And we are the inheritors of that promise. Our body is the "temple of the Holy Spirit," the Apostle Paul has written (I Cor. 6:19). But what significance does this have for our lives? Does it mean anything at all in terms of how we live, what we do with our lives? Simply put, "What is the Holy Spirit of God?" And, paraphrasing Louis Armstrong we can say, "As long as we have to ask that question, we'll never know." The knowledge comes in the experience. The knowledge is revealed only in the experience. 2/27/2015 0 Comments Just To Touch His Hand PSALM 147
Ephesians 3: 16-19 Matthew 2: 1-12 Epiphany January 4, 2015 TEXT: “ When they saw star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.” Matthew 2:10 Having forgotten to set his alarm clock, and being eager to get to Church on time, a certain pastor was driving well over the speed limit when he was pulled over by a policeman. The officer was unimpressed by the pastor's excuse for being in such a hurry. "Well, reverend," he said, "how would you like me to preach you a nice long sermon?" "Forget the sermon," the pastor replied, "just get to the collection." Reading over today's Gospel Lesson, I said to myself, "This is an ideal Sunday for skipping the sermon and just taking up the collection." In today's Lesson, Matthew tells us that the star which guided the Wise Men on their journey to see the newborn King "stopped over the place where the child was ." And when the Wise Men saw this, "they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the Child with Mary, His mother,". That was it! The Magi came face-to-face with the newborn King and, without benefit of a sermon or a learned commentary on the Event, "they knelt down and paid him homage" (Mt. 2:10-11). Then what happened? "They opened their treasure chests," Matthew tells us, and "they offered Him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh" (Mt. 2:11). (Thus, Matthew skips the sermon and just takes up the collection.) 2/27/2015 0 Comments Love Your FamilyPsalm 148 Isaiah 61:10 – 62:3 Matthew 2:13-23 First Sunday after Christmas December 28, 2014 "There He made his home in a town called Nazareth" (Matthew 2:23). An artist desperately desired to paint the most beautiful picture in the world. He went to his pastor and asked, "What is the most beautiful thing in the world?" "Faith," said the pastor, "is the most beautiful thing. You can see it in every Church, in every Community of the Faithful. You can find it at every altar." The artist then asked a young bride the same question. "Love," she replied. "Love builds poverty into riches, sweetens tears, and makes great treasures out of little gifts. Without love, there is not beauty." Then the artist asked a soldier, "What is the most beautiful thing in the world?" "Peace," said the soldier. "War is ugly. Wherever you find peace, you find beauty." The artist thought: "Faith, Love and Peace. How can I paint them?" Then he returned to his household and, entering the door, he saw faith in the eyes of his children. He saw love in the eyes of his wife. And there, in his home, he saw the Peace that Love and Faith had built. So he painted the picture of the "most beautiful thing in the world." And when he had finished, he called it "Home." 2/25/2015 0 Comments The Happiest People in the World Psalm 98, Response #2 Matthew 1:18-24 Fourth Sunday of Advent December 21, 2014 TEXT: "... and they shall name him 'Emmanuel' (which means, God is with us)" Matthew 1:23 One night, the Six O'clock News financial reporter said, among other things, "The stock market gained today, and the value of the dollar is up." Hearing this, a seven-year-old asked her father what it meant when the value of the dollar went up. The father tried to give his young daughter the simplest possible explanation. He said, "Since the value is going up, you can buy more with a dollar now than you could before." The daughter thought about this for a while, then she asked, "Do the stores know this?"
In just a few days, we will be celebrating the Event that raised the value of our human hopes and aspirations infinitely. But as we look back over the weeks of preparation for this Event, we might well ask, not only "Do the stores know this?" but also "Do we know this?" |
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