Psalm 84
John 17:  20-26
Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 8, 2016
 
 
TEXT: "Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may
                    be with me where I am,  to see my glory.”                         
                   (John 17:24).

Despite his ongoing financial successes, a businessman was unhappy with the way his life was going.  Consequently, he consulted a pious monk for advice.  "I'm never satisfied!  I feel empty ... unfulfilled!"  To which the holy man replied,
 
"As the fish perishes on dry land, so you perish when you get entangled in the world.  The fish must return to the water -- you must return to solitude."
 
The businessman asked nervously, "You mean I have to go into a monastery?"
 
"No, no," replied the monk.  "Hold onto your business and go into your heart."
 
          In today's Gospel Lesson, Jesus prays, "Father, I desire that those also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am" (Jn. 17:24).  In order to be with Him, we who have been given to Jesus Christ, must go into our hearts.

Psalm 145
Revelation 21:  1-6
John 13:  31-35
Fifth Sunday of Easter
April 24, 2016
 
 
TEXT: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. 
                   Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."
                    - John 13:34

          In his retirement sermon, a pastor recalled many of the life-enriching events he experienced in his years of parish service.  He especially remembered "A wonderful older woman with a remarkable gift for cheering up whoever came to visit her."  He said, "One day we talked about how we endure and overcome our times of ill-health and loneliness, and she wrote out for me a little poem she had found somewhere, one which became her roadmap for her later years.  This is what she wrote" ...
 
God, keep my heart attuned to laughter when youth is done, when all the days are gray days -- days without the sun. 
 
God keep my heart from bitterness when life seems cold. 
 
Let my heart be filled with laughter in my days of growing old.
 
          Then the pastor added, "That is a lovely prayer that can be answered.   Even in their last days, our lives can have the stamp of joy upon them."

Corinthians 15: 1-11
Psalms 98
John 20:1-18
March 27, 2016
 
TEXT:          "He saw and believed" (John 20:8).

This day, as on every Easter Sunday, we celebrate Jesus' final victory. We celebrate the fulfillment of His life and ministry, and our fulfillment as a Christian people. The Prince of Peace has conquered, not by the power of the sword, but by the power of love. Easter is the day which puts us at peace with God, at peace with ourselves, at peace with one another, and at peace with the world.
 
When the Christian Martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was in solitary confinement in a Nazi concentration camp, he said he appreciated, as never before, the gift of just being with Christian brothers and sisters; just being together. He said he had a hunger for it that was greater than his intense hunger for food. Now we must hunger to be in a community of peace, in harmony with our brothers and sisters everywhere.
 
We're here to celebrate the Good News of Easter as it's happening now. We're here to rejoice together in the Presence of the Risen, Living Christ now. We're here to celebrate the Good News that death's terror no longer can intimidate or defeat those who live in the Lord by faith.  

Deuteronomy 26:  1-11
Luke 4:  1-13
First Sunday in Lent
February 14, 2016
 
TEXT: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and only Him shall you serve"
                   Luke 4:8

         An American philanthropist went to Israel to inspect several Houses of Worship to which he had been sending contributions. In an obscure corner of Negev he met with the rabbi of an impoverished synagogue. "We need more help," the rabbi pleaded. "This place is falling apart and the congregation is too poor to do anything about it." "Tell me, rabbi, how much do they pay you?" the visitor asked. "Twenty five dollars a month," said the rabbi. "That's all these poor people can afford." "But how do you manage to live on that?" came the next question. "Well, I'm a religious man," said the rabbi, "and if I didn't fast three times a week, I'd starve to death."
 
          Today's Gospel Lesson is the story of that supremely good religious man named Jesus who went into an obscure corner of the desert in Israel where He fasted for forty days without starving to death. "Jesus was led by the Spirit for forty days in the desert," Luke tells us. "He ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended He was hungry."

Psalm 96
Leviticus  25:  8-12
I Corinthians 7:  17-24
Independence Day Sunday
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
July 5, 2015

“. . . proclaim liberty throughout the land to all it inhabitants.” - Leviticus 25: 10

“For whoever was called in the Lord as a slave is a freed person belonging to the Lord,  just as whoever was free when called is a slave of Christ.” – I Corinthians 7: 22  

            On this Sunday following  the 239th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, we gather in God’s house to thank God for the blessing of liberty and freedom we enjoy in this our country, the United States of America.  The outward symbols of our national heritage are all around us.  

             Many homes proudly display the most familiar symbol, the American Flag.  Many impressive displays of fireworks lit up the sky at night.  Proclamations have been issued by local, state, and national governing bodies appropriate to the day.  Although the original Liberty Bell is now silent, many people will make the pilgrimage to Philadelphia and read its inscriptions from Leviticus:  “. . . proclaim liberty throughout the land and to all its inhabitants.”  All of these things and events are but outward symbols of something of far greater importance – the spirit of freedom.  

            The Apostle Paul declared something similar in his discussion about circumscion.  “Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything.” (I Corinthians 7: 19)   For Paul, it wasn’t circumscion, which declares us to be free of sin, but our relationship with God.  What is important is not the outward trappings but the inner spirit which dwells in people   That is also true of our patriotism.  While it is good to display the symbol of our nation, it is not the number of flags we put outside of our house, but the spirit of freedom in our hearts and the ways in which we act out our freedom which the flag represents.
 

            Abraham Lincoln in speaking of our provisions for national defense likewise once spoke of the importance of this inner spirit.  

            What constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and independence?  It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling seacoast, our army and our navy.  Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us.       Our defense is in the spirit, which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men in all lands everywhere.  Destroy this spirit, and we       have planted the seeds of despotism at our own doors. – Speech, 1858

            Later, Calvin Coolidge spoke about the inner nature of this liberty:

            “Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man – these are not elements which we can see and touch.  They are ideals.  They have their source and their roots in the religious  convictions.  They belong to the unseen world.  Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish.  We cannot continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause.

            - Presidential speech in Philadelphia commemorating the 150th
              Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 5, 1926

 

 

Psalm 92
Mark 4:  26-34
Third Sunday After Pentecost
June 14, 2015

TEXT: “With what can we compare the kingdom of God or what parablewill we use for it?  
Mark 4:  30  

          The following notice appeared in the window of a coat store in Nottingham, England:  

          We have been established for over 100 years and have been pleasing and displeasing customers ever since.  We have made money and lost money. We have had good payers and bad payers.  We have been cussed and    discussed, messed with, lied to, held up, robbed, and swindled.  The only reason we survive in business is to see what happens next.  It keeps us hoping.  We're optimistic! 

          Who is an optimist?  According to a popular comic of the day ... 
          An optimist is a man getting married at the age of 81 and looking for a house near a school! 
          An optimist is having three teenage sons and only one car! 
          An optimist is having three teenage daughters and only one telephone line! 
          An optimist is one who takes four pounds of steak, two pounds of charcoal, and one match to a picnic! 

          To which we might add ... 
          An optimist is one who has been captured by the Christian Faith. 
          An optimist is one who believes in Jesus' promise of ultimate fulfillment in His coming Kingdom.

PSALM 46, Response #2
John 20:  19-23
Pentecost and Memorial Sunday
May 24, 2015

TEXT: "As the Father sent Me, so am I sending you"    John 20:21

            It was early morning and the local diner was buzzing with the usual breakfast crowd. Suddenly, there was a commotion outside and a man at the door shouted, "Run for your lives. Big Jake is coming!" As everyone scattered, an enormous man burst through the door, threw tables and chairs aside, strode up to the counter and demanded a gallon of coffee. The frightened proprietor quickly produced a gallon jug filled to the brim with coffee, which the enormous man consumed in one huge gulp. Trembling with fear, the proprietor stammered, "Can I g-get you another?" "No sir," said the enormous one, "I've got to go. Haven't you heard? Big Mike is coming!"  

            In today's Gospel Lesson, it is the evening of the first Easter Sunday. The terrified Apostles are hiding behind closed doors. They fear for their lives. Jesus has been crucified. They worry that they'll be next; that Jesus' enemies are coming. But their fear-and-trembling is misguided, because Jesus is coming!  

            "The doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews," the Apostle John tells us. "Jesus came and stood among them and said  'Peace be with you... as the Father sent Me, so I send you ...receive the Holy Spirit." And "the disciples were filled with joy!" (Jn. 20:19-22).

Psalm 98, Response No. 1
I Corinthians 15:  1-11
John 20:  1-18
Easter
April 5, 2015

TEXT: "They have taken the Lord out of the bomb, and we do not know where they have laid him"
(John 20:2).

            A little boy wrote a letter to God which began with a question: "Dear God, are you real?  Some people don't believe it.  If You are, You better do something quick!" 

            We have gathered together to celebrate the Good News that 2000 years ago, Almighty God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that is -- the Real God -- did do something quick. 

            We celebrate the Easter Good News that, by the Resurrection Power of the Real God, Jesus Christ, who died on Friday afternoon was raised from the dead on Sunday morning. 

            There once was a Church that had a standing committee whose duty it was to go among the congregation while the sermon was going on.  And whenever they saw anyone sleeping, one of the committee members went up to the pulpit and woke up the preacher.

            There may be times when we could use such a committee around here, but never on Easter Day.  Because, for preacher and congregation alike, for you and for me, Easter is the day of heartfelt, deep-down, wide-awake celebration.