Things to Ponder

Text: Romans Exodus 32:1-11; Romans 10:9-17; Luke 4:16-21

 

We kicked off a new sermon series about liturgy! God desires that we should learn to love God more. Liturgy is a tool to do that. But if liturgy is based in our wants and desires, we'll only be formed into what we already are, rather than growing into all God has for us. Liturgy based in love honors God, and forms us in faith. It is the great and wonderful gift of liturgy that in coming to render our service to God, God in his wisdom reveals who we are.

 

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Text: Matthew 2:1-12

 

Under pressure, the powers and principalities of the world showed us what they are – brutal, jealous, scheming. Under that same pressure, Christ and his story invites all people to hope. It is a global gospel for every single person.

 

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Sermon Text: Matthew 24:36-44

 

 

Advent is the season that is honest about the fact that our lives are too full for God’s goodness and abundance. When this child comes, he’s bringing some stuff. He’s bringing a new way of being in the world. He’s bringing forgiveness of sins. He’s bringing a sense of life and purpose to you. He’s bringing hope, peace, joy, and love to you in heaping helpings. And like a good grandmother on Thanksgiving, God isn’t gonna heap more on your plate if you already got a full plate! You want your stuff, or you want God’s stuff? If the answer is God’s gifts, then it’s cleanout time.

 

 

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Sermon Text: Matthew 25:14-30

 

 

The parable of the talents goes far, far beyond money to two ways of seeing God. One way: a kind, generous, risk-rewarding God. The other: hard, lazy, judgmental. The question we are left with: which God do we choose? The God Jesus points to is a risk-taking, initiative-seeking, joyful God. Therefore, reject any pull towards the hard God who makes you think you should bury your gifts in a hole. Choose the God who is calling you to his very own joy.

 

 

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Sermon Text: Luke 6:20-31

 

All Saints asks a very blunt question: do you buy this story of Jesus? We've heard this question before, but today it is asked by our loved ones. If that answer is yes, then it is our loved ones who say, Come. Draw near to Christ, and he will draw near to you." Where shall we do this? Well, today we have a table. This table is powerful, for here we are brought into the gates of heaven itself. And if we believe all that Christ says, then it is the very gate of heaven where the saints meet us, our Sunday meal. If we want to be close to our loved ones, let us draw near to this table and Christ's cross, and follow the way of Christ.

 

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Sermon Text: Matthew 18:18-20

 

Intercessory prayer remains at the heart of a local church. When someone asks us to pray for them, they are opening for us an entry to the sacred. Prayer requests are a sacred trust, a sacred encounter that needs to be nourished, cared for, and respected. Intercessory prayer takes us into a bigger, more complex, more mystical world, where God is living and active, and we are invited to participate in the healing of the world.

 

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Sermon Text: Luke 18:9-14

 

For Jesus the most critical categories aren't sinner v. saint, but the proud and the humble. Whatever we believe about ourselves and our adversaries, we’re all sinners. The question is, are we proud sinners or humble sinners? If we’re proud sinners we create ways to justify ourselves in our own eyes by favorably comparing ourselves to those whom we deem worse than us. But if we are humble sinners we throw ourselves entirely on the mercy of God.

 

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Sermon Text: 2 Corinthians 3

 

We serve a Christ who was prophesied about, came to us born of a virgin, did miraculous healings, said that he and God are one, walked on water, calmed the storm, raised the dead, was crucified and raised himself, ascended into heaven, and our only takeaway is, “Be a good person"?

 

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Sermon Text: Exodus 19

 

Rural churches sit on the margins of society and have an opportunity to live deep faith in the wilderness. Wilderness is volatile, and challenges us. But we have the opportunity to become acquainted with our deepest selves, to think God's thoughts in a contemplative community. Let us seek living into the quiet that strengthens souls and communities.

 

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Sermon Text: Matthew 15

 

Churches can find themselves leaning into personal devotion or social justice, when both are necessary to a full and vibrant mission, and fear will then drive our work. But God is already at work in the world, and there are wonderful and beautiful things for us to find. We should be prepare to be surprised as we seek the renewal of our communities and the world.

 

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