Sermon Video: Hard to say Goodbye - Acts 1:6-11

Mothers know how hard it is to say goodbye; they raise their children knowing that in each stage of life they have to let go a little more.  After 40 days with his disciples following his resurrection, Jesus knew it was time to say goodbye.  Before he left, Jesus gave his followers a monumental task: to preach the Gospel to the whole world.  It would not be an easy task, it would not be a short task, but it would bring glory to God.  In the end, Jesus does intend to restore the kingdom of Israel and rule as its king, but not before all the world has been blessed through him.

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Sermon Video

The Plot Thickens...or...The More You Learn, the More There is to Learn.

One of the things I love about a good thick book on a subject I already know about is the chance to learn new things and see things in a new perspective.  As I continue with Diarmaid MacCulloch's book, The Reformation, I've been intrigued by the author's attempts to show the parallel developments that were going on throughout the 1500's in areas that converted to Protestantism, and those that did not.  It was not as if reform was absent in Spain or Italy while Martin Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin were working in Northern Europe, but rather that those initiatives toward reform took different tracks and ended up with different outcomes.  Some of the explanation is as simple as the normal N/S divide in Europe's culture (along with its climate and geography), as well as the differing relationships between rulers and their nobility, and the simple fact that Rome was in the south.
One particular connection between the Jesuits and Methodists struck me as interesting.  The Jesuits resisted the urge to become a clerical order, "We are not monks!  The world is our house." (Jeronimo Nadal, Society member, 1550's)  Likewise, two centuries later John Wesley sent out another group of traveling preachers saying, "the world is my parish".  That Jesuits and Methodist preachers would have anything in common may seem surprising, but one of Loyola's core beliefs was that the Medieval Church was wrong to think that priests or monks had any greater chance of getting to heaven than anyone else. {an idea he learned from Thomas a Kempis' The Imitation of Christ}.  That idea was at home within the Protestant Reformation, where the idea of the priesthood of all believers became a foundational understanding of our salvation by grace. 
What's the point of all this?  Am I saying that there are no real differences between Catholics and Protestants?  Of course not, but if we are ever going to see past those differences and begin to work together for the kingdom of God, it would help if we understood that our common ancestry, the Medieval Church, gave rise to reformers throughout Europe (not just in the North).  That we went down differing paths from there is obvious, but that both groups were in the process of reform should help us see that our paths may at some point run closer together once again. 

Sermon Video: The Reluctant Prophet, Part 2 - Jonah 3-4

After having learned that he cannot run away from the will of God, Jonah proceeds to Ninevah to deliver God's message.  To the shock of all, the Ninevites actually believe God and repent.  In response, God relents and does not send the judgment he had threatened.  Jonah, however, is very angry at this outcome because he wanted his enemies to be destroyed not forgiven.  God uses and object lesson to try to show Jonah the value of each human life and God's desire to forgive any who will repent, but Jonah's own heart is clouded by his hatred.  In the end, as Christians, we have no enemies, only those with whom we can share God's grace.  If Christ didn't die for them also, he didn't die for you either.

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Sermon Video

Sermon Video: The Reluctant Prophet, part 1 - Jonah 1-2

It can be easy to think of Jonah as the fool who tried to run away from God.  The truth is that Jonah was asked to go to the last place on Earth he, or any Jewish prophet, would have wanted to go.  God asked him to go to the capital of his nation's enemy and bring them a message of judgment (with the implied chance of repentance).  Jonah's flight is similar to the many ways in which we ignore God's Word and commands, of the human capacity to think that consequences won't apply to us.  For Jonah, it took a huge storm and a giant fish to get him to listen to God, what will it take to open up your ears to God's voice?

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Sermon Video

One of the little joys of preaching

How many things can you say about a well known Biblical passage or character?  Most of us might have a few things to say, but how about twenty minutes worth?  One of the joys of the process of preaching is that it forces you to look closely at a given passage of Scripture in order to determine what you should say about it.  As a rule, I don't look back at past sermons to see what I've said from a passage before.  Over time, passage like Luke's account of the birth of Christ will certainly be used more than once.  By not looking at the past messages, I allow God's Word to speak to me afresh and show me new insights that I hadn't seen before.  People have asked me, "If you've already read that book, why are you reading it again???"  That's usually in response to seeing me reading the Lord of the Rings again (I'm well past 15 times and counting).  My answer is simple: I find new things to appreciate and enjoy each time I re-read a book that I love.
Scripture is no different.
  This week I'm preparing a two-part message on the story of Jonah.  It's a story that is popular in Sunday School, kids love hearing about a guy being swallowed by a whale evidently (Of course they do!).  So what do you say about a story that everyone "knows" already?  That's where close examination of the text comes in.  I have to read it carefully; look for things that are obvious, and things that are subtle; put myself in the author's shoes (What is he trying to tell his audience?) and then in the seat of the original audience (What did it mean to them?).  Lastly, I look at the text as it relates to my congregation today; what message does God have for them here and now?
When it's all said and done, it really isn't that difficult to fill up to 9 to 12 pages of notes that I use for my sermon.  At times, the difficulty is in finding a way to stop before it grows out of control.  For me, there's both academic and spiritual joy in the process of rediscovering Scriptures that I've known my whole life and finding a way to explain that message to others.