Sermons 2008

Big plans
Ephesians 1:3-10 (12/21/08)

It is as we begin to see that bigger plan, a plan that weaves together the destinies of people and of the universe itself in ways we would never have imagined, it is then that the timpani roll of joy begins to rumble throughout our bodies and our souls.

The thrill of victory
Colossians 2:11-15 (12/14/08)

If you think you are already lost, or that your life or your well-being or your salvation is in serious jeopardy, you are deceived! The battle is already over! And our side won!

And shared our common lot
Isaiah 40:1-11 (12/7/08)

The road is ready, and the people are ready, watching and waiting, watching and waiting for the glory of the Lord to be revealed, watching and waiting for God to come.

But he doesn’t. God doesn’t come.

Oh, God does come. God does come as he promised, just not that way, not by that road. God takes another way.

Why don’t you come?
Isaiah 64:1-9 (11/30/08)

Lord, you don’t know what it’s like! You don’t know how hard it is! You don’t know how hard it is to be human! So why don’t you come? Why don’t you come and see for yourself?

Not like the brazen giant
Matthew 25:31-46 (11/23/08)

People and nations will be judged by the quality of their mercy – not by the depth of their religious piety, not by size of their charitable contributions, not by their accomplishments in defense of liberty or opposition to tyranny, but by their mercy.

The burden of an aimless life
Judges 21:25 (11/16/08)

Forgiveness frees us being stuck permanently in reverse, always dragged down by the burden of where we have come from and what we have done. But we still need to know where we are going. We still need to have a clear sense of what we want to do and be. We still need to be saved from aimlessness.

A matter of life and death
Deuteronomy 30:11-20 (11/2/08)

But when you forgive a hurt, when you give a gift, when you offer comfort, when you visit a lonely neighbor, when you are moved to tears by a stranger’s suffering, when you defend people being treated unfairly, when you do battle with injustice, when you speak out against evil even when no one else cares, when you pray, when you turn your prayers into deeds, when you pray or sing or just keep quiet so you can enjoy God’s presence, so you can just enjoy God … then you choose life!

In your image
Leviticus 19:1-18 (10/26/08)

You are the mirror! You are the mirror in which people will see the image of God. You are the mirror in which people will see the image of God in themselves.

You call the worlds into being
Psalm 96 (10/19/08)

Evolution is no enemy to faith. Apathy is the enemy of faith! Thinking that any of this doesn’t matter. Thinking that any of this is not worth worrying about. Thinking that any of this is not worth caring about. Thinking that any of this is expendable.

Testify
Exodus 20:1-21 (10/5/08)

How do you testify to God’s deeds? How do you offer a compelling witness to the reality, the benefit, the glory, of what God has done? If it is only with your words, who will believe you? Or who will believe you for long? We testify to God’s deeds with our deeds.

Our Father
Exodus 17:1-7 (9/28/08)

What would it mean to you if the image of God in your mind and heart were not that only of an unfathomable mystery, an indecipherable spirit, creating and controlling everything that is, but of a father who cares about the cut on your finger and the ache in your heart and the worries that will not let you be?

Wholly Other
Exodus 16:2-15 (9/21/08)

Something is lost, in my opinion, something is wrong, with worship that treats God like a pal, a buddy, someone we seem to know everything about, someone with whom we seem to feel entirely at ease. God is other, wholly other. God is spirit!

We believe in you
Exodus 14:19-31 (9/14/08)

When we say, “We believe in you,” it is something very different from saying we believe God exists. I believe morel mushrooms exist, but I wouldn’t say to a mushroom, “I believe in you!”

To remind you
Exodus 12:1-14 (9/7/08)

The risk is that we will forget, that we will forget who we are and from where we came and on whom we depend. The risk is that we will forget that we have been saved and forget what we have been saved for.

Stop! Look! Listen!
Exodus 3:1-15 (8/31/08)

Sometimes when we don’t stop and look, God makes us stop. Probably not with a burning bush, but with something, something that disrupts our comfortable routines and upsets our plans and gets our attention and makes us look, makes us see – everything – in a new light.

Pledging allegiance
Exodus 1:8 – 2:10 (8/24/08)

Look into their faces! What do you see? Do you see fear, not of the strange and different immigrants living among them, not even of the king and all his power, but fear of God? They are directed by a better promise, a higher allegiance …

It’s not just about you
Genesis 45:1-15 (8/17/08)

Joseph was able to step back from the limited perspective of his own troubles and blessings to see something of the purpose and plan of God in the broad sweep of history. Can you?

Can you see that it’s not just about you?

Who is this man?
Luke 19:1-10 (7/13/08)

I can begin to see his face now. Those eyes – look right through you. They are looking at me! … He’s stopping! … Oh, no!! Now you’ve done it, ZACH. Right out here on this limb – and this fellow is going to make a spectacle of you – right here in front of everybody.

What do you want?
Luke 18:18-30, 35-43 (7/6/08)

Self-pity is so much easier than accountability. It is so much easier to blame everybody and everything for your troubles than to take responsibility for your own happiness. It is so much easier to bravely endure your lot in life than to do something to change it! It is so much easier just to stay miserable! Could it be that’s what you really want? To be miserable?

Like a child
Luke 18:15-17 (6/29/08)

Are you too grown up for that kind of faith? Acknowledging your utter dependence on God? Welcoming each new day and each new experience with eager expectation? Welcoming each different person with ready love? Daring to get close, really close? Trusting God in everything and for everything?

What you are
Romans 6:1-11 (6/22/08)

This is the gospel. Not just forgiveness for sin, but freedom from sin, from everything and anything that takes away from the fullness of life God intends for us and for each and every other human being. Not just hope for a new world one day, but the power to make the world new today. Not just that God forgives your imperfections, but that God makes you perfect.

Is
Luke 17:20-21 (6/15/08)

Don’t wait for peace to come. Live it!

Don’t wait for a just world. Make it!

Don’t lament a world where some don’t have enough. Give them enough! That is the kingdom!

Don’t imagine a world where love is the answer. Just love! Love God and love this world and love the people in it! Can you do that? That is the kingdom of God. When you do that, the kingdom of God is!

It matters
Matthew 13:31-32 (5/11/08)

The landowner didn’t plant the seed with birds in mind, but they are blessed by his act. The priest didn’t offer the bread with the street people of San Francisco in mind, but they are blessed by his act. What you do for Jesus’ sake, what you do for the sake of the kingdom of God, has far-reaching consequences and blesses many, many people far beyond what you intend. It matters!

When the moment arrives
Matthew 25:1-13 (5/4/08)

Jesus is ready to receive you! Jesus is ready to welcome you! Jesus is ready to invite you in to the wedding feast! There is no hesitation, no pause for consideration, no weighing the merits of whether to welcome you in or not. Jesus is ready to receive you, no matter who you are. The question is, will you be ready to receive him?

Will he find faith?
Luke 18:1-8 (4/27/08)

I like to think of that robin as a knight of faith … a knight of faith. What courage! Hurling his frail body against that unbending window pane day after day after day. What tenacity! Not giving up, scorning the pain, shrugging off the muddled head and the aching bones and gathering himself to do it again! What faith! Thinking this time – this time! – maybe the window will be open, or maybe somehow, some way, this time – this time! – I will be able to pass through the window and reach the promised land on the other side! 

Don’t hold back
Matthew 25:14-30 (4/20/08)

What are you doing with your faith? Are you protecting it? Building a wall around it? Burying it? Keeping it out of reach of any threat or any controversy, so when the last of your days arrives, you may pull it out and say: “Here is my faith! Unscratched, untarnished, unused, in mint condition!”?

Actions speak louder
Matthew 21:28-32 (4/13/08)

Jesus intends his listeners – us – to recognize ourselves in the story. How are my words just empty speech? How is our worship just hollow ritual? In what ways is my faith all smoke and little fire? In what ways is our claim to be followers of Jesus – obedient and eager followers of Jesus’ way – a sham?

Many are invited, but few are chosen
Matthew 22:2-14 (4/6/08)

The kingdom of God is not the destination, but the way. The kingdom of God is not a reward for good behavior, but the good behavior itself. The kingdom of God is not the blessing God’s love affords us, but the blessing that is God’s love.

Are you there? (Easter sermon – part 2)
Matthew 28:16-20 (3/23/08)

Are you there?
Hearing the story – I will be with you always to the end of the age? Seeing the story? Being the story?

Were you there? (Easter sermon – part 1)
Matthew 28:1-10 (3/23/08)

Were you there when they arrested him and convicted him and tortured him and executed him?

Of course you were there! You put him there! We all put him there!

Why Jesus failed
Mark 11:1-11 (3/16/08)

Instead of defying the oppressor, he died with the oppressed. Instead of confronting the abuser, he suffered with the abused. Instead of toppling the evil empire, he made himself weak and let it have its way with him. Jesus failed!

The path of obedience
Luke 10:25-37 (3/9/08)

When you choose the path of obedience, you will know suffering, not because you welcome it or desire it, but because you choose to go that way, to go Jesus’ way, to put yourself where he put himself – with those who are suffering.

You know the way
John 14:1-4 (3/2/08)

It is a hard way, a narrow way, but you know the way. You can take it! You can choose to go with Jesus, whoever you are, whatever you are. There are no prerequisites of wisdom or talent or experience. All you need is desire …

What we deserve
Luke 23:41 (2/24/08)

In the presence of God, we see that we are unfinished, incomplete, not yet fully formed, not yet entirely beautiful, not yet at the end of the path of obedience, but still on the way. But that’s the joy of it! We are still on the way … and our suffering is the way.

The school of suffering
Hebrews 5:8 (2/17/08)

… when the going gets tough we may abandon the way, or at least question the wisdom of continuing to follow Jesus.

Suffering brings us up short and casts doubt over the whole enterprise and pushes us to turn aside. If we do continue in the way, we do so only out of obedience.

The gospel of suffering
Hebrews 12:1-13 (2/10/08)

… the way of suffering that is meaningful because it is good, because it conforms us to Jesus, because it teaches us discipline and humility and dependence on God; because it teaches us what we cannot do and what we cannot change and because it teaches us what we can do and what we can change which is to learn to bear our burden lightly. 

You are
Luke 15:11-32 (2/3/08)

You don’t “figure out” the meaning of a parable. You experience it. You live it. You tell it and embellish it and play with it until it becomes yours. Or until you become part of it, until you enter into its way, into Jesus’ way, of looking at things.

It’s not fair
Matthew 20:1-16 (1/27/08)

Maybe it’s not about being fair. Maybe Jesus’ parable has nothing to do with fairness. Tell me, would you want God to be fair with you? Would you want God to be entirely fair with you, to give you exactly what you deserve and no more?

Just do it!
Matthew 13:1-9 (1/20/08)

Do you know what that’s like? Staying in your comfort zone, not pushing yourself, not talking risks? Maybe because you don’t want to fall. Maybe because you don’t want to fail. Maybe because you’d rather do nothing than risk embarrassing yourself or making a mistake. 

How many times?
Matthew 18:21-35 (1/13/08)

How many times? Maybe it’s not a math question or a numbers question or a matter of limits and boundaries. Maybe it’s not a question of the limits of the obligation to forgive, but a question of the nature of forgiveness itself.

My name is Simon
Luke 7:41-47 (1/6/08)

Jesus said, “You are right” … but was I right?