The Lord has filled my heart with joy
Luke 1:46-55 (12/23/2012)
This is what I want you to hear. This is what I want you to remember. Happiness is personal, but joy is experienced in community. Joy is not about what the Lord is doing for me. Joy is about what the Lord is doing for us!
At that time you will say
Isaiah 12:1-6 (12/16/2012)
On that day, at that time, someday, when God brings to be the day of peace and gladness, we will all say, “Thank you, Lord!” But, in the meantime, today, in the midst of this world as it is, and in the face of our grief, we say: “We trust you to save us, Lord. We will not be afraid, and we will tell the world that you are here.”
A song of hope
Psalm 25:1-10 (12/2/2012)
How long would you be willing to wait if you knew it was not a matter of “if,” but “when?”
How are you?
Galatians 5:22-25 (11/18/2012)
Either you are living by your own resources, doing what comes naturally, relying on your own innate wisdom and common sense and character, whatever they may be, following the crowd or tradition or common expectation or your own intuition. Or you are living by the Spirit, letting the Spirit direct your lives, guided, empowered, strengthened, shaped by the work of the Spirit in you and among you, following not the crowd or tradition or expectation or intuition, but following Jesus.
Patience
Mark 13:1-8 (11/11/2012)
My dear friends, we are pregnant! We are pregnant, the church is pregnant, the world is pregnant … with the kingdom of God!
Love
Mark 12:28-34 (11/4/2012)
Faith and service and witness, all that we do in the name of God, all that we stand for, all that we believe, means nothing … without love.
Joy
Mark 10:46-52 (10/28/2012)
And yet, if that were the sum of his joy — getting what he wanted — wouldn’t he have said, “Thank you very much” and gone his own way?
Peace
Mark 10:35-45 (10/21/2012)
When we have enemies, when we are threatened, when we are attacked, physically or otherwise, what comes naturally to us? What is the easy thing, the natural thing, to do? The natural thing to do when we are threatened or attacked is to defend ourselves …
Did Jesus defend himself?
Goodness
Mark 10:17-31 (10/14/2012)
Because God does not play favorites, God’s goodness is shown in us when we do not play favorites. Because God doesn’t take sides, God’s goodness is shown in us when we do not take sides. Because God gives sun and rain to bad and good alike, God’s goodness is shown in us when we too are generous, with those who deserve it and with those who do not. Tell me, who deserves your generosity? And, tell me, too, who among us deserves God’s generosity?
Faithfulness
Mark 10:2-16 (10/7/2012)
Jesus really didn’t have that much to say about marriage. It was not one of the main themes of his gospel proclamation. In fact, Jesus talked about marriage only when somebody else brought it up!
Like this time …
Kindness
Mark 9:38-50 (9/30/2012)
It is kindness — not creative programs, not powerful preaching, not great music, not exemplary community involvement, not charismatic leadership — but kindness that will impress people and will convince them there is something important going on here, something that must come from God himself.
Humility
Mark 9:30-37 (9/23/2012)
Knowing that I am loved by God leaves me secure and unthreatened and confident, secure enough and unthreatened enough and confident enough to be just fine being last.
Self-control
Mark 8:37-38 (9/16/2012)
Maybe because Christian virtue is not about gaining control over myself, but about giving control to God’s Spirit in me. Maybe because Christian virtue is not merely about subduing my desires, but about replacing them with a higher and better desire!
How are you?
Galatians 5:16-26 (9/9/2012)
The mystery and the wonder of the religious way of being is that when I give away my life, I get it back again. When I bind myself as God’s servant, then and only then am I truly free. When I acknowledge that I cannot do anything by my strength alone, I am given strength for … everything.
The other side of darkness
Song of Songs 2:10-15 (9/2/2012)
Come, my love, my darling, come with me …
Be prepared to meet the enemy
Ephesians 6:10-20 (8/26/2012)
We are not fighting against human beings! Do you hear that? As Christians, as followers of Jesus, as people of the book, we must understand that we are not fighting against human beings, and we must act accordingly.
Slow down!
Ephesians 5:15-20 (8/19/2012)
When we crave the thing we don’t have, we overlook and even forfeit the value of the thing we do have. And when we are already living for the moment to come, we miss the wonder and glory and goodness of this moment.
Evil tells us to speed up, to live for what can be, and we run right past what is.
Who is this man?
Mark 5:21-43 (7/1/2012)
Jesus is no magician or wonderworker. He is king, the living embodiment of the kingdom of God. When he says the kingdom of God has come near, it has, because it has come near in him! And the kingdom of God is about … this. It’s about … us. It’s about this world and the people of this world that God loves so much!
In the boat
Mark 4:35-41 (6/24/2012)
Jesus didn’t bring the boat in which he sat safely through the storm. He calmed the storm itself! He didn’t merely provide a safe path through the dangers and terrors of this world. He changed the world! And that’s precisely what awed and frightened his disciples: “Who is this man?”
In his hands
Mark 4:26-29 (6/17/2012)
Can you hold your life in your hands? Can you hold the future in your hands? Can you hold the whole world in your hands?
A new song
Psalm 98 (5/13/2012)
All the earth is singing for joy to the Lord! So what we should do? Sing along!
Promise
Psalm 23 (4/29/2012)
None of us live except by God’s grace, and if tomorrow I find myself in the deepest darkness, it is God’s grace that will sustain me there. “I will not be afraid, Lord, for you are with me.”
Peace
John 14:27, 1 John 2:7-11 (4/22/2012)
It’s all about hate. Hate prejudges, generalizes, stereotypes. Hate belittles and mocks and ridicules. Hate disparages and dismisses and despises. Hate rejoices in evil. Hate can even find gladness in death, in the deaths of those it despises. Didn’t people hate Jesus this way? He was mocked and despised. People rejoiced in his death …
As long as any hate exists among us, we are all implicated. We are all responsible. It is us.
Motive
John 20:19-31, 1 John 1:1-4 (4/15/2012)
We may not be able yet to walk out of this sanctuary today of one mind about all the pressing issues of the day, but we can walk out of this sanctuary today with one heart, the heart of Christ that binds us together and sends us into the world as the Father sent him.
Dead
Mark 16:1-6 (4/8/2012)
Jesus was dead. He didn’t just faint. He didn’t just appear to be dead. He wasn’t mostly dead, like some character in a movie. Jesus was dead.
Not without effect
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 (4/8/2012)
By God’s grace you are what you are! Now let that grace have effect! Let God’s grace make of you what you are made to be! You have a choice. You are free. Christ has set you free. You are free … to live. So live! Live the life Jesus gives you! Embody his way, his truth, his life! Embody him!
The way of the cross
John 12:20-36 (3/25/2012)
The cross is the one symbol that unites all Christians, the one symbol that reminds us that in belonging to Christ we belong to each other, the one symbol that reminds us what it means to be Christian. That makes me wonder about churches that choose not to display crosses in their sanctuaries or anywhere in their buildings. Are they really Christian? If not the cross, what else can serve as a definitive symbol of our Christian identity, an irreplaceable symbol of what it means to be Christian?
Are you afraid of the light?
John 3:14-21 (3/18/2012)
The light has come into the world! The light has come into the world. We do not live in a world without light. We are not doomed to a life of stumbling around blindly and aimlessly and dangerously. We can see … if we open our eyes. And we can be seen. We can be seen as we are. We can be known as we are. We can be loved as we are … if we come out of the shadows into the light.
An intolerable profanity
John 2:13-22 (3/11/2012)
It’s all about the money. Buying and selling and making money is what it’s all about. It’s what life is for. It’s the lifeblood of our society. It’s the foundation of our civilization. But when it is all about the money, money becomes no longer merely a tool, one tool, in the service of human welfare, but instead, human beings become the tools in the service of producing wealth. Money becomes not our servant, but our master, and that is a profanity, because we have only one true master.
Be yourself?
Mark 8:31-38 (3/4/2012)
This is what life is — not grasping, but letting go. Not lording, but serving. Not hoarding, but sharing. Not taking, but giving. Not being, but being with. Not winning for honor’s sake, but losing for love’s sake.
Not following my dreams, but living God’s reality. Not being myself. but forgetting myself, for the sake of what is far bigger than me, for the sake of the One I follow, for the sake of life itself which is only mine when it is his.
Kairos
Mark 1:9-15 (2/26/2012)
But the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, my God, is a God of kairos, a God who acts in time, at the right time, at the decisive moment, to save the people and the creation he loves. God acts in time to save people in time, not to save people from time.
Passing the mantle
2 Kings 2:1-18 (2/19/2012)
One day we will be gone. One day we will leave and the task of defending the church, of being the church, of being God’s faithful people in the midst of this unfaithful world will fall to our successors.
It’s that simple
2 Kings 5:1-14 (2/12/2012)
Who loves you?
Who can you count among those who genuinely love you? Who want nothing less than the best for you? Who invest themselves by what they do in your well-being? Who want you to live, to be well, to do well? Whether you expect it or not? Whether you deserve it or not?
Wait on the Lord (part 2)
Isaiah 40:21-31 (2/5/2012)
So wait on the Lord … because we get tired. We all get tired. Even those who are young get tired! Even those of you who are young and strong and full of energy get tired. You reach your limit. You run out of gas. You fall exhausted. You lose heart.
Wait on the Lord
Deuteronomy 18:14-20 (1/29/2012)
Our desire to know the future is a reflection of our desire to be in control. We want to be the masters of our own destiny. We want to have the facts, pull the strings, steer the course. We don’t want to be taken by surprise. We don’t want to be left at the mercy of whatever comes. We don’t want to feel helpless. We don’t want to wait.
Speaking the truth in love
Jonah 3:1-10 (1/22/2012)
It’s really very simple. When you speak the truth, you may save someone’s life.
Listen!
1 Samuel 3:1-10 (1/15/2012)
When Samuel spoke, all Israel listened …
Do you want to know why?
And there was light
Genesis 1:1-3 (1/8/2012)
Everything that is only is because there is one who sees it, and it is God who sees everything. It is God who sees us.
What’s new?
Luke 2:22-40 (1/1/2012)
Our job is to see the light, to follow the light, to walk in the light, to witness to the light, to reflect the light, to bear the light into the world. The light of Jesus is born in us. The light of Jesus is borne by us.