Our sermon was about change, focusing on the rich man in Matthew 10 who asks Jesus what will happen to his inheritance. Jesus answers with the commandments—what to do here and now. The rich man says he knows and follows them, expecting Jesus to tell him he’s doing great.
Instead, in Mark’s version of this story, he says Jesus showed love to this earnest young man, seeing something missing in his heart. The only way for him to see that is to sell his possessions and give the money to the poor, so he can see how much change he can effect in other people’s lives.
The commandments are not a checklist of to-dos, but a guidance to life a more Godly life. We can’t go through life alone.
Yesterday one of the things we discussed was how the devil has a playbook of sorts containing different tactics to lead people astray. Sometimes he uses anger to cause people to turn against things that are good. Sometimes he uses complacency to convince people that everything is fine and they don’t need to make positive and potentially difficult changes in their life. Sometimes he uses apathy, convincing people not to worry about right or wrong, and sometimes even that there is no such thing as right or wrong, nor lasting consequences for our actions.
One reason these tactics work is because these feelings aren’t always recognized for what they are. For instance, there are legitimate reasons to be angry, so we can’t just assume every time we feel angry, that feeling comes from the devil. So instead we should be diligent at examining what these thoughts and feelings inspire us to do and say, and whether those things are in line with the teachings of Christ.
Today’s sermon was about “how we become well when we are open to being surprised.” Letting go of the outcomes of our expectations.
On the original Palm Sunday there were 2 processions: Pilate’s grand military parade, celebrating who the Romans believed was the Son of God, preserving the Roman social order. The other was Jesus riding on a young, “unbroken” colt, bringing an untamed way of doing things, onlookers lining the way with palm branches.
The confrontation between these 2 kingdoms continues for a whole week. Not through military might but through suffering, service, and love.
During our Easter service today one of the speakers talked about the last few utterances Jesus made while on the cross. One of the last things He ever said in mortality was to ask God why He had forsaken Him. It seems that even Christ felt abandoned by God on at least one occasion of His life. But then the very last thing He said before giving up the ghost was to commend his spirit to God, thus expressing His trust in His Heavenly Father, even though not long before, He was expressing anguish at His feelings of loneliness and abandonment. We of course know that not long after that, he would rise from the tomb as our glorious, resurrected Lord and Savior.
We may feel abandoned by God at times. But Christ showed us the perfect example of how to respond in those moments. And thanks to Him, we too can have a glorious end if we will continue to trust in God in spite of our pain and uncertainty.
Our sermon today was about the vision of the Resurrection.
Have you ever watched a movie or show on your phone and missed so many details because you’re doing something else? Then you watch it on a TV and you see more. Then you see it in a theater or even go to an immersive experience like VR, and you fully experience it.
It’s an expanding vision. First, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb before dawn, alone. She saw that the stone had been rolled away so she ran to people she trusted: Simon Peter and John. John saw more than just the stone; he saw the linens. Simon Peter actually went inside the tomb, saw the cloth rolled up, then invited John in to see.
Mary was so narrowly focused that she didn’t see what had really happened, even after two angels spoke to her. Then she turned around at the sound of Jesus calling her name! She knew He was her Teacher!
“We get so focused on what we’re looking for that we miss what God is trying to show us.”
Then we find Jesus’s disciples together in the upper room. They rejoiced when they saw the Lord! His suffering and pain—His wounds had not yet healed—but also His hope! He breathes the Spirit into them, in the midst of their fears, grief, loneliness, and despair.
This week, the first Sunday after Easter, was about how the disciples all scattered, even after believing. Thomas doubted, but followed Christ when he believed. But truly blessed are those who believe before seeing. The priest talked about “shalom” and what it truly means that Jesus offered that. It’s a greeting, it means peace, it represents grace and forgiveness. Not only does Jesus offer this, but disciples do too as well with this greeting. What if instead of assuming we can do corporeal miracles like raising the dead, we, His disciples, offer this and mean it? What if we sit with those in need, hear them, hug them? What if we share what we’re blessed with so none go hungry? When we preach the Good News, we can do miracles in Christ’s name if we put our actions where our words are.
Our sermon was about the passage in John 21 where the resurrected Jesus told the disciples to cast their nets to the other side of the boat. This was a lesson to them, that even in their lifelong careers, there was still something to learn, a new way of doing things.
But also, this passage reminds us to meet each other’s needs with love, honoring where they are. And when you need rest from helping others, it’s OK to take care of yourself and assess if what you’re doing isn’t bearing fruit.
The Great Commission is so much more than spreading the Gospel around the world! We’re invited to share love in philia (friendship) and agape (charity, love for your fellow people). Love doesn’t mean being perfect or liking everyone, but doing no harm. And we can’t do it alone.
This week we had a sermon relating the disciples seeing the resurrected Jesus to the eclipse. There was a show of hands, and only like two of us actually saw the totality (we were at 94%). But most of us knew someone who did. Seeing the resurrected Christ was life-changing for the few who saw Him, going from cowering from the Roman authorities to having proof of God’s victory over death. But for many others, the experience was still shared in their own way by virtue of having been around those who witnessed it. And through these connections is where we have our faith. Not everyone will see the totality, but we will get close, and we have the community of believers to support one another and our faith journeys.
This week was about Christ being the Good Shepherd, and our priest talked about what shepherding was like. It was a dangerous, unwanted profession, where you were out alone in the dangerous wilderness. But the idea was so the sheep wouldn’t be alone, and could exist together safely. To take Christ’s example, we should be shepherds to one another, making sure we’re not isolated, alone, and without support.
This week’s sermon was about seeking Shalom. The Scripture passages came from Jeremiah 29 and Psalm 137.
What do we do when the world needs to be made well but our own circumstances are far from it? Wellness can be using one hand to help ourselves and using the other to help our neighbor.
In the chapter before this one, the people sang songs of lament in hopes of blessing. The prophet Hananiah said the exile would only be a couple years but Jeremiah said to plant ourselves where we are. Make do, sustainably, and work to make things different. Pray for the people who have been oppressing you.
Sometimes the cure for our own pain and suffering is to make sure all of us are well.
Wholeness is the joining together of opposites. “Shalom” is hello and goodbye, coming and going. the push and pull make us complete. Bringing the binary mind together.
This week’s was about joy, how Christians should not just be identifiable by our love, but by joy. We bear the best possible good news. We have faith in eternal life. Should that not bring joy? We should take that fact to heart, know that the trials of this life are temporary, and try to share not just truth, but joy.
This week’s service was on the Trinity. The priest emphasized that it can be hard to discuss the Trinity without heresy (, Patrick!) Because it’s hard to understand! Especially the Holy Spirit. And yet, complete understanding isn’t necessary. The Holy Spirit works through us even if we don’t quite get it.
This week was the last sermon of our covenants series, which covered all of the different covenants in the Bible and what they mean from a practical perspective. For context, the past couple of sermons described the Mosaic Covenant (think God’s covenant with the Israelites leading them to Canaan, all the statutes set in place from Exodus to Deuteronomy) and the New Covenant (set in motion by Jesus when he died on the cross). This week’s sermon was based in Hebrews 10 and 8, and it described how the Mosaic and New Covenants interact with each other, and what that means for us on a practical level. Our pastor showed us how the texts indicate that the Mosaic Covenant was never meant to be a permanent justice system, because instead of the constant sacrifices ridding the Israelites of their sins and removing shame and guilt they instead acted more as constant reminders of their sins. Jesus’ one sacrifice, however, was sufficient to render null all sin. Our pastor then clarified that God, through the New Covenant, will no longer even remember our sins in what is probably going to become one of my favorite sets of passages (Hebrews 10:15-18 and 8:12). Finally, our pastor demonstrated how in several other passages it is made very clear that the New Covenant is meant to replace the old (Mosaic) covenant, rendering it obsolete.
The New Covenant is freeing and based in love, and because it has rendered the Old Covenant obsolete it is futile for us to continue to harbor the shame and guilt inherent with sin. This is not freedom to sin, but rather a freeing from the shame and guilt that act as constant reminders of our sin, trusting in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus and the complete salvation from sin it offers.
Moving briefly to my thoughts on what was shared: I really liked this sermon, and I think it has put into words and with biblical references something that I have only recently learned. Sin is still sin, and there are natural consequences to bad choices, however the New Covenant allows us to continue to align ourselves with Christ and overcome sin in our lives from a love perspective instead of a fear/shame perspective. In my own experience doing something out of love appears to be much more effective, long lasting, and meaningful then doing something out of fear or shame.
Our service touched on Juneteenth and Fathers Day! The songs we sang were all African-American spirituals; we prayed for all the fathers and father figures who have fought for social justice against racism and white supremacy.
The sermon, though, was about financial wellness. It’s different from fiscal responsibility, which is how well we handle our money. Wellness is about not letting our money handle us. With all the financial questions we ask in our families, we should try to ask “What should I give?”. The idea to give often comes externally instead of eternally; we think of it as a response to how much we spent or saved, and all those what-ifs.
A friend of mine needed money for groceries since he’s about to go a little too long between paychecks, so I sent him the money I would have spent on drinks at trivia night last week. I drove there instead of taking transit so I didn’t drink anyway.
But whatever we believe about how much we need to give, take, and spend, we still fear that we may not have enough. Laws can’t grant freedom if fear is in our hearts.
Faith can eradicate that fear, though!
Haggai invites us to take stock of what we see in our lives. Look at what you have, what needs to be done, and how your community can come together.
Paul told the Corinthians that if they wanted to be generous, they needed to have integrity and carry that out.
He also told the Macedonian church that they didn’t have to fear that couldn’t do a lot with a little.
We have abundance because of what God has given us through the loving example of Jesus!
This is a bit late, but on Sunday June 16 my parish’s Gospel reading was Mark 4:26-34 which is about the Parable of the Mustard Seed. During the sermon, the pastor summarized a story that he felt illustrated the parable’s message. He said he read a story about a little girl whose father died and when she went to visit his body at the cemetery with her family, she found that he had a small grave marker as opposed to all of the other graves which had full-sized headstones. She asked as to why, and they said that they couldn’t afford to pay for a full-sized headstone. To remedy the situation, she decided to start a lemonade stand in the front yard of her house in which she made and sold lemonade for $1 per cup. Word spread as to why she was doing this, and people came flocking to her lemonade stand to purchase lemonade and also gave her generous tips when they did. After five days of working the lemonade stand, she had raised $15,000 from lemonade purchases and the generous tips. The company that provided the grave markers and headstones heard of this and decided to donate a headstone for her father’s grave for free. The money that she had raised was put into savings to be used for her future. This relates to the parable of the mustard seed in that like the seed that was sown started out small but grew into a mighty tree, her initial action to raise funds for her father’s gravestone started out small but yielded big results. So one small act can have a profound impact upon the world, or can be a steppingstone to achieving much greater things. The pastor then asked us to contemplate what seeds we would like to sow into the world.
Besides that since it was Father’s Day, the pastor asked all of the fathers in the congregation to stand for appreciation and a blessing. At the end of mass, the deacon also had the congregation reach out their hands in blessing of the pastor since he is a Father to the congregation and all he ministers to.
Our priest preached on Mark 5:21-43, where Jesus heals two people: A dead 12-year-old daughter of a wealthy man, and a poor woman suffering from a bleeding disorder for 12 years. The two stories were nestled inside one another, which suggests there is some link. Notably, the number 12 appears in both. The priest speculated that these two women/girls were meant to represent Israel, with the number 12 referring to the 12 tribes. The rich and the poor alike are part of the new Israel, just like these two afflicted people. And we should follow Jesus’ example, not forgetting about one just because you’re currently engaged with the other.
This week the service was about the killing of John the Baptist. Herod ordered his murder at the request of his/his brother’s wife. The priest mentioned how this story appeared in the Gospel right between the story of Christ, but didn’t include Christ. This speaks to how even in the world where we have Christ, there will be evil and hardship, and will continue to be so until the true victory at the end. She also emphasized why he was murdered in the first place: They did not like the moral guidance he gave. We should be mindful that we don’t become like Herod, and try to cast aside our moral compass. We should keep it close to heart.
This week, the pastor emphasized how Jesus didn’t seek out people to heal; they came to Him. They told Him when someone needed healing, even from death. It wasn’t just a matter of approaching God, but also growing as a community. Ultimately, death comes for all of us (temporarily), but in attempting to help people, protect people, heal people, we grow a community and grow closer to Christ.
Been a while since I watched a service but the sermon was about being partners in the Gospel work and sharing the responsibility of service. Whether you believe deacons should be appointed for life or only a few years. Or if church governance should be between congregations or overseen by bishops.
It’s about the relationships you make, with God working through it all.
Today’s service was my first with Tom living here! The sermon was about some of Jesus’ most famous miracles: Walking on water and feeding the thousands. Our priest emphasized that John in particular never calls them “miracles.” He called them “signs.” Which is a good way to look at miracles. They’re signs of what God is doing. When Jesus feeds thousands with just five loaves of bread and two fish, yes, this is a supernatural feat that defies natural explanation, but also, it was speaking to one of the way God was acting in the world. God was feeding people. We, the church, through God’s example, feed people. Jesus’ “supercharged” version of this feat is a paragon of this feat, and is a sign of God’s work.
The sermon was about some of Jesus’ most famous miracles: Walking on water and feeding the thousands. Our priest emphasized that John in particular never calls them “miracles.” He called them “signs.” Which is a good way to look at miracles. They’re signs of what God is doing. When Jesus feeds thousands with just five loaves of bread and two fish, yes, this is a supernatural feat that defies natural explanation, but also, it was speaking to one of the way God was acting in the world. God was feeding people. We, the church, through God’s example, feed people. Jesus’ “supercharged” version of this feat is a paragon of this feat, and is a sign of God’s work.