Archive for category: Sermons

Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, “Master, save me!” Jesus didn’t hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, “Faint-heart, what got into you?” – Matthew 14: 22-33 The Message

“Sometimes… you need to step away from the security of your boat onto the stormy sea of your own awakening to discover that a sinking stone is a far firmer foundation than you ever have imagined.” We embark on a series of worship that will invite us to explore all the places where we find ourselves–not just the seemingly stable and blessed places, but the ones that feel like utter failure, or the most tenuous at the least. These are the places where Jesus says “Do not be afraid, it’s me calling you out here to find the depths of your very soul.”

     Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out,
“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of
him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him.
They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching–with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” Mark 1:21-28

Sometimes we are captured by the boundaries of our own making. Things have become so toxic in our lives that we are bound, imprisoned, by them. Today, along with the awestruck worshiping community in the scripture story, we experience the power of Jesus to call out unclean spirits–those things that rage within us, limiting our ability to love and grow. We can lean on the authority of Jesus in our lives to conquer and be freed to move beyond our boundaries.

 

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” John 1: 43-51

As this season progresses, we will see people discovering this remarkable man named “Jesus of Nazareth.” The people had been waiting so long for a Messiah that it was hard to believe for some that the Savior had come out of a little town like Nazareth, much less the son of a common carpenter. How can we go beyond our own beliefs and assumptions about where God shows up? Can we move beyond these to open our eyes to the holy in unexpected places and people?

“While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.'” — Matthew 26:26

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth… God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away. And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” … Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Rev 21:1-6a

As Christians, we believe that when we gather around the communion table to remember the last night Jesus was with his disciples in the Upper Room, it is beyond just an “historical” remembering. It is also a remembering “into the future.” We gather around the table with all who have ever done so, who do now, and who ever will do so. It is a “little heaven below” that transforms us into the One Spirit. As we stand on the precipice of the new year, we begin this series with a commitment to “break open” our lives to God’s future for us.

“Unto you a child is born and he will be called Prince of Peace.”

The night of mystery and awe has arrived. And Jesus is born into a world fully human and finite in its pain and beauty. And God breaks in upon our lives yet again in and through our belief of that which transcends our human limitations. We believe. We believe.