For Sunday, March 29

Scriptures:
Jeremiah 31:31-34 They shall all know me...
Psalm 51:1-12 Create in me a clean heart...
Hebrews 5:5-10 Christ the high priest
John 12:20-33 Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies....

Sunday Bulletin Service Theme: Deep in Our Hearts

In the bulb, there is a flower, in the seed, an apple tree,
In cocoons, a hidden promise-- butterflies will soon be free.
(Natalie Sleeth, Hymn of Promise)

"Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." (Jesus, according to John)

Now that most of the snow has melted into the earth-- though, as I write, fresh snow is expected-- I have been out to inspect the garden beds, where even now little spears of green are poking up through the masses of dead leaves. The hosta, the chives, the iris are the early risers. Evergreen thyme and pinks persevered through the winter. The rose canes sport tiny, promising buds. The earth reminds us that the cycle of death and rebirth is the natural order of things. Why should it be any other way with us?

In our end is our beginning, in our time, infinity;
in our doubt, there is believing, in our life, eternity.
In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,
Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.
(Natalie Sleeth, Hymn of Promise)

For March 22, 2009

Scriptures
Numbers 21:4-9 (Snakes! And a sign to heal by.)
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 (Some were sick... and God saved them.)
Ephesians 2:1-10 (Created for good.)
John 3:14-21 (For God so Loved the world....)

Sunday Bulletin Series Theme "No Matter What"

Sermon Title: The Way of Healing

We have been looking at the covenant stories of scripture through the lens of the 25th psalm, "teach me your paths, O Lord, make me to know your ways." I invite you to imagine the covenant stories as examples of ways that are paved, and paths cleared, for us to be united with God.
The readings from the Hebrew scriptures, during this season of Lent, have been following God's covenants with Noah and all creation, with Abraham and Sarah and their descendants, with Moses and the people God brought out of Egypt. Next Sunday we will read of a new covenant promised through the prophet Jeremiah. But this Sunday, we have snakes.
I don't like snakes.
It's nothing personal, I know they are a vital part of the ecosystem, the web of life, and all that. They are just so sneaky. They appear unexpectedly, taking a person by surprise, causing her to shriek and leap away and twist her ankle upon landing.
Anyway, the story goes that God sent the snakes to bite the people because they were whining.
I don't believe that part.
No parent, however frustrated with the whining in the back seat while the family drives down the highway, would ever respond by throwing a snake over the divider between the seats. Well, no good parent anyway.
So that is one view of God that I don't think we should pass on to future generations.
But the truth of the story is in the crying out, and in the healing.
They cried out to God, and just as God heard their cries in Egypt, God heard their cries again, and in the assurance of God's presence, they experienced healing.

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress;
he sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from destruction.
-- Psalm 107

To whom do you cry out, in fever or pain?
How have you experienced healing?
How can the ministry of healing be a pathway to union with God?

For Sunday, March 15, 2009

Exodus 20:1-17 (The 10 Commandments.)
Psalm 19 (The heavens are telling the glory of God.)
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 (God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom.)
John 2:13-22 (Jesus clears the temple.)

Sunday Bulletin Service Theme: Beautiful Law.

Sermon: The Way of Obedience.

Inspired by Psalm 25, the sermons for this season of lent will focus on the "ways" of God, with an emphasis on the plural. In the long history of God's relationship with us, God is always making a way for us toward union with God. The covenant stories of our scriptures can be viewed as examples of these pathways to God.
The way of obedience is one way. The law was given to the people so that it would go well for them, it was given as a gift, not as a burden.

For Sunday, March 8, 2009

Scripture:
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 (Abram and Sarai get new names.)
Psalm 22:23-31 (A plea for deliverance turns into a song of praise.)
Romans 4:13-25 (Abe's faith is reckoned as righteousness.)
Mark 8:31-38 (If any want to become my followers....)

Sunday Bulletin Service Theme: "Always Close"

Hymns: #24 The God of Abraham Praise; #438 When Peace Like a River; #75 Lord, Make Me More Holy.

Sermon Title: The Way of Trust

The Psalm for the first Sunday of Lent was 25, the fourth verse reads:

Make me to know your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths.

Note the plural, "ways" not way; "paths" not path. Our scriptures teach us that God has been making paths in the wilderness for us ever since we were made. Our experience teaches us too: how often I have spoken with someone who was able to look back and remember a time when God made a way out of no way. After losing the job that he thought would evolve into a lifetime career; after losing the husband with whom she thought she would grow old; after being forced out of a home they thought they would never leave... years, or sometimes just months later, he and she and they have said, "I see now that God was gently leading us, all along."