West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast: Recent Episodes
West End UMC
Messages presented by Senior Pastor Carol Cavin-Dillon and other speakers during worship at West End UMC in Nashville, TN
Love Boldly – We continue our walk through the New Testament and, currently, through the writings of the apostle Paul, with a reading from Ephesians 4. Carol reported on the United Methodist Council of Bishops’ creation of a new vision statement in May of 2025 (appearing on today’s bulletin cover), and in the next three Sundays we are going to explore the three features of the United Methodist Church’s Vision Statement. Jesus certainly exemplified “Love boldly,” and pretty much everything he said or did demonstrated that. Paul, too, loved boldly, as we saw in his words to the Galatians we read last week. What would that look like in our own lives? We’re called to love boldly out in the world, bearing witness to the love of God, working to transform the world. West End UMC’s bedrock belief, “God loves everyone unconditionally,” is an example. In this section of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul encourages the believers to love each other, which, at times can be challenging. We are also called to love ourselves boldly.
The Fruit of the Spirit – We continue our walk through the New Testament and, currently, through the writings of the apostle Paul, with a reading from Galatians 5. Today is also another celebration of Communion as we’ve been considering the theme of gathering around the table as Paul wrote about table gatherings. Carol first shares a story about her parents early in their relationship, highlighting what people did and did not do in those days to show that they were Christians. Those kinds of things have changed through the generations, but there are always boxes to check and rules to follow to show that people are Christians. Jesus, however, taught that love is the basis for one’s faith. When he healed on the Sabbath, he was confronted for breaking one of the rules. Paul wrote that even gentiles were enveloped by God’s love, but gentiles who entered the faith in Galatia were challenged by those who wanted them to abide by the rules. Paul’s letter to the Galatians was very emotional, expressing anger against those who applied the rules rather than realizing that God’s love calls believers to freedom from checklists to prove themselves worthy. It is God’s grace for us to accept.
One to All the World – We continue our walk through the New Testament and, currently, through the writings of the apostle Paul, with a reading from 2 Corinthians 5. Today is also another celebration of Communion as we’ve been considering the theme of gathering around the table as Paul wrote about table gatherings. Carol recounts her week with her family reunion and camp meeting, where she baptized 15 kids. It’s an annual event that has taken place for 200 years. She said that among those hundreds of people there have been arguments and conflicts. Such disagreement and conflict can also happen at our Thanksgiving gatherings, for example. The story of Adam and Eve reveals that they turned on each other, as later did their sons, Cain and Abel. Paul’s writing in 2 Corinthians evidences that kind of thing, too. The Christians in that context were from vastly different backgrounds, and Paul is clearly heartbroken at how divided they are. He begs them to remember that we are all one in Christ, and it is through the power of Christ that they (and we) can live into oneness. We are called to be reconciled with one another – right relationship with one another – by remembering that we are reconciled to God through Christ. We are, through this, encouraged to move toward each other, to examine our lives to see where we need to move toward another through reconciliation.
One in Ministry – We continue our walk through the New Testament and, currently, through the writings of the apostle Paul, with a reading from 1 Corinthians 13. Today is also another celebration of Communion as we’ve been considering the theme of gathering around the table as Paul wrote about this. The Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye, our Pastor of Mercy and Justice Ministries, is delivering the Communion Meditation today and she cited some writings and actions by Clara Ester, who was with Rev. Martin Luther King when he was assassinated. She also cites an action by a couple in our church who acted out of love some years ago to help Stacey. The Greek word, agapé, that is translated “love” in this Corinthians passage, points out that our own love is based on and fulfilled by God’s love. Love is an equalizer, putting us together as one in ministry, whether we’re ordained as ministers or not. Stacey says that her own work means nothing unless it’s done through God’s love. And God’s love is not something we have to earn through our own actions because it is God’s gift to all. ...
One with Each Other – We continue our walk through the New Testament and, currently, through the writings of the apostle Paul, with a reading from 1 Corinthians 11. Today is also another celebration of Communion as we’ve been considering the theme of gathering around the table as Paul wrote about this. In this section of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians he is quite critical of the gatherings of the believers in that they are not really treating each other equally, and here Paul is describing God’s economy to this diverse group. In the churches, all should be equal. Carol describes what may well have been happening in Corinth in those early gatherings. It isn’t simply that everyone can gather, but that all are equal. At the table the Holy Spirit weaves all into one body. That is who we are called to be, and through this meal we are called to be witnesses to and participants in God’s economy. Throughout today’s communion service, we receive commentary from Carol and Rev. Aimee Baxter about the history, meaning, and reason for the various pieces of our communion service.
One With Christ – We continue our walk through the New Testament and, currently, through the writings of the apostle Paul, with a reading from 1 Corinthians 12. Today is also Communion Sunday. Much of Paul’s letter has to do with gathering around the table, and we will be gathering around the table through this month in reflection of that. Today’s section of 1 Corinthians is the familiar description of the parts of the body and how important each one is. As we read this, we’re listening in on a conversation that is directed toward the new Christians in Corinth. Paul spent about 18 months pulling together the diverse believers as that early congregation was being formed, and he offers pastoral instructions to help them. Saying that Jesus is Lord was somewhat dangerous in the Roman empire, and to say that every part of the body is as important as every other part would have been quite revolutionary. Paul ends by saying that we are the body of Christ, so that for the world to be changed by Christ it is up to us as the body of Christ to enable that to happen.
A Life Shaped by Grace – This past week was our annual Vacation Bible School, and much of today’s service reflects that, including the Children’s Moment, led by Maggie Jarrell, our Minister with Children and Families. We continue our journey through the writings of Paul with a further look at his Letter to the Romans. Although this is the first of Paul’s letters in the Bible, it was the last one he wrote, and, perhaps it is first because it’s the longest. But it reflects the maturity of Paul’s ministry. The overarching theme is the grace of God, who loves us unconditionally, and in this chapter, Paul tells us how the grace we are given transforms our lives and our acts. It goes way beyond being nice, setting aside one’s own purposes for the sake of others. The large challenge governs our acts for those in the world, and Paul instructs us in how to treat our enemies, to love our enemies. We likely could not do this on our own, but Paul says it is through the grace of God that we have been given the ability.
Paul to Rome: Know Your Why – We continue our journey through the writings of Paul with a look at the first part of his Letter to Rome. Carol tells us about an experience of a family that always has a cup of spoons on the dinner table, but nobody in the family knew why that was, even though they had done so for several generations. Then she cites the book, Start with Why by Simon Stinek, in which the author says when we are about to start something, we need to state why we’re doing that, and Carol indicates that the first part of the Letter to the Romans underscores Paul’s “why,” and he gives others, including us, the “why.” She then recalls the historical situation in the time of Paul’s letter, with deep tensions between the believers and others in Rome, and between Jewish Christians and gentile Christians. Paul is coming to see them, but he sends this letter in preparation. At its core, the message from Paul is that at the root of everything is faith that God is love. For us, faith is our willingness to realize that we are all sinners and can hear the call of God’s love. This faith can transform us and open us to see that God’s grace is for all people. For Paul, the “church” was not an institution but a vision of a different kind of kingdom wherein all are accepted and included.
Radiance – This is communion Sunday. In recent weeks we have followed some of the stories of the early Christian movement through the Book of Acts, and today we begin a series of looking at the writings of that most famous apostle, Paul. We also read a translation of Psalm 34. Our guest minister is the Rev. Jeff Chu, a journalist, author, speaker, and preacher visiting from Michigan. Peace, glory, and pride are foremost in this section of Paul’s writing, and this is audacious, especially considering the people to whom Paul was writing, Christians who were undergoing Roman oppression. Jeff talks about the gatherings of believers who were quite diverse and listened together to Paul’s words. He also outlines the situation they lived in that place and time, with “church” being held in gatherings in humble homes, not churches like we have. Essentially, all the believers had were this gospel and their belief, not personal possessions or status. Jeff tells his own story and how he experienced salvation. He had us read Psalm 34 today because it reflects that God is present and good always, and Jeff spoke of it and challenged us to realize that not only we but all others are loved by God. In God’s love we find our radiance. He cited the history of our own church to review how, at times, we, too, have shown radiance.
Turning the World Upside-Down – Today we continue our readings in the Book of Acts with a story of Paul’s early ministry that will lead us to our summer look at Paul’s letters. It was said about the early Christians that “These people are turning the world upside-down!” Carol tells us a bit about the arrival of Paul and Silas in Philippi that was prior to our reading in Acts today, things they did that were turning that world upside-down and resulted in their being beaten and imprisoned. Carol thinks they might actually have wanted to go to prison to be with those who had also been imprisoned without due process. They even have mercy for their jailer, and the whole family of the jailer is saved. Throughout this story there are multiple examples of Paul, Silas, and thus the faith of God turning things upside-down. Living the way of Christ sometimes results in this kind of thing, and Carol gives numerous examples of how following Jesus can effect family or social systems and change them for the good.
Upon Each of Them – Today is Pentecost Sunday, so, appropriately, the scripture reading is the story of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, when, in a gathering of Jews from many nations on Pentecost, flames and a wind came, and the Holy Spirit filled them all, and they were heard by a variety of people in their own languages. Peter cited a prophecy from Joel to show that this was a predicted end-time for their salvation with the Spirit poured out by God on their souls. In Carol’s years of ministry at our church, she says there have been six different people who have come forward to say they’ve been called to ministry and are going to divinity school, but in fact we are all called to ministry, as indicated by what is always written on the list of staff on the back of our bulletin. The gathering in Acts 2 was of 120 people, well beyond the disciples, including women, and perhaps a number of those whose stories are recorded in the Gospels. While they are gathered, the Holy Spirit comes upon all of them – no one is left out. So they have different stories about their experience with Jesus and God. We all have different stories, and we, as individuals, are needed and are called to be in ministry. We may feel helpless and hopeless in our own lives, but this story reminds us of the strength and call of the Holy Spirit through our baptism. The Holy Spirit filled all of the people in the Acts story, and our life together in the church reflects this.
Conversion Continues – We continue reading in the Book of Acts as the early beginnings of Christianity begin spreading. The story we’re reading today is a long one, and we’re only reading part of it. As background, Simon Peter has been preaching, teaching, and healing. Our reading begins with Cornelius, a Roman centurion, praying to God. He is part of Rome’s occupying army, keeping the Jews in line. But an angel appears to Cornelius and tells him to send soldiers to Joppa to find Peter. Peter is having visions of his own, and at some point he answers a knock on his door and encounters soldiers from the centurion who invite him to the centurion’s house for a meal. Peter does go to the house of Cornelius and enters and is invited to speak. When Peter speaks, all in attendance are said to be filled with the Holy Spirit, much as happens on Pentecost. The context of the Holy Spirit filling those Gentiles is a radical change, and Peter understands that change as God creating something new. Carol says this should prompt us to be open to being changed by the Spirit. She cites some historical changes in the history of the Methodist Church that demonstrate radical changes, also prompted by the Spirit.
On the Outward Road – Today is communion Sunday, and our senior pastor, Carol Cavin-Dillon, expresses how our communion is an open invitation to everyone, not just to members of our church or our denomination, but to everyone. Today we start working with the book of Acts and its account of the effect of the invitation of Jesus to everyone, not just to Jews and people of Judah and Galilee, as belief and faith spread. Today’s scripture is a story in Acts 8 that concerns Philip, who is not one of the original disciples but who is a Greek speaking convert. In this story, Philip encounters an Ethiopian eunuch who is reading from an Isaiah scroll. As a eunuch, he was likely prevented from being a member of the Temple or even entering the Temple, and here he is heading home, rejected, but reading from Isaiah. Philip is inspired to encounter the Ethiopian and tells the man about Jesus and the open invitation of Jesus. The man asks if he can be baptized, and Philip invites him and baptizes him. This is an early example of God’s expanding table, and it’s an example for our inviting anyone and everyone to the open table of communion and faith. If we, ourselves, ever feel excluded and on the outside, we need to remember the open invitation of God’s grace for joining his kingdom.
Loving Jesus with Our Lives – Today is Confirmation Sunday, when youth who have been participating in the Confirmation Class are confirmed as members of the church. As we have been doing for a few weeks, we are following the Fourth Gospel, and our scripture passage for today is the story from John 21 wherein three times Jesus asks Peter if he loves him. The sermon today is given by the Rev. Maggie Jarrell, our Pastor of Children and Families. This encounter of Peter with Jesus wipes away the three denials of Peter in that earlier scene. This underscores the foundation of love as Jesus. Maggie says this scene reminds her of her life’s reliance on checklists. But following Jesus can’t be reduced to a checklist. God offers love in abundance, and we don’t have to earn God’s grace. The words of Jesus in this scene with Peter open the door for us to love our neighbors with our lives, being open to being moved by the Holy Spirit. Maggie offers some suggestions for how to feed the lambs, but she cautions us not to reduce them to a checklist.
No Condemnation – As we have been doing for a few weeks, we are following the Fourth Gospel, and our scripture passage for today is the story of the encounter of Jesus with the scribes and Pharisees who have caught a woman in adultery. Senior Minister, Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon is preaching, and reminds us that in John this is the second visit of Jesus to Jerusalem, and in his first trip he turned over the tables in the temple, so when he arrives this time, the religious leaders want to trap him, and to do so they bring a woman who had been caught in adultery and ask him about stoning her because that’s what the law says. Carol tells us that the law also specifies that there must be two witnesses and that the man involved is to be stoned, also. She discusses the part when Jesus bends over and writes on the ground and why that might have taken place. But Jesus famously tells them to have the one who is without sin cast the first stone, the lesson being that nobody is sinless. Then, later, Jesus talks with the woman, gives her God’s forgiveness and tells her to go and not sin again. We must remember that we, as sinners, are not condemned by God but receive God’s grace upon grace. In that, we are told to make every effort to avoid sinning going forward, but we will sin and yet we are not condemned but will experience grace.
Divine Economy of Abundance – As we have been doing for a few weeks, we are following the Fourth Gospel, and our scripture passage for today is the story of the wedding feast where Mary prompts her son, Jesus, to change water into wine when the wine supply has run out. The Rev. Seulbin Lee, our pastoral intern, delivers the sermon today. She is a native of Korea and begins by sharing a memory from her childhood of the people who lived in the neighborhood of her grandmother. Their frequent greeting to people was, “Have you eaten your meal?” This method of checking in with people reflects a sharing of resources, making sure others are fed. In the Fourth Gospel, this story of turning water into wine is the first of the stories of Jesus’s work, and it is clearly a miracle. But he is prompted by his mother, showing concern for the others in the situation and a sharing of resources. She hears the needs of others and exercises hope and imagination, a clear model for us.
Grace upon Grace – Today’s scripture is the first eighteen verses of the Fourth Gospel, familiar as, “In the beginning was the word, . . .” This week was the return to earth of Artemis 2 with the four astronauts who circled the moon, and our bulletin cover has an image of the earth taken from that flight. It is a cosmic perspective of humankind, much as the perspective of the first image in John wherein love was there in the beginning. From that universal perspective of love, the gospel zooms to humanity in the form of Jesus. Nobody has actually seen God except through Jesus, and the gospel records many acts of Jesus that reveal grace and love through God, and in the next weeks we will explore those illustrations in the Fourth Gospel. Much as one of the astronauts on the Artemis mission commented on the experience of the love of God and of each other on that mission, the writer of the Fourth Gospel experienced the love of God and expressed that.
Resurrection Re-membered – Today is Easter Sunday. Through Lent we have been reading the stories in the Gospel of Luke leading up to Holy Week and now Easter. In those stories we have noted a number of times when people, even those close to Jesus, had become discouraged and failed him, as, for example, Peter and Judas, but others as well. In her sermon Carol recounts a time when she was on a walk and some people coming toward her told her as she walked farther to look up and see an owl in a tree. She did and saw a beautiful owl and may not have seen it if she hadn’t been told. Today’s story from Luke is about the women who go to the tomb intending to pay their respects, grieve, and embalm the body. Instead, there is no body, and two beings appear and challenge them to remember what Jesus had told them – that he would one day die and then be raised. The women, upon leaving the empty tomb, immediately go to the disciples and others to report. Their report helps the disciples remember and re-member, that is to gather and spread the word and the love. At times for various reasons we face the despair those women faced, and we’re so weighed down we forget. But we are called to remember the words of Jesus and his resurrection, and, as a result of that, as the body of Christ to re-member, and as a church to spread the word and the love.
Jesus, the Love at the Heart of Everything – Today is Good Friday when we remember the crucifixion of Jesus and his hours on the cross. The Good Friday Meditation is given by the Rev. Will McLean, our Pastor of Spiritual Formation, and the scripture is the account of the crucifixion and hours on the cross as recorded in Luke 23. Will begins by noting how unsettling it is to be in this service with the story of the crucifixion, no flowers, no paraments on the table, altar or pulpit or lectern. He also points out that we as individuals have unsettling experiences. In addition, Jesus is suffering crucifixion, the ultimate disgrace and punishment in that era. But we note that from the cross Jesus utters those words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Then he assures one of the convicted criminals being crucified with him that today that criminal will be with him in paradise. And, finally, he offers, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” These offer, in this unsettling time, love of forgiveness, invitation, and trust, all of which are a good foundation of grace. The church Jesus thus established extends our arms to the world in the knowledge that we can trust our deepest selves to God’s love.
Sobremesa – This is the Maundy Thursday service in remembrance of the Last Supper. The scripture is the account of that event in the Fourth Gospel where Jesus washes the feet of the disciples gathered for supper. The Communion Meditation is given by the Rev. Aimee Baxter, our Pastor of Young Adults. She explains that from her experiences traveling to Brazil and Guatemala, there is much to enjoy, including flowers, food, and people. But she focuses on “sobremesa,” which is a custom of people at meals lingering and bonding rather than simply eating, and that is a very calming experience. So in this Last Supper, although there are tense moments, as when Jesus knows and says that one of them will betray him. Yet, he washes their feet, using that as an example of how they, too, should serve each other and others. This meal brings Jesus and the disciples together, and Jesus knows how important that is. We, too, can experience the sobremesa in our taking communion together in this service.
A Disappointing Response – Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent, and through these 40 days we move toward the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and Easter. The scripture from Luke for today is a scene where Jesus is brought before Pilate, then before Herod. In each case, Jesus does not really respond to their questions. Our Pastor of Spiritual Formation, the Rev. Will McLeane, delivers the sermon and gives examples of Biblical figures, such as Moses and Daniel, who stand up to authority, but here is Jesus who does not. Will also likens this non-responsive Jesus to the scenes and training of the sit-in demonstrations where protesters were trained not to respond to the taunts of those around them. In some situations, the non-response of Jesus can be, for us, disappointing, as we would rather he correct those who are taunting him, but it is instructive for us, giving us faith that in our own confrontational experiences, God is with us as God was with Jesus. This can liberate us from our cycles of anger and revenge and transform us from our expectations.
Peter’s Denial – Today is the third Sunday of Lent, and through these 40 days we move toward the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and Easter. The scripture for today from Luke is the familiar story of Peter denying any knowledge of or association with Jesus. Carol cites something many of us recall from our youth, watching Road Runner cartoons with the bird constantly trying to escape Wile E. Coyote. At times, the bird runs off a cliff and at some point looks down to realize there’s no ground beneath him and he falls. She then cites a book, Being Wrong by Kathryn Schulz, who uses that Road Runner image, likening it to when we realize we’re wrong, and a pit grows in our stomach. It begs the question of when we’ve felt like we were forgiven. Here is Peter, denying three times knowing Jesus, but then, amazingly, being forgiven by Jesus. We say we believe in forgiveness by God, but we must acknowledge that in our own lives in order to live as God has designed us to be.
Communion Meditation – Today is the second Sunday of Lent, and it is also Youth Sunday. The scripture is from Paul’s letter to the Romans, and it wrestles with one’s works compared to one’s faith. Three youth (Sam Wilson, Robert Harrell, and Peter Bigelow) deliver the Meditation, and each cites his history with our church and with various experiences in his years growing up here. Their message is that we are all loved by God, and that Paul challenges us to step back from time to time and examine our faith, realizing and feeling God’s love for us. Because God loves us, we can trust in God.
The Trial Begins – Today is the first Sunday of Lent, and through these 40 days we move toward the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and Easter. The scripture for today is from Luke and is a scene after the last Passover meal Jesus had with his disciples, and he has gone to the Mount of Olives to pray. Knowing what was to come (trial, conviction, crucifixion), he was in fear, and he prayed that it be lifted from him, but also that God’s will be done. That he was fearful demonstrated his humanity. In the scene, after his prayer, an angel appears to him to strengthen him. Carol wonders if the angel doesn’t represent the Holy Spirit. After this, Jesus warns his disciples to prepare for what is coming. We, too, in times of stress and pressure need to follow the directions of Jesus and remember that the third day will come.
Their Faith – Today we continue moving through the New Testament having begun with the gospel of Mark, and today’s story is one of crowds gathering to hear Jesus inside and outside a home. Some friends bring a paralyzed man to Jesus to be healed, but the crowd is so massive they can’t get into the building, so they remove the roof and lower the paralytic. Rev. Carol Cavin-Dillon relates some personal stories and says that any of us might be paralyzed at some point due to a physical issue or to some emotional or grief issue. She compares this story to other stories of Jesus healing people, where Jesus cites the faith of the one who is to be healed. Here, however, it is the faith of the friends who persist in getting the man to Jesus rather than the faith of the paralytic. She also explores the Greek word here translated “heal” which is, in other places, translated “make whole” or even “save.” This underscores the meaning of the congregation of a church, or of friends, whose role in someone’s healing is a depth of faith when the person who needs healing is in great need.
Seeing as Healing – Today we continue moving through the New Testament with a scene from the gospel of Mark wherein Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho and a blind beggar, Bartimaeus, called out to him loudly and repeatedly and told Jesus that he wanted Jesus to let him see again. Jesus healed him, restoring his eyesight. Delivering the sermon today is Rea Green, a ministry intern at our church. Rea is blind, which give her much insight into the story of Bartimaeus. She says that the story demonstrates showing someone for who they really are. In similar stories of healing the blind in other gospels, the blind person is not named. When Bartimaeus calls out, we don’t know how long it has been since he has been seen, and people around him try to quiet him. Jesus, however, asks him what he needs, and, seeing him for who he is, restores his vision. The lesson is that Jesus sees us for who we are and responds according to our needs. We are all beloved children of God.
Jesus the Healer – This week Nashville suffered a devastating ice storm, and several other congregations whose churches are without power have joined us for this one service, our monthly communion service. The Children’s Moment is delivered by Tyler Merritt, a storyteller, author, and actor, who did a presentation in our theatre before this service. As we work through the New Testament, today’s scripture is the story from Mark of Jesus healing a leper. Carol begins by citing many crises of the weather this week, and how many of us have been in great stress and have felt isolated. The leper in Jesus’ day was isolated because of his disease, and Jewish law prohibited him from being with others. When he cries out repeatedly to Jesus, the people around try to quiet him, but Jesus, hearing him, asks what he wants. Of course, he wants to be healed, and Jesus, moved with pity and deep compassion, does heal him, actually touching him in the process. From this we can learn that whatever isolates us, Jesus looks on us with compassion.
A Foundation of Grace – Due to a severe winter storm, church services were cancelled for Sunday, and this service was recorded Thursday evening so that it could be streamed on Sunday. We continue moving through the Gospel of Matthew, and the scripture is the last portion of the Sermon on the Mount wherein Jesus cautions those hearing him that they will not all end up with him, and he compares their directions to someone building a house on a rock versus someone building a house on sand. Rev. Will McLeane, our Pastor of Spiritual Formation, delivers the sermon and begins by describing his experience with a math teacher who was not at all satisfied with a correct answer to a problem but was most interested in how the problem was solved. Will says that for Jesus, too, the answer alone is not satisfactory, but the foundation on which the answer is built is crucial, and that foundation is grace. Will offers the example of John Wesley, our founder of Methodism, whose mission from England to the Georgia colony failed, and he later learned that he had offered the answer without the foundation of grace. Will tells us that if our life is currently shaky, we should look for transformation by building on the foundation of grace.
Let Us Pray – Today we continue moving through the Gospel of Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount with the very familiar passage in which Jesus teaches the people to pray and from which we have “The Lord’s Prayer.” Carol begins by citing a minister, Bishop Robert Spain, who heavily influenced her through her youth and mentored her in her own ministry. However, he once shocked her by saying from the pulpit that he did not have the prayer life he wished he had. Since then she has realized that most of us are beginners in learning to pray, and for us to examine what Jesus taught can be of help. When Jesus said not to pray in public, in essence it is to say that prayer is not a performance for those around us or for God – God loves us and hears our prayers without our having to attract God’s attention, and God knows our hearts. Saying “Thy will be done” can enlist us and shape how we act and live. Every pronoun in the prayer is plural, connecting us with others. “Give us this day our daily bread” can enlist us to help feed the hungry. There is much to learn from this passage about praying.
Going on to Perfection – Today through specific liturgy and acts we remember and reaffirm our own baptisms. We also continue with scripture from Matthew as we work through the New Testament in the coming months. In today’s passage Jesus says that he has come to fulfill, rather than to abolish, the law and the prophets. He challenges his listeners to love their enemies and ends by telling them to “be perfect.” Carol begins her sermon by citing theologian Karl Barth who told people to carry the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other, quite a difficult thing for us to do in today’s world. It is difficult to love our enemies, but we know that God loves everyone, and, encouraged by Jesus, we must strive to love everyone, too. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, talked of going on to perfection, and in embracing our baptism we, too, can strive to follow God’s lead to love everyone and thus to walk toward perfection.
Beginning with Blessing – Today is Epiphany Sunday, the day we traditionally celebrate the story of the birth of the messiah being revealed to the magi. But, as we’ve begun our trip through the New Testament, our scripture for today is from Matthew and is the first part of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus delivered to the crowds. This first part is the very familiar “Beatitudes,” such as “Blessed are the meek, . . .” and Carol explains that some English translations have “happy” instead of “blessed,” because the Greek of the text is a translation from the original Aramaic or Hebrew Jesus would have spoken. Our context is that in the past few days we have all used the expression, “Happy New Year!” and Carol asks us to consider what happiness means to us: comfort, prosperity, health, etc. But in these Beatitudes, Jesus challenges that idea by giving happiness/blessedness to the poor, meek, lowly, and in this sense the perspective of God is revealed. Jesus not only gives that comfort and possibility, he recruits those who listen and believe to support such happiness.
Awakening in Our Dreams – Today is the first Sunday after our celebration of the birth of Jesus. Delivering the sermon is Chris Dean, and it is based on the story in Matthew 2 of an angel appearing to Joseph in a dream, telling him to take Mary and Jesus and go to Egypt because of the threat of Herod. Then, further in that passage, an angel appears to Joseph in another dream, telling him to take Mary and the child back to Israel because Herod had died. These dreams of Joseph follow that first dream in which an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream, telling him to take the pregnant Mary as his wife, that the baby was conceived by the Holy Spirit. In his analysis, Chris gives some background for reading the Bible “like a child,” and then he relates Joseph’s dreams in some measure to dreams most of us have had. He points out that the accounts of Joseph’s dreams in the gospel are not detailed and elaborate, and perhaps the only crucial part is that God is present and communicating through those dreams. Even when Joseph, Mary, and the child are in danger, God demonstrates the divine presence in those dreams, and that is something we should take with us. Whatever is bothering us at any point, we need to remember that God is with us.
Today’s Advent Podcast is led by Chris Dean and Sheyla Soriano, two members of West End’s Spiritual Formation team. ...
Redirecting Obedience – Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent, and the third Advent candle symbolizes love. The Rev. Will McLeane, our Pastor of Spiritual Formation is delivering the sermon, and the text from Matthew about the revelation to Joseph that his pregnant fiancé, Mary would bear a son conceived by the Holy Spirit. Rev. Will points out that this is certainly the season for decisions, such as what gift to get for whom, how to spend our seasonal time, but also, for some of us, there are serious decisions such as whether to take a different direction in our vocation. If we feel distressed with decision-making Joseph must have been stressed, having a fiancé who is pregnant, but not by him. The legal requirement in that time was divorce, but in a dream Joseph is told that the father is the Holy Spirit and the baby to be born is to be called Jesus. So Joseph and Mary make the decision to follow God’s guidance. We need to recognize where, in our own lives, we resist God’s call and understand that obedience to God can be freeing. The result of Joseph’s decision is “Emmanuel,” “God with us!”
Today’s Advent Podcast is led by Kay Gray and Allen Patton, two members of West End UMC’s “Seasoned Seniors,” an Older Adult fellowship and connection group. ...
Today’s Advent Podcast is led by Mackenzie Rice and Lu Johns-De La Garza, two undergraduate students at Vanderbilt and participants in Vanderbilt Wesley. ...
All in the Family – Today is the second Sunday of Advent, and, as the first Sunday of the month, it is also Communion Sunday. We are not only in Advent, awaiting the birth of the Christ child, but we are also beginning a study of the New Testament, and today’s reading is from the first verses of the first Gospel, Matthew, verses that give the genealogy of Jesus back to Abraham, as the writer of the first Gospel is addressing Jews. In our time, many people explore their ancestry with various methods of tracing their origins. But, as with the ancestors of Jesus listed in these verses, a lot of people find some messy episodes in their ancestry. Carol points out several such episodes in Jesus’s ancestry, and that underscores his humanity. Nevertheless, as the birth of Jesus is evidenced as divine in the first Gospel, we find that we are no longer bound by any shortcomings in our lineage but are free to follow Jesus.
The Day Is Coming – Today is the first Sunday of Advent, the Christian season of waiting. Carol asks us to ponder what we, personally, are waiting for. She gives some examples of things people are waiting for, both as individuals and as groups, and says that waiting can be difficult. And we now not only await the celebration of the birth of Jesus, but we also await the second coming of Jesus. We have recently spent a series of Sundays with Jeremiah’s words before Israel’s impending exile and then enduring that Babylonian exile, today’s scripture is from Malachi to the post-exilic Israelites who were waiting for God’s control to resume and for their return to normalcy. Malachi’s words of deep hope from God, the last words in our Old Testament, promise a return of God’s justice and point to a day when God is coming. Throughout Advent we will await the birth of the Christ child, and then beyond Advent we will turn to the Gospels to look at the life of Jesus as the model for God’s return as leader on earth.
Investing in Hope – Today is “Reign of Christ Sunday” when we acknowledge and celebrate the centrality of God and Jesus as the overarching focus of our faith. Also today we are ending our series of readings and sermons based on the Book of Jeremiah. Today’s passage from Jeremiah is quite odd and surprising. Jerusalem is about to be conquered by the Babylonians, and they know that’s coming because of the Babylonian troops that are amassed close to the city. Jeremiah is in custody, placed there by King Josiah because of Jeremiah’s frequent and urgent criticisms of the king and the people. But in this passage, Jeremiah is instructed by God to buy a plot of farmland in Anathoth, just outside Jerusalem, and he does so in a very public manner. That action goes against all reason because it is clear that inevitably and soon Jerusalem will be conquered and burned. Yet through this purchase Jeremiah and God make a statement that one day God will restore the people and the kingdom, and thus hope is not lost at all. We, too, are encouraged to have hope in God and in the Reign of Christ no matter our circumstance. And we are encouraged to share that hope with others.
Bloom Where You Are Planted – Today is “College Sunday” when we celebrate the college students worshipping among us. As part of that, college students are taking part in much of the service, and Daniel Cantrell, a graduate student at Belmont University, is preaching. We have been in a series of Sundays during which we are exploring the Book of Jeremiah, and in today’s passage, the Lord, through Jeremiah, assures the Israelites in Babylonian captivity that they will return from exile and God will attend to their calls. In his message to us, Daniel cites some periods of his own life when he had lost community and was, in some measure, in exile. We, too, experience exile when we lose community, but in surrendering to God’s control, we can return from exile into community under God. No matter our age or our condition, God is not through working through us, and God can turn our exile into purpose if we are willing.
Even in Exile – In an exchange of preachers, today the Rev. Sam McGlothlin, the senior pastor at Belle Meade United Methodist Church, is preaching for us, while Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon is preaching there. We have been in a series of Sundays during which we are exploring the Book of Jeremiah, and to prepare us for today’s passage, Rev. McGlothlin reviewed the Book of Jeremiah we have explored to this point, his being called as a young person by God to remind God’s people of their relationship with God in the past and to urge them to give up the things that have caused them to stray. Now, however, they are in exile in Babylon, and today’s passage is a message to those in exile that they need to seek and enable the welfare of others, including their captors, in that foreign land. Rev. McGlothlin interweaves family stories to illustrate that sometimes one’s frustration and anger can prevent our reaching out to others, and perhaps there were some in Babylonian captivity who could reach out, but others could not. We, too, are called to reach out and minister to others, even if we are frustrated by our own situation. This passage in Jeremiah demonstrates that even in exile they and we can nurture others and live in God’s grace.
Living by Heart – Today is All Saints Sunday, an annual celebration of the lives of those who have gone before us, whether they be in the faith, in the history of our church, among our own families and friends, but, especially, honoring the lives of those West End UMC members who have died since last year’s All Saints Sunday. Their names are printed on the bulletin covers, and, as part of the Prayer for the Whole State of Christ’s Church, their names are read aloud and a candle is lit honoring each one. It is also a communion service, and the liturgy is largely from Thomas Cranmer, written nearly 500 years ago, and used through the history of the Methodist Church. Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon, in delivering the Communion Meditation, reminds us of the eternal love of God, felt by those before us through the centuries. We have been in a series of Sundays during which we are exploring the Book of Jeremiah, and in today’s scripture, God is holding out a new covenant for the people of Israel if they will return to him. Carol reminds us of Jeremiah’s place in the history of Israel, when he was reminding the people that God is ever seeking them, yearning, as God does today, for relationship with God’s people, and we can see that in those who have gone before us, and we, too, can respond to God’s eternal love.
A walking (or sitting) meditation that you can use to pray and give God thanks for your pet
The Potter’s Hands – We are in a series of Sundays during which we are exploring the Book of Jeremiah, and in today’s scripture, God tells Jeremiah to go to a potter’s house where he witnesses the potter re-working a clay vessel whose clay had spoiled. God uses this to illustrate to Jeremiah God’s intent to re-work Israel, possibly destroying it if Israel doesn’t listen to his word and turn from its evil ways. God had initially brought these people out of Egypt and to the Promised Land, living as a community in the kingdom of God. But in the intervening time they had turned to their own rulers, set up kings, and the people had split into Judah and the Northern Kingdom. God wants them to return to being a beloved community with God at the center and nobody left out. What might Jeremiah call us to be and do in our day? Are we not to be the church with everyone having a place at the table? Are we not called to be kind and generous to everyone? Jesus said that when we do these things to the least of these, we do them to him.
First, the Bad News – We are in a series of Sundays during which we are exploring the Book of Jeremiah. Last week the scripture and sermon were about the call of Jeremiah to be a prophet when he was but a child. This week the reading is from a section in Jeremiah 2 wherein God’s word delivered by Jeremiah denounces the idolatry and faithlessness of God’s people, thus giving the bad news before giving the good news. This section is very much the language of litigation in which God, through Jeremiah, first lays out what God had done for the people through history and then accuses them of abandoning God. These words are first delivered to people in power: priests, kings, and other leaders. But Jeremiah’s words challenge us to evaluate our own allegiances, whether we focus on ideologies or on ourselves more than on God. Although these words are harsh and challenging, there is always good news in that God has not abandoned the people but is urging them to turn around. Likewise, God is ever hoping we will turn to God, and Jeremiah delivers such words of accusation and hope. The future depends on our accepting God’s desire for us to turn.
Stop Making Excuses – Today we welcome Toi King, lead pastor at Clark Memorial UMC, as our guest preacher. We are beginning a series on the prophet, Jeremiah, and today’s scripture is the first part of the book wherein Jeremiah receives a call from God. Rev. King begins by asking if we’ve made excuses when someone asks us to do something we don’t want to do, or when someone asks us to do something we don’t feel like we can do. The call of Jeremiah is like that as Jeremiah offers some excuses. Rev. King gives us some historical setting for Jeremiah as the kingdom had been split into Israel and Judah, their kings had, through some years, become evil, and many of the people had either rejected or ignored God. God selects Jeremiah to preach God’s word to these two nations that are about to fall as nations with Jerusalem destroyed and many people taken to Babylon in captivity. Being a prophet, especially in that era, was not an easy job. Rev. King cites her own call to ministry, the excuses she posed when God called her, but the end product is that she is here, leading a congregation. All of us are called by God, and, much as God did with Jeremiah and Toi, God assures us of God’s presence and aid in everything we are called to do. We are called to be the Jeremiahs in our generation.
Jesus Beyond the Border – Today is World Communion Sunday, and the scripture is the story in Luke of Jesus traveling, and, on his way, healing ten lepers, only one of whom returns to praise God and thank Jesus, and that fellow was a Samaritan. Carol told of an experience she had some years ago visiting a children’s hospital in Israel where staff members were from various countries and the patients, children, were from various places as well. But together the atmosphere at the hospital was inclusive and focused on healing. In Jesus’ time, Samaritans and Jews did not get along, but in this specific story, Jesus was inclusive of the ten lepers, no matter their origins. At the end of the healing he instructs them to go see a priest to get clearance that they are healed. Most do, focused on getting back to the lives they led before coming down with leprosy. But the one who turned back to Jesus came not only to thank him but to become a follower. It is an example for us on World Communion Sunday, following the example of Jesus and the leper to reach out to everyone and include them.
Lost and Found – Today’s scripture involves the familiar parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, but of critical importance is the setting for them. Jesus is having dinner with tax collectors and “sinners,” but the Pharisees and scribes were not happy that he was gathering with such people. The parables challenge their objections and demonstrate God’s willingness to seek out any who are lost and rejoice greatly when they return to the fold. In laying this out for us, Carol gives an example of our Methodist ancestor, John Wesley, who, in an era when it was not at all proper to preach anywhere but in a church building, went to the mines and preached to the miners, who, having been on the outskirts of society, were drawn in by God’s invitation through Wesley’s preaching. This evolved into Wesley’s later setting up weekly meetings of such people, the ancestors of our Sunday school gatherings. This message is important for each of us if/when we are feeling lost. God is active in seeking us out, and if and when we return to the fold, there is great rejoicing. NOTE: There was a microphone issue during the scripture reading.
Today’s scripture is a scene from Luke wherein Jesus tells his disciples a story about a rich man and another man named Lazarus who is covered in sores and frequently lies on the steps of the rich man’s house, hoping for food scraps. But the rich man pays no attention to Lazarus, failing to see him as a human sibling. Jesus frequently in parables and in the beatitudes, for example, calls on people to love and care for others, calling on us to mind the gap between ourselves and others. In our current day and time, doing so can be a great challenge, but we are all members of God’s family, challenged to embrace those whom we might not have considered before.
A Shrewd Investment – Today’s scripture is a scene from Luke wherein Jesus tells his disciples a parable about a rich man who finds out that his manager has been squandering his property and confronts that manager, This parable can evoke questions and can be confusing because the manager, to save himself, does some things we might have expected from someone who is conniving and not honest. It can be puzzling that Jesus would have told this example of the rich and dishonest to his listeners who were likely not wealthy. The manager is clearly looking out for himself, and perhaps Jesus is encouraging his followers to be creative and clever in the economy of God, where, in Luke’s gospel, there is an emphasis that the last shall be first. Is Jesus encouraging us to cancel debts and exhibit forgiveness and grace creatively where people who have been pushed out are, by our creativity and cleverness, pulled in and embraced? Carol offers some real-life examples of people who used shrewdness to advance faith and further God’s grace.
Scripture Reflections – Today is Children’s Sabbath, and children are leading many parts of the service, including the sermon. Emilia Fazio and Caroline Thompson deliver the sermon consisting of reflections on the very familiar Parable of the Mustard Seed in Luke 13. Small things can make big differences, so they encourage us to do kind deeds every day that can grow into amazing things. One example given was Greta Thunberg, a young Swedish activist who made great strides in raising awareness of climate change across the world.
From Big Fan to True Disciple – Today’s scripture is a scene from Luke where Jesus is addressing the crowds and challenges them in a number of ways, some of which seem very harsh. Carol begins by talking about Taylor Swift and the hordes of her fans. This story in Luke has Jesus surrounded by hordes of people, fans, who travel with Jesus. In the Gospel of Luke there are concentric circles of people with Jesus, the closest of which is his group of disciples. This story distinguishes what it means to be a disciple as opposed to being a fan of Jesus, and the question for us is whether we are fans or disciples. Carol refers to a sermon of John Wesley called, “Almost Christian.” This challenge by Jesus in Luke for people to be disciples can seem very challenging for us. In the story, Jesus doesn’t reject or condemn those who aren’t disciples but is inviting them to become disciples. This comparison is also hyperbole, telling them/us that to become a disciple we have to be all-in and live a life of full commitment. When Jesus says, “If you do not hate” family, he likely does not mean for you turn your life against your family, but letting the love of Christ be your guide is crucial. On another of the points in the words of Jesus, the question is how we manage our possessions and regard them. For us, the question is whether we’re a fan or a disciple. Jesus does not reject those who aren’t disciples, but he encourages them, and us, to commit to move toward discipleship.
Lifted – Today’s scripture is a story about Jesus healing a crippled woman, a story that is found only in the Gospel of Luke. There is little detail about the scene in the text, so Carol asks us to imagine what it must have involved. According to the writer of the gospel, Jesus frequently taught in the synagogue, and this crippled woman came in late on this day. Some probably knew her and were used to this. In that time, many believed that someone crippled was suffering that condition because of some sin. Jesus, however, had compassion, reached out and touched her, thus healing her. For the first time in eighteen years, the woman rose up to look into the eyes of Jesus. She was now free, rejoicing, and praising God. A lesson in this is that God wants to liberate us from anything that is binding us. But in the story the leader of the synagogue then rose up to hijack the whole scene because this was done on the Sabbath, blaming the woman for coming to be healed on the Sabbath, which represents the condemnation that some religious leaders offer. Jesus confronted that leader with a harsh response, a message that God offers freedom and love to those who find themselves bound, bound by physical limits, depression, whatever. We, as individuals and as a church, are invited by this to be a people of grace such that anyone feels welcomed and knows they are accepted and loved.
For the Sake of the Joy – Today’s scripture is from the letter to the Hebrews, and the Rev. Will McLeane, our Pastor of Spiritual Formation, is preaching. He begins by asking us to recall times when we were in the midst of something and suddenly wondered why we are doing what we’re doing, and what’s the end of all of it? The writer of Hebrews is addressing a community that is experiencing that kind of questioning, perhaps because of their questions about following Jesus. The letter has many references to figures of faith in the Hebrew scriptures as examples in the face of difficulty, such as Abraham who was summoned to leave his home, land, and people and travel to a place he did not know. Will gave some personal examples of such, as he had felt the pressure of being the lead runner in a 4x800-meter relay. Another example was that of a cyclist at the head of a peloton in a bicycle race, that leader not only dealing with the headwinds, but the cyclist’s aerodynamics actually pulling those behind along. In this sense, Jesus, as our example, pulls us through. Jesus overcame the cross and will carry us through life and into the joy of the saints. The first two verses of Hebrews 12 offer that challenge to “lay aside every weight” and persevere in the race, looking to Jesus who endured the cross and is our leader, calling us to care for others, study scripture, gather for worship, and experience the fulness of Christ’s joy.
Exhaling Hallelujah – In our last Sunday of our summer look at psalms, today we are considering Psalm 150, the last psalm in the Book of Psalms. The word, “hallelujah,” derives from the Hebrew, a blend of two words that mean “Praise YAH! This final psalm in the Book of Psalms is a crescendo of praise for God. Carol first briefly reviews some of the psalms we’ve studied this summer, the range of situations and emotions they address, and today with this final psalm we are at the culminating call to praise. Psalms and this psalm are also very much in the middle of the scriptures, a highlight and focus for all of the scriptures. What does it mean to praise the Lord? Perhaps it is offering our whole selves toward God. Praise is not transactional, offering God praise for something in return, rather we are called to offer ourselves in praise to our Creator. Besides God, there is nothing or no one worthy of our praise, and we praise God for God’s steadfast love and faithfulness to us, even at times when we’re in the midst of grief or longing. The psalm says there is no place where we cannot praise God, even if we’re not in the sanctuary. It also calls on all of creation to praise God. Our very breath can be praise, exhaling “Hallelujah” with every breath.
Fully Known – In our summer look at psalms, today we are considering Psalm 139. Carol points out that there are many people around our church in apartments, condominiums, hotels, hospitals, and dorms, and she cites research that shows that individuals are often lonely. As a church, how do we deal with that, not only the loneliness in those people, but also the loneliness of those in our congregation? Psalm 139, attributed to David, expresses awareness that God knows the psalmist intimately and has known the psalmist, even before his birth. This is comforting, but the psalm also expresses knowledge that God is always watching, and that can be uncomfortable. Trying to hide our doubts and things we would rather God doesn’t know can be damaging, but realizing that God does know our innermost thoughts can also be cleansing. The last part of the psalm expresses the psalmist’s hatred for certain people and things, and since God knows everything about the psalmist, perhaps it is best to confess such feelings and come clean. The psalmist ends by asking God to keep searching him. This is a gift of witness we can offer to the lonely, loving each other, holding each other accountable, never forgetting that each of us is completely known and loved by God.
The Power of Stillness – In our summer look at psalms, today we are considering Psalm 46. Rev. Carol Cavin-Dillon begins with a look at the hymn, “It Is Well with My Soul,” an arrangement of which was sung early in the service by Rebecca and Kyle Collier, and which Carol’s extended family sang three times during their annual reunion and camp meeting last week. The hymn’s author, Horatio Spafford, wrote it in 1873 after unimaginable losses of his son to scarlet fever, and then losses of his wife and four daughters in a shipwreck. The hymn and situation for its writing is very much demonstrative of Psalm 46 where the psalmist expresses that God is a very present help in trouble. The psalm describes both natural disasters and human issues such as wars, and in the midst of such troubles it encourages us that God is ever present and is our refuge. The psalm cautions us to be still and know God’s power and presence. Carol gives us some examples, both Biblical and in our lives, of how crucial and important stillness can be. Stillness may not be an end in itself, but it may be a means to know God’s presence and realize that God’s love will always hold us.
A Psalm for Our Worst Days – In our summer look at psalms, today we are considering Psalm 22, and tenor, Scott Brons, chants the reading of the psalm with the congregation singing a response, and the Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye, our Pastor of Mercy and Justice Ministries, delivers the sermon. Sometimes the words of scripture are desperate, expressed by someone being utterly alone, misunderstood, surrounded by enemies, and this psalm is a prime example. According to two of the Gospels, lines from this psalm were quoted by Jesus from the cross, which makes it very familiar for us. Stacey preached a sermon on Psalm 22 a year ago in her prison ministry to prisoners who may be feeling more pain than most of us. In this psalm the psalmist expresses: Where is God’s care when I need it most? I have a problem with those around me. I am experiencing impending death. It is clear how this would have been on the mind of Jesus on the cross. And it’s also clear that this psalm expresses one’s feelings in the midst of the flood in Texas, or in many other situations in our day. But the psalm ends with a statement of faith that declares nobody is forgotten or beneath the concern or care of God. The psalm is good news for the lowly, the afflicted, the poor. Even death does not have the final say. God is always with us, even through pain and death.
The God Who Sees – In our summer look at psalms, today we are considering Psalm 94, and we read it as a call-and-response reading with the congregation. In some ways it is a shocking psalm, crying out for God’s judgment on the wicked, those who oppress God’s people, but it is certainly appropriate for us to read for Justice Sunday. Carol begins her sermon by considering the separation of church and state, citing times in history when church support for a particular king or group was injurious, when people of faith want to be in power. But there have also been significant times when the church has held leaders accountable and have advocated for the oppressed. Throughout the Bible, beginning with the Ten Commandments, we are called on to care for the widow and the orphan. Jesus was the prime example, spending time with those who were outcasts. Psalm 94 cries out to God because the leaders of the people are unjust and there are many who are suffering. We are called to look at our society through the lens of God’s heart. The writer of Psalm 94 turns toward God’s justice. What might we do as a church together to forward God’s desire for justice, love, and hope?
The One (and Only One) We Worship – In our summer look at psalms, today we are focusing on the very familiar Psalm 100. It is a short psalm that is all about worship. Carol describes Sundays for most of us, parts of our worship, then asks why we go through all the trouble to get ready and come to Sunday worship. It is God who gives us life, who accepts us, who loves us, and our response is that God is worthy of our devotion. There are many people and things we can worship, but only God is worthy of our worship, and the psalmist gives some examples of how we can worship, entering with thanksgiving and praise. But sometimes we come into worship with anger, frustration, confusion from things in our lives such as the deaths of the children in the Texas floods this week. But the psalmist tells us to come into the presence of God with praise and singing, and doing so can be healing. As we worship God, we, ourselves, can become more in God’s fold and behave more in God’s spirit.
On the Road with God – In our summer look at psalms, today we are focusing on Psalm 121. Instead of reading this psalm in the scripture section of our service it is being sung with a sung response from the congregation, reminding us that the psalms were very likely originally sung. This past week was our annual Vacation Bible School for elementary school children, and that is a significant part of the worship service today. The theme for VBS was “Road Trip,” and one of the songs, which they sang today in the Children’s Moment, was “On the Road with God.” The sermon begins by noting that much of scripture reflects that theme of journeying. Psalm 121 is in a section of “Psalms of Ascent” in the midst of the Book of Psalms, highlighting psalms that may well have been sung as part of traveling to Jerusalem. Psalm 121 is a blessing for a traveler. The word, “keep” (or “keeper”) referring to God appears six times in this psalm. God as our keeper does not mean we are protected from illness or job loss or such things, but it does mean that God is with us no matter what happens to us. We are not alone. We can see it not only in our own lives but in the lives of those around us. Going forward, what does it mean for us that God is with us? It means that we can step out on our journey with boldness and without fear, joining the throng as individuals joined the throng traveling to Jerusalem.
The One True Shepherd – In our summer look at psalms, today’s scripture is the very familiar 23rd Psalm. Senior Minister, the Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon begins by talking about the familiarity of this psalm as it has landed in the midst of a time of great conflict. The psalms run the gamut of emotions with some full of praise and joy and others expressing despair. While she leads us through the psalm in her sermon, she invites us to explore our own feelings as we explore it, too. “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” is a declaration that reminds us that nobody leads us except “the Lord,” and because of that we lack nothing. The next part of the psalm describes what the Lord provides for us. We are charged with working for justice and the furtherance of God’s plan, but we are also invited to re-charge through rest and also through worship together. All are invited to God’s table, including those who might be “enemies.” The psalm ends with the assurance that we are not pursued by enemies but by the goodness and lovingkindness of God and the declaration that we will live with the Lord forever.
Trusting Thirst – Today is Trinity Sunday, and, in our summer look at psalms, today’s is Psalm 42. The Rev. Will McLeane, Pastor of Spiritual Formation, delivers the sermon. This psalm is full of emotion, pain, and longing as a thirst for God. Thirst is something that connects us to all living beings, and Psalm 42 is based on the desperate thirst for God. Will begins with an article he recently read on how hydration is critical to the players in the French Open tennis tournament. This particular psalm through the centuries has expressed desperation and longing for God. Even the last words of Jesus express such a situation. We often, in times of desperation, reach out to things like food, drink, drugs, but the psalmist reaches out to God. Psalms often say it like it is, and this one remembers how it once was, how it should be, but says that it is not that way now, and it appeals to God to restore things. The generosity of God is the bedrock of faith. Rev. Will gives several current examples of desperation where those suffering are also exemplifying their faith, and his central example is that of Mother Teresa. Even if we can’t imagine God’s blessing in the midst of our troubles, our courage in faith can bless those around us.
One in the Spirit – Today is Pentecost Sunday, and, in addition to our Summer of Psalms reading from Psalm 133, we hear the Pentecost story from the Book of Acts when, after the crucifixion and resurrection, believers are gathered and, miraculously, see and feel the flames of the Holy Spirit. In her sermon, Carol describes sitting in her office early in the week and hearing an odd sound, then realizing it was a bird at the window, attempting to get in. Not recognizing the type of bird, she consulted her phone app and was struck by the beauty and diversity of the breeds of birds, their features, and their songs. We live in God’s creation where the variety of lands, plants, animals, and people is demonstrative of divine creativity and design. In the Pentecost story, one of the features is that people are gathered from many lands and languages, and yet, in the Spirit, they can hear and understand those other tongues. God’s mercy and love extend to every culture and land, and God’s wish is that we all live together in unity. Psalm 133 is a “Psalm of Ascents,” one of the songs the people sang when going to Jerusalem for festivals, and it emphasizes living together in unity. Today, our world needs to experience the unity of love. (NOTE: The church is in the process of upgrading the lighting and sound systems in the sanctuary, and the quality of the sound for today’s service was affected greatly by the upgrades not yet being completed.)
The Wisdom of Trees – This morning we travel our Summer of Psalms by reading Psalm 1. The Communion Meditation is delivered by our Senior Minister, the Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon. She notes that there are references to trees throughout the Bible. The Genesis story of the Garden of Eden has stories involving several trees, and in the last book of the Bible, Revelation, there is also a tree of life. Carol lists some other familiar stories of trees in the Bible, and here, in the first Psalm, is an example of a tree as a very positive image for us. As pointed out in the psalm, she examines the characteristics of righteousness versus wickedness, as we do not often classify ourselves in either extreme, but maybe the images aren’t extreme. The image of a tree whose roots are deep is a clear example for us, keeping practices of justice and righteousness at the forefront of our lives so we cannot be moved. Trees with deep roots at a stream as depicted in Psalm 1 never stop growing, and that, too, is an example for us so that we, too, continue to be challenged and growing, standing our ground in the deep soil of God’s ways. If we are thus grounded, we, too, may bear fruit to feed the world.
Praying in the Dark – Today we begin our summer series of scriptures from the Psalms, this one from part of Psalm 143. Delivering the sermon today is Dr. Tammy Lewis Wilborn, our pastoral intern in Congregational Care. She points out that the psalmist is crying out in deep despair with a tired, troubled soul and a plea to God not to turn away or the psalmist will die. In some ways this is indicative of a need for suicide assessment of the one crying out. But this psalm is also penitent, confessing that the psalmist has hurt a lot of people but knowing that God still loves the psalmist. Dr. Wilborn points out three possible factors that can send us to this deep despair: (1) choices we make and conditions we are enduring (like illness, loss), (2) interpersonal relationships that are crashing, and (3) institutions, much as the world we may find ourselves in currently. Dark times call for desperate measures, and prayer is an SOS in such times. This psalm teaches us that we can always go to God in prayer, that prayer can be open and honest, and that through prayer we can commit to follow the light of Christ as our GPS, bearing no hate for anyone.
Making All Things New – Today’s scripture is from Revelation 21, where John of Patmos, the visionary, sees a new heaven and a new earth, a new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, along with an announcement that God will be dwelling with the people and there will be no more tears, sorrow, crying, or pain. It is appropriate for the Easter season when the agony of Good Friday was tossed away by the resurrection of Jesus. The question for us is whether we believe that God is always doing a new thing. In her sermon, Carol gives several personal examples of times when things appeared dismal, but then they turned around. She also cites several places in Biblical prophecy where those kinds of things were heralded by the likes of Isaiah and Jeremiah. She reminds us of the setting for the Book of Revelation, believers who were suffering because of their beliefs in God as ruler rather than the Roman emperor as ruler. Those believers were sometimes even executed for their beliefs, but this word from God through John of Patmos offered them a new Jerusalem, a new hope. If or when we feel like everything is falling apart, it would be good to remember this vision of the new Jerusalem and God’s promise to live among us and make all things new.
A Vision with Hope – Often when we need comfort or hope and reach out for a Biblical passage for help, we latch onto things like “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” from Psalm 23, and most of us do not turn to the book of Revelation because of its graphic scenes of destruction. However, this final book of the Bible gives us glimpses of God’s kingdom, and those glimpses, as with today’s scripture from Revelation 7:9-17, are full of hope and comfort. It helps if we realize that Revelation was written to believers in a period when they were being crushed under Rome for their beliefs and rejection of the Roman emperor as the king. Some believers were even killed for that. This passage is one of the visions in Revelation of God on the throne with the lamb, representing Jesus, there, too, and innumerable people from every nation and language dressed in white, carrying palm branches, and praising God. It is a model for our hopes when things are bad and we need comforting. In the end it is the love of God and the beckoning of Jesus that will solve our problems and leave us comforted and rejoicing. It reminds us of who we are, whose we are, and where we belong.
Feasting and Feeding – Today is Confirmation Sunday and we are confirming/baptizing seven youth who have been through the confirmation process. Today’s scripture is the familiar story from the Fourth Gospel of the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to seven of his disciples who are fishing. As part of this story, Jesus fixes them a meal so that when they come ashore he feeds them. After the story of the resurrection in the previous chapter, we might feel like the story of Jesus is over, but this story underscores Jesus’s challenge to the disciples to carry on what Jesus had been doing throughout his ministry. First, they are nourished, and then, most especially with the conversation between Simon Peter and Jesus, they are commissioned to go forth. In many ways, it is a model for our own baptism and commissioning, and it is demonstrative for the confirmands who are being baptized and brought into church membership today. The questions and challenges Jesus has for Simon Peter reflect that the basis of nourishment to him, to the other disciples, and to us is the love Jesus gives. Then the direction to “feed my lambs” gives us the mission with which we, like those disciples, are charged.
Today’s scripture is a passage from the first chapter of the Letter to the Ephesians, and delivering the sermon is Rea Green, a student at Vanderbilt Divinity School and our Ministry Intern. Rea begins by saying that she recently saw the moon and was struck by its stunning beauty, only to have a friend tell her that it wasn’t the moon at all but a streetlight. In this way she introduces us to the fact that she is very much vision impaired. She gives some background and different viewpoints of the author and setting for Ephesians, but says what is clear is that it is written to a people that need assurance and unity, and the letter describes God’s love for the “we” and “us” referred to in that letter, and it thus calls for unity under the love of God. And unity does not mean “uniform,” but a coming together in the knowledge that all are loved by God, even through our diversity. In that sense, the letter calls for awareness and recognition of our differences, but it then calls us to move beyond awareness to a call to action to embrace our differences and foster a deep love for all.
Recognizing Resurrection – Today is Easter Sunday. Traditionally, the scripture for Easter Sunday is the story of the empty tomb, but our scripture chosen for today is the familiar story in Luke’s gospel of the two men walking to Emmaus and, unknowingly, being joined by the risen Jesus as they walked. One of the reasons to have this story on Easter is that our Lenten theme has been Table Transformations, and this story concerns yet another table, this one hosted by the risen Christ. The two disciples in the story are unknowns to us and not among the twelve, and, having witnessed the crucifixion, they are walking away, paralyzed by their grief. Are we in situations paralyzed by grief and loss? They call him a prophet, but now they have doubts that he was the expected messiah. Their hopes have been dashed. Maybe we, too, have lost hope, and, if so, we are on the road to Emmaus, and, whether we recognize it or not, we are accompanied by Christ. In the story, when they sit down for a meal, the guest becomes the host, lifts the bread, breaks it, and in that act they recognize that this is the risen Christ. Our communion services repeat that – a table with everyone having a seat, and the risen Christ is the host. Let us go forth with our tables open to all, knowing that the risen Christ is our host.
Persevering Love – Today is Good Friday, the time of solemn remembrance of Christ’s crucifixion. The Rev. Aimee Baxter is delivering the Good Friday Meditation, and the scripture reading is the Fourth Gospel’s account of the trial, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus. Rev. Baxter first referred to the series from several years ago, “WandaVision,” that built on the grief Wanda experienced in the death of Vision. Rev. Baxter said that many of us sit in loss and sadness, too, and she pointed out how much of that is demonstrated in the narrative of the trial of Jesus, then his crucifixion. Even Judas grieved his betrayal of Jesus and ended his own life. Peter, who denied even knowing Jesus, reacted in grief and rage in cutting off the ear of a soldier. And well beyond that, we can imagine the grief of the closest disciples of Jesus, and certainly of his mother who stood at the foot of the cross. But throughout the narrative, Jesus asserts the presence of the love of God and demonstrates it in his own acceptance of what he deemed must be. Here we are on Good Friday, participating together in a very solemn and disturbing remembrance, and yet we know that through it all there is God’s beckoning love, and Easter is on the horizon. It is persevering love that will support us through our grief.
Rev. Will McLeane and Sheyla Soriano lead us in a liturgy and prayer for Good Friday of Holy Week.
A Table Transformed – Today is Maundy Thursday, and our Lenten theme has been, “Table Transformations,” so certainly this service of remembrance of the Last Supper fits that theme. Rev. Shannon Baxter is delivering the Communion Meditation, and the scripture reading from the Fourth Gospel is the familiar story of that meal and of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. He first recounted a family situation some years ago when he obtained slabs of flooring from flooding in Savannah and planned to use them to build a large dining room table. The project took a long time, but when it was eventually completed it was truly a transformed table. In the story of the Last Supper, as Jesus turns to washing the disciples’ feet, taking on the role of a servant, it is, also, a transformation. God comes off the throne to care for creation, which is much like a gardener gives care to the plants in the garden to see them flourish. God wants to see everyone thrive.
Pastor Maggie Jarrell and Andrew Breeden lead us thru a liturgy and prayer for the Thursday of Holy Week.
Pastor Shannon Baxter and Tammy Lewis-Wilborn lead us in a liturgy and prayer for the Wednesday of Holy Week.
Rev Stacey Harwell-Dye and Beth Bernard lead us thru a liturgy and prayer for the Tuesday of Holy Week.
Join Pastor Carol Cavin-Dillon and Hampton Randall as they lead us thru a liturgy and prayer for the Monday of Holy Week.
Prevenient Grace – Today is Palm Sunday, and in keeping with our Lenten theme, “Table Transformations,” the scripture from Luke is about the deal Judas made with the chief priests and scribes to betray Jesus, and also the subsequent Passover meal Jesus and the twelve shared when he blessed the bread and cup revealing that they represented his body and blood, and then he revealed that one of them was going to betray him. Our ancestor in Methodism, John Wesley, had a concept of three movements of grace, the first being prevenient grace, grace that is offered by God to everyone. Jesus demonstrates prevenient grace in the Lukan story of the Passover meal as he shares the meal, even the symbols of his body and blood, with all of the disciples, knowing that when he would be tried and crucified they would all abandon him in various ways, especially Judas. And yet, his invitation and sharing the meal with them is a demonstration of God’s invitation to everyone. Our response to that invitation of prevenient grace is to be open and accepting of God’s love and then to share it with others.
Today, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, is Youth Sunday, when our entire service is led by youth from our church. The scripture is the story from Luke of Jesus in the home of Mary and Martha, where Martha was busy with the details of hosting and preparing and serving the meal while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to him. At some point Martha complained that Mary wasn’t helping, and Jesus told Martha that she was too distracted and that Mary had “chosen the better part.” Today’s sermon was delivered by two youth, the first of whom, Connor Harris, describes his current senior year in high school as stressful and very busy, and sees himself as Martha in this story. He cautions himself and all of us to step back, take a deep breath, and find God, to do our work but take God with us. Margo Jenkins also spoke to us, and she says she has learned from this story that her behavior is Martha-like. There is much value in working hard and helping others, but a prayer life and time for reflection and calm, leaving oneself vulnerable allows us to hear God’s voice, and she challenges us to find the time and opportunity to connect with God, to be like Mary and choose “the better part.”
An Interrupting Love – Today is the fourth Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture is the story from Luke of Jesus having a meal in the home of a Pharisee when a woman comes in, approaches Jesus, and ends up at his feet as she cries and then wipes his feet with her hair then anoints his feet with oil she had brought with her. Rev. Will McLeane delivers the sermon, initially recalling that he was taught from an early age not to interrupt! But in this story, there are many interruptions, and most are major. First, there is her presence as a woman at a dinner where there were only men. Further, as a sinner she is interrupting a dinner of the righteous, those who studied and obeyed the scriptures. The Pharisee host interrupts as he calls her to task, but Jesus then interrupts and holds her up as an example of repentance and forgiveness. Pastor Will points out places in our worship service where, when we are confessing our sins, we are interrupted by the liturgy and words of forgiveness, all reminding us that we need to be repentant and accepting of God’s love, and we need to include others around that table.
Table Manners – Today is the third Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture is the story in Luke 14 about Jesus having been invited to a dinner in the home of a prominent Pharisee, and the Pharisees were watching Jesus closely and with suspicion. In that era, who was seated where at the table was important – the friends and business associates of the host were seated at the head table. But upon entering here Jesus offers a proverb saying that those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Jesus even goes further to advise the host when hosting a dinner to avoid inviting friends, relatives, rich neighbors intending to be repaid, but, rather, to invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind who can’t repay the host, but that host will be rewarded in the resurrection at the end. It is a matter of intentionally including those who have been excluded, and it is a lesson for us as individuals and as a church and faith community. Such a table can be transformational.
You Give Them Something to Eat – Today is the second Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture for today is Luke’s version of the familiar story of the feeding of the 5,000. Carol first gives some examples of parenting, training one’s children, and she says Jesus was constantly training the disciples, and this story is an example. The crowd has gathered to experience the teaching and healing by Jesus, and the text says it is 5,000 men, which means it must have been well more than 5,00 people. The disciples are concerned about those people and how so many can possibly be sustained. Jesus tells those disciples to handle it. They have only a dozen loaves of bread and two fish. Maybe we, too, sometimes feel completely inadequate. But Jesus tells them to have the crowd sit, and then he takes a loaf of bread, lifts and breaks it, and gives thanks and blesses it. In this same way, Christ can take each of us, lift and break us, give thanks and bless us, and we are thus fully equipped to fill the needs of the world around us. It is a process that is repeated in Luke in the Last Supper and again in the Emaus Road dinner. And it is repeated with and for us in each communion service.
Today is the first Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture for today Luke’s version of the familiar story of Jesus’s 40 days in the wilderness. A popular tradition among Christians is to give up something for the 40 days of Lent, and one of the features of the story is that Jesus had no food for 40 days. During this time he was repeatedly “tempted by the devil,” and we, too, might have experienced each of those temptations at times, not from an external devil, but from our own internal desires to gain power, achieve, or overcome. Most of us have experienced emptiness, and some people have tried to fill it by eating, taking drugs, plunging into our jobs, and such. Clearly from the story, Jesus rejects the temptation to lift himself up, knowing that God values love not self-success. The lesson Jesus teaches overall is the ultimate in rejecting power and self by humbling himself on the cross. He might have been empty of food and power, but he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and that stands as a model for us through the period of Lent.
The One Who Was, Is, and Is to Come – Today is Transformation Sunday, and the scripture is the story in Luke of Jesus walking up the mountain with Peter, James, and John. They are, at this point, completely worn out from all of the work they’ve been doing. They know Jesus is the messiah, but with all of his recent talk of suffering to come, they are confused. In this experience of his transformation, however, their belief in Jesus as the messiah is strengthened, and they know that death and evil will not have the final word. Transformation Sunday in the Christian year comes just before Lent to remind us that through the somber period of Lent and through the agony of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, we can have hope, just as Peter, James, and John experienced it through Jesus’s transformation.
Notes of Rest – The Proclamation section of this service is led by guests Julian Davis Reid and vocalist Tramaine Parker. Reid refers to various passages of scripture, reading and commenting on them, then he plays the piano while Parker sings and, at points, leads the congregation in singing. The basis of their presentation is the Sabbath and rest, how we are charged to rest, and what God does within our sleep. The pieces of scripture are read, then elucidated and supported by preaching and singing, and at points the congregation is invited to join in the singing. At various points we are called to rest and listen, then Julian invites everyone in the congregation to share with those around us what we heard in the quiet moments. Julian ends with the first 5 verses of I Corinthians where Paul confessed his humility before God in coming before that congregation.
Called to a New Community – This is the last in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?.” Today’s scripture reading is the story in Luke of Jesus calling Levi, the tax collector, to be a disciple. Tax collectors were Jews charged with collecting taxes from the Jewish people and turning over the taxes to the Roman rulers. They also routinely collected more than was required by Rome so that they were enriching themselves. This, of course, made them despised by the people. That Jesus called a tax collector was demonstrative of the nature of the community of God, consisting of people from all populations, all backgrounds, all economic levels. That Levi then hosted a banquet whose guests were other tax collectors incensed some, but it was a demonstration of the open invitation by Jesus and thus by God. We, too, must be aware that God’s community is open and beckoning to all, even to some whom we may otherwise have ignored, avoided, or even despised. It is an open community called together in love.
From Failure to Fisher of People – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. Today’s scripture reading is the version in Luke of Jesus’s enlistment of the first disciples, specifically Simon Peter, when, after a night of catching no fish, Jesus tells him to put out the nets, and the nets started breaking with the abundance of fish. Having been fishing all night with no luck, Simon is reluctant to heed the direction of Jesus. Simon is worn out, frustrated, and his tendency is simply to give up. Yet, under the direction of Jesus, he agrees to try, and with such success Simon begins to realize who Jesus is and confesses he, Simon, is not worthy. Much as many of us do, Simon is carrying the weight of his unworthiness – who am I to be chosen by the Lord? But we can learn from this example and from countless examples of other Biblical figures who look and feel like they’re unworthy and incapable, but when called by God they are fully empowered and equipped. We need to hear and heed the voice of Jesus calling us.
Getting on Board with Grace – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. Today’s scripture reading is a continuation of last weeks’ story in Luke of Jesus in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth having been handed the Isaiah scroll, reading from it the passage that tells of God’s mission for Isaiah, and then declaring that today that scripture has been fulfilled today in him. But the people react by taking him out to throw him off a cliff. Carol says their rage may well have been because Jesus was telling them that God’s love and mercy extend to all people, including those they considered enemies. If and when we hear often that God loves all of “those people,” we, too, can find ourselves asking, “But what about me?” It is in those times that we need to spend time in prayer, going to God’s fountain of love. In practicing gratitude we can hear the invitation to join Jesus in proclaiming and living the “good news.” Our invitation is to get on board with God’s grace.
Let Your Life Speak – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. Today’s scripture reading is the story in Luke of Jesus in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth having been handed the Isaiah scroll, reading from it the passage that tells of God’s mission for Isaiah, and then Jesus declares that today that scripture has been fulfilled today in him. Rev. Shannon Baxter, our Minister of Congregational Connection, delivered the sermon and focused on our finding our own vocation – what role we are meant to play in God’s world. This story in Luke comes after the baptism of Jesus and after his wandering in the wilderness. Many of us, too, were baptized as infants and then spent time wandering, searching for our vocational paths. Shannon reminds us that the ritual words of our baptism express our adoption into God’s creation, and that with the spirit/breath of God in us we are each called to our role in God’s creation from God’s voice within ourselves through our spiritual connection. We are, in every case, called to love God and our neighbor.
Discerning and Doing – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. Today’s scripture reading from the Fourth Gospel is the story of the wedding at Cana when the supply of wine runs out and, prompted by his mother, Jesus turns water into wine, the first of the “signs” he performs to establish his divinity as reported in John. Carol begins with a personal story in which her mother volunteered Carol to play piano for singing hymns in a Sunday school class when the regular piano player was absent. She wonders whether Jesus was as conflicted by his mother’s volunteering him as Carol had been when her mother volunteered her. Jesus is somewhat reluctant and seems not quite ready to begin his ministry when he asks his mother, “Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My hour has not yet come.” But then he does turn the water into wine. This sets an example of his seeing a need and changing his own plan so that he meets that need. It further asks us how we see a need and change our own plans in order to move and meet that need. Among the voices calling us are those in need, and, with Jesus as our example, we need to recognize the need and adjust our own priorities in order to meet that need.
Named and Claimed – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. This is the Baptism of the Lord Sunday when we not only review the story of the baptism of Jesus, but we take opportunity to remember our own baptism and rehearse it in several ways. We have baptized many children in the past year, and we are often delighted with those infants and their baptisms. Yet those words and voice of God in baptism follow us as we grow up and through our adulthood. But do we see ourselves in the midst of our adult lives as having the voice of God in the waters of baptism for us? Much as the words of our scripture today (Isaiah 43.1-7) are from God claiming God’s people, no matter where they are, with love and honor, so the waters of baptism flow through the center of our lives, reminding us that we are worthy, loved, named, and claimed by God. Recalling our baptism is a way to recall God’s lasting love for us.
We are beginning a series under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent, This is Epiphany Sunday when we remember the familiar story of the Magi from the East who follow a new star to Bethlehem to see the baby Jesus. Although we traditionally think of there being three of them, there’s nothing in the story in Matthew that gives the number. These men likely studied the heavens, and when they saw this new star, they knew it was a sign, and they followed it. Herod the Great was, according to the historian Josephus, a brutal ruler, and the story shows that Herod felt threatened and told the Magi to come back and report to him after they had seen the child. But, in response to a revelatory dream, the Magi decided to ignore Herod’s directive and travel a different route. There was a declaration among early Christians, “Jesus is Lord!” It was considered treason in the Roman province. But early Christians could attach allegiance either to the Kingdom of God or the kingdoms of the world, and if they, too, declared that “Jesus is Lord,” they were listening to God’s call rather than to the call of the world. It presses us as individuals and as a church to declare, against much of the world’s clamor, that “Jesus is Lord!”
Smells Like Teen Spirit – The first Sunday after Advent we have Khette Cox as guest preacher. She is a hospice chaplain and a graduate of Vanderbilt Divinity School. The scripture is the familiar story in Luke of Mary and Joseph and their young son, Jesus, having gone to Jerusalem, but on the way home the boy’s parents discovering he was not with them. When they found him after searching for three days, he was in the Temple, talking with the “teachers.” The story is placed in Luke between the story of the miraculous birth and the story of Jesus’ baptism, and as such, it is a literary bridge but also a bridge as Jesus develops into the person he is to be. This story is of Jesus beginning to discover who he is and is to be. At this stage he may not know who he is, and, in her work as a hospice chaplain, Khette has often posed the question, “Who are you?” to patients. It is a question for us, too, perhaps a challenge posed by God, prompting us to discover who we are among the people of God. During the baptisms of infants, we are always introduced as the church community who will surround this child as she/he grows up, helping to form the child into the person God intends them to be. But as we might help the child discover who he/she is and is to be, we, ourselves, are also in our role, developing into the person God wants us to be.
Good Will To All – This traditional Christmas Eve service is one that West End UMC has held for decades. It highlights the reading of the story of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, read by the minister in the center of the sanctuary, among the worshippers. Our Senior Minister, Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon, recounts Christmases growing up when their extended family drew names to give gifts, but sometimes after all the gifts were opened, there was yet another gift under the tree, and the question quickly became “Who is this gift for?” She compares that to the experience of the shepherds where the angel appears and says, “I bring you good news of great joy for all the people.” Later, the group of angels declares, “. . . peace among those whom he favors!” Whom does God favor? Carol presses a grammatical possibility that, with a particular comma, the statement refers to God being pleased with all of the people, not just the rich, or the accomplished, or the Jews, or any other particular group. We as a church hold, as a bedrock belief, that “God loves everyone unconditionally.” And that shapes how we look at everyone. There is a gift waiting for each of us tonight: God’s giving of God’s self to each of us and to every person we encounter.
This is the fourth Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we are hearing some messages from the ancient prophets. Today’s scripture is the passage from Luke wherein a pregnant Mary goes to visit Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. Mary’s response to Elizabeth is what has come to be known as “The Magnificat,” based on the first words of her praise, “My soul magnifies the Lord!” The text of her praise/prayer is the prophetic message for today’s message of hope. Prophecy is not so much predicting the future, but telling the truth about the present, and Mary’s message is that God is in the midst of turning things upside down with this baby in her womb. Of course, when the baby was later born, Mary (and Joseph) had all the responsibilities of parents of the infant and then as a child. As he grew up she had to let him go and saw him become a controversial figure, and then she suffered through his trials and crucifixion. After that, she was among the people gathered in that room when the Holy Spirit filled those believers at Pentecost. To follow Mary’s example, we have to let Jesus “grow up,” and we must have the faith and courage to follow Jesus wherever he leads.
Breath for Dry Bones – This Service of the Longest Night is designed to hold space and a quiet place for those who are suffering loss or other distress. Delivering the sermon is Tammy Lewis Wilborn, our Pastoral Intern, and the text is Ezekiel’s well-known vision of the valley of dry bones. She compares much of today’s situations to that valley in that we are alive but not living, trying to navigate the loss of a loved one, or a dead relationship (with people or with one’s own spirit), or dead dreams where one’s dreams are not being fulfilled. In Ezekiel’s vision, God asks him whether the dry bones can live, and the prophet replies, “O Sovereign Lord, only you know.” Then God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones, and that enlivens them. If we focus our minds on the things that are life-giving, we are accepting God’s direction that we have a response-ability to respond to God’s plans for us, and through a God-directed word we, too, can enliven what has seemed to be dead. God does what we can’t do, but God does not do what we won’t do – we have a part in life and the living.
This is the third Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we are hearing some messages from the ancient prophets. Today’s message is from Zephaniah. The candle we light today is the pink one, symbolizing joy. In this season we experience a lot of joy with Christmas cards, gifts, and such, but, in contrast, during Advent we are waiting, preparing for the final return of Christ into the world. Through Advent we name the difference between what is and what shall be. Advent is a period of joy, not necessarily happiness. Joy is a gift of God, no matter what is going around us. Pastor Carol gives examples of words from Paul and Jesus who expressed joy in the midst of imprisonment and imminent crucifixion. The book of Zephaniah begins with scorching words of condemnation against the people, but in chapter 3, our text for today, God’s word is of forgiveness and hope, showing that God doesn’t look on us with condemnation but with presence and grace. A further word from God through the prophet is that God delights in the people: God’s joy animates us. The last word from God is for us not to fear and not to let our hands grow weak.
This is the second Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we are hearing some messages from the ancient prophets. Today’s message is from Malachi. Our Senior Miniter, Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon, cites a book, Brené Brown’s Dare to Lead, who says that in the corporate world feedback is important. Carol says that although sometimes feedback is tough for the person receiving the critical input, we all need it, and our response to God’s correction is important for our growth in faith. In some ways the book of Malachi is a scene where the people have been complaining through the time of the rebuilding of Jerusalem that they are not thriving and God has forsaken them. The prophet is presenting God’s case against the people’s accusations and thus the feedback. One of the key words is “return,” which can also be translated from the Hebrew, “repent.” Malachi’s image of the refiner’s fire and the fuller’s soap, both of which are harsh for the recipient but are purifying, is a good image for us to receive correction. God loves us, but if that is all we hear, our faith is bland. It is crucial for us to respond and to live our faith.
Our Hope Is Built – This is the first Sunday in Advent, and our theme for the season is “Messages of Hope,” during which we will hear some messages from the ancient prophets. Today we begin with a passage from Jeremiah, who, while in prison and having witnessed Jerusalem destroyed by the Babylonian army, nevertheless offers a promise from God of restoration and a coming “righteous Branch” to lead justice and righteousness in the land. Today marks the return of Senior Minister Carol Cavin-Dillon after a three months sabbatical, and she delivers the Communion Meditation based on this word from Jeremiah, through which she encourages us, no matter our situation as a people or as individuals, to remember, through Jeremiah’s prophecy, that God is a builder and is with us. She also reminds us that we must be vigilant for God’s presence and willing to participate in the rebuilding. The communion that we share today is a sign and an act of that coming together with each other and with God as we gather around the table without restriction and with each other at the invitation of Jesus.
This is Reign of Christ Sunday, and the scripture reading from John is the encounter between Pilate and Jesus when Pilate asks Jesus if he is king of the Jews. Jesus doesn’t deny it, but he says that his kingdom is not of this world. As Americans we understand monarchy knowing our country was founded upon rebellion against such rule, but Jesus demonstrates that his reign is different – there aren’t people fighting for him in this conflict. Coincidentally, Reign of Christ Sunday was founded in 1925, a hundred years ago, and in his sermon, the Rev. Will McLeane gives some historical context from 1925, contrasting the Reign of Christ to monarchies in our history. Under the kingship of Jesus, followers aren’t enslaved or oppressed but are inspired to claim Jesus as the ultimate authority in their lives. The followers of Jesus do as Jesus did and give themselves in service to others. The bottom line is that we need each other, even in times of division, and that means that the world needs a different kind of follower than those trapped in traditional monarchies.
The scripture for today is from the first chapter of 1 Samuel wherein Hannah, one of the two wives of Elkanah, goes into the shrine at Shiloh to pray to have a child. Not only has she been unable to conceive, but Elkanah’s other wife, Peninnah, often makes fun of her “mercilessly.” Our Pastor of Children and Families, the Rev. Maggie Jarrell, delivers the sermon and relates Hannah’s frustration and dilemma to some situations we face today. Even when Hannah prays desperately in the presence of the Lord in Shiloh, her tears and moving lips prompt Eli, the priest, to accuse her of being drunk. In the end, though, Eli blesses Hannah, and, certainly, God blesses her as she does conceive and gives birth to Samuel. It is important for us to learn to cope, to live through the rough times, to talk about our issues with God, with family and friends, maybe to cope through exercise, to cope by serving others. Ultimately, however, it is crucial for us to remember to trust God’s love and presence. As we say in the last line of our Affirmation of Faith each Sunday, “God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God.”
An Open-Handed Future – Today we are following the story of Ruth that we began two Sundays ago when Ruth, leaving her own land, went with Naomi, her mother-in-law, to Naomi’s home in Judah. Ruth, an immigrant in the territory of what had been the enemies of her people, was there out of love for mother-in-law, Naomi. Delivering the sermon on the second part of the Ruth story, Rev. Will McLeane, our Pastor of Spiritual Formation, says that, as widows, they were among the poorest of the people, and Ruth had begun gleaning in the fields in an attempt to provide food for them. Naomi encouraged Ruth to establish a relationship with Boaz, in whose fields Ruth was gleaning, and that cultivated a marriage of Ruth with Boaz that resulted in a son who would end up being the father of Jesse who was the father of David. As unlikely as all of this was, it was love that changed the courses of those lives through a radical openness to receive another. And that is the path of Jesus. We can’t control or predict where love will lead when we are accepting of others. And when there seems to be no way forward, through love God will make a way.
West End UMC lay and clergy voices join together to offer a morning prayer podcast for the mornings of November 4-6. The liturgy generally follows the “Order for Morning Praise and Prayer”. ...
West End UMC lay and clergy voices join together to offer a morning prayer podcast for the mornings of November 4-6. The liturgy generally follows the “Order for Morning Praise and Prayer”. ...
West End UMC lay and clergy voices join together to offer a morning prayer podcast for the mornings of November 4-6. The liturgy generally follows the “Order for Morning Praise and Prayer”. ...
Today is All Saints Sunday when we remember those who have gone before us, and, specifically, those members of our church who have died in the past year for each of whom we light a candle during the service. It is a communion service using the old Cranmer liturgy, and Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye delivers the Communion Meditation based on the first part of the Book of Ruth which begins in tragedy, with famine prompting Naomi’s family to move from their home in Judah to Moab, which was somewhat enemy territory. There Naomi’s husband dies, and her two sons marry Moabite women, and then the sons die. In grief, Naomi decides to head back to Judah. Of the two daughters-in-law, on the advice of Naomi, Orpah decides to stay in Moab, but Ruth sees a way forward for the future and accompanies Naomi to what is, to Ruth, foreign land. Ruth’s and Naomi’s actions lay a path for us as we face death and bereavement. Living in communion with the saints who have gone before us, we worship God who has defeated death.
What Do You Want Me to Do for You? – In today’s reading from Mark, Jesus, his disciples, and a large crowd are about to leave Jericho when they encounter Bartimaeus, a blind beggar who calls out to Jesus. The author of this first gospel tends to be brief and to-the-point, and although this story must certainly have been one of the many encounters Jesus had in Jericho, it is the only one reported in this gospel, which underscores how significant the writer considered it. In Jesus’s day, some illness like blindness was often considered to have been the result of some sin of the blind person or of his parents. Thus, for the crowd to try to shush him is not surprising, but for Jesus to respond to him would have been surprising. When Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants Jesus to do for him, that Bartimaeus has the faith and confidence that Jesus can heal his blindness is key. Likewise, our response to the query of Jesus, “What do you want me to do for you?” is a matter of deep faith that Jesus can heal us, and it is also a model for our response to the same question posed to us.
Side by Side – In today’s reading from Mark, two of the disciples of Jesus ask to sit at his right and left when Jesus enters his glory. The Rev. Aimee Baxter, our Pastor of Young Adults, delivers the sermon today. She says that the motivation for James and John to ask this is not clear – do they want to be close to Jesus, or is it a power grab? In any case, Jesus realizes they just don’t get it – being at the front has nothing to do with prestige and everything to do with humility. The other disciples are angry at the two, perhaps because they, too, want to be first, but Jesus presses a reorientation in which there is nobody at the top. And even though “the last shall be first,” it is a matter of servitude and of a posture of side by side where everyone dances together. Jesus says he came not to be served but to serve, and community as the goal can better be achieved by humility and service.
In today’s familiar scripture passage from Mark, a rich young ruler comes to ask Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, and, first, Jesus cites a number of the commandments, all of which have to do with relationships. The young man says that he has kept all the commandments. Then “Jesus, looking at him, loved him” and told him he must sell everything he owns and give to the poor, which was disturbing to the young man because he had a lot of possessions. The disciples, led by Peter, pursue the same question – who can be saved? Jesus says it is extremely difficult (the analogy of the impossibility of a camel moving through the eye of the needle) for those who have many possessions, but the lesson is that God’s gift is community rather than possessions. In our lives we often need to remember that to move out of the isolation of possession and consumption and into the life of community is the foundation of love.
Common Ground – Today is World Communion Sunday. Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye, our Pastor of Mercy and Justice Ministries, delivers the Communion Meditation, based on the Genesis 2 creation story where God creates the first human from the dirt of the earth. She reminds us that although so many things tend to divide us (politics, ball teams, etc.), humans are identical through our DNA, and we share much of our DNA identity with animals and, actually, with soil. Tom Turnbull, a West End member and potter, created the communion vessels we are using today, and when asked told Stacey that the clay potters use is timeless and common all over the world. All of this speaks to the common nature of God’s creation with humans united with each other and with nature. This sets the context for taking communion at the Lord’s table united with others all over the world. In respect for World Communion Sunday, the scripture lesson from Genesis 2:4-7, 18-22 today is read in Korean by Seulbin Lee.
Today we continue with the Epistle of James, written to a congregation that the writer feels has strayed. Dr. Tammy Lewis Wilborn, our Congregational Care Intern, is preaching today and begins with her experience working at Alive Hospice this summer and her perspective on faith in the face of dying, citing a patient who, in tears, said he hoped God knew of his love for God. She reminds us that from the cross even Jesus cried out with a feeling of having been forsaken by God. Faith is complicated, but in our being tied together we are each well when the other is well, and our faith can be built and sustained on a constant relationship in prayer with God. The writer of James calls us to such consistent relationship with God, not just calling on God in times of need. And the writer of James repeatedly emphasizes the crucial importance of prayer to sustain the relationships with each other and with God.
Children’s Sabbath – Today we focus on children as we read a familiar passage from Mark 9 where the disciples have argued who among them is the greatest, and Jesus uses a child as a lesson to say that in order to be first, one must be last, putting on the mantle of a servant or a child. For our services today, children’s choirs are featured, Bibles are handed out to children, and children serve as liturgists, readers, and preachers. The two services feature different children’s choirs and different children as liturgists, giving us a glimpse at how many children attend our church.
Children’s Sabbath – Today we focus on children as we read a familiar passage from Mark 9 where the disciples have argued who among them is the greatest, and Jesus uses a child as a lesson to say that in order to be first, one must be last, putting on the mantle of a servant or a child. For our services today, children’s choirs are featured, Bibles are handed out to children, and children serve as liturgists, readers, and preachers. The two services feature different children’s choirs and different children as liturgists, giving us a glimpse at how many children attend our church.
Today we continue with the Epistle of James, written to a congregation that the writer feels has strayed. In today’s reading from chapter 3, using some analogies the writer cautions against the harmful words one can utter – a small rudder can change the course of a great ship. Rev. Will McLeane relates an account of John Lewis, about to speak in anger in the midst of the civil rights movement, who was cautioned by Martin Luther King, Jr., and another friend who both challenged Lewis to change to non-violent rhetoric, which he did, and very effectively so. The writer of James muses about words of blessing and of cursing from the same mouth. Words can transform, and the words of Jesus are the prime example. God’s blessing of creation, and especially of the creation of humans should indicate that the first language of God’s people is blessing. We should reflect on the question of whom God is calling us to bless, and is it not all others who are created in God’s image?
Good Company – Today we begin a series from the Epistle of James, which was written to an early congregation who have, according to the author, lost their way. The author cites them for accepting and welcoming people like themselves, but ignoring the poor who are unlike them. Historically, the church to whom the epistle was directed was a diaspora congregation, living where they were tempted to cater to the powerful and wealthy. But the writer refers them to the beatitudes, blessing those who are not blessed by society’s standards, cautioning them that Jesus is with those poor among them, and to keep company with them is to keep company with Jesus. Such criticism can be directed at many of us, too, as we tend to welcome those who are like us, who are powerful, while we are tempted not to welcome those who are unlike us and poor. This is a challenge to our faith and works in Nashville, where a recent study showed that 74% of the countries of the world are represented by students in Nashville’s public schools.
Today is communion Sunday, and Thornton Muncher, a Vanderbilt Divinity School student and our summer intern, is delivering the Communion Meditation, based on a passage from Mark 7, an encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees when they question him about the behavior of his disciples relative to the law. Thornton has studied and worked for reconciliation between Christians and Jews. Historically, Christians have often attempted to bury the Judaism of Jesus, believing that Christianity has replaced Judaism, and, through history, this passage from Mark has often been used to criticize Jewish practices. But we believe that God calls us to reconciliation, to love our neighbors. Much as the Pharisees held tradition as important, we Methodists know that one of John Wesley’s four corners of faith is “tradition.” Although there are theological differences between Christian denominations, Christian faith should unite us rather than divide us, and Jesus’ words in the passage from Mark tells us that it is what comes from the heart that unites or divides us. Jesus did not denounce the traditions of the Pharisees, but he calls us to guard what comes from our hearts, to love God and our neighbor. Although they might be “other” to us, they are still held in fellowship by God – God loves everyone, unconditionally, and we are called to examine our own hearts.
This is the final in a three-weeks series of focus on the Sabbath and rest as Senior Minister, Carol Cavin-Dillon, preaches her last sermons before her three-months sabbatical. Today she begins by reviewing that series on rest. Today’s passage from Matthew is the familiar scene wherein the disciples, being hungry, pick grain on the Sabbath and are confronted by some Pharisees. Jesus responds with some examples from scriptures in an attempt to reorient their understanding of the Divine, and today the sermon focuses on Jesus and honoring the Sabbath. In saying, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath,” Jesus is saying that humans aren’t slaves to the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for humans. Jesus, in effect, is the Sabbath, and this is a call for us to release ourselves from heavy burdens that inhibit us and to come to Jesus for rest. We need to walk with Jesus in an open and attentive way for renewal and reorientation.
The theme for these three weeks is and has been “Rest” and the significance of the Sabbath, part of the initiative for which is that the Rev. Dr. Carol Cavin-Dillon, Senior Minister, will be on a three-months period of rest and renewal beginning in September. Today she asks us to consider the factors that might prevent our resting. In today’s scripture, the voice of Pharaoh resisting the request of Moses and Aaron to let the Hebrews go into the desert to worship their God may well tell us something about the things that prevent our own rest and worship. Pharaoh tries to prevent the separation of the people from their work: are we defined by our work, our achievements, or are we cast in the image of God who, on the seventh day, rested? The practice of the Sabbath reminds us that our value is our being loved by God rather than our accomplishments. Pharaoh accuses the Hebrews of being lazy. Are we afraid of appearing to be lazy? God invites us to rest in God. Pharaoh doubles down on their tasks, and we know that we can succumb to tasks such that we cannot pay attention to God’s invitation to “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
The theme for the next three weeks is “Rest.” There are times when for each of us rest is difficult, when we have trouble sleeping and/or relaxing because we’re tense or worried. There is scientific and medical evidence that sleep is essential and beneficial, but even without such scientific evidence we know from the first Genesis creation story that our having been created in God’s image means that God’s resting is imbedded in humanity. The first creation story could have ended at the end of the sixth day, when all had been created and deemed “good,” but there follows another day when God rested. In the list of Ten Commandments in Exodus, keeping the Sabbath, the fourth commandment, is central and commands us not only to rest, but to be attentive to God. That commandment is lengthy and also commands that we allow all those around us to rest. Further instruction is to practice Sabbath every seven years, allowing the land to rest. We live in a time when there are many jobs for which people work on Sundays, but the commandment to rest can still apply for such people. As God did and commands us to do, may we all rest to renew ourselves and to connect with God.
The Bread of Life – Last Sunday our scripture reading was the Fourth Gospel’s version of the feeding of the 5000, and this week’s reading follows that one. The miraculous feeding of the crowd satisfied their hunger, but now the crowd has followed him and Jesus realizes they have come to him now to ask for more bread. In this text, without actually saying “no” to the crowd, Jesus refuses their request, and this is an example that saying “no” can be the most loving thing to do. He declines to give them bread and teaches them the significance of “the bread of life” as a relationship of God with the people. Perhaps this text can hold up a mirror to us: are we missing out on “the bread of life” because we’re so caught up with seeking our own comforts and convenience, our own bread? Are we open to a living relationship with God, even if it takes us out of our comfort zone?
Continuing in the Fourth Gospel for our scripture, today’s reading is the familiar story of the feeding of the 5000, and this account emphasizes how miraculous it was. The writer of this gospel says, at the end, that he has written the accounts of seven signs of Jesus so that the reader may believe. In this story of the feeding of the 5000, we are to learn something of the character of God, and also something of our own character. In the narrative, the questions Jesus asks several disciples are something of a test for them, and they cannot imagine that there will be enough resources for that crowd. The role of the little boy who has the little bit of food is significant, a sign of innocence and generosity. This is a sign of a God of superabundance who can provide all we need and all everyone needs. This is our God. And even if we think what we can offer is too little, under God it is well enough.
In the Beginning – Today’s scripture is the familiar passage opening the Fourth Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word . . .” With those words we are celebrating Christmas in July to focus on the meaning of the birth of Jesus, the mystery of the incarnation. For Christmas proper we always rehearse the story of Mary, Joseph, and the birth of the baby from Luke. But in this prologue to the Fourth Gospel, there’s no “how” with Mary and Joseph, but more a “why” for the incarnation of God into the world. This account is high and lofty in its Christology – God who was, is, and always will be, and in the beginning was the Word and that Word became flesh among us. Although the traditional stories in Luke and Matthew are valuable and treasured, this prologue in John assures us that God has always been and is always with us. It is this God, who has always been, and who has created everything, who is always with us. We are assured that the light is never overcome by darkness, and this is our hope and our way.
Today’s scripture is from 2 Samuel in which David and his troops transport the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Preaching is Rev. Shannon Baxter, our Pastor of Congregational Connection, and he describes his family’s experiences with Nintendo Wii and how it helped with their joy and celebrating via dancing. In the text for today, at the end of upheaval and struggle between nations, King David dances as the Ark is reclaimed and transported. In this, David is not only celebrating, but he is demonstrating his faith before his people. To some in the crowd, his dancing is vulgar and shameful, but the spirit is animated within David, and this can inform our own faith and worship. First, worship can happen any place and at any time. The presence of God and the shape of our hearts define worship more than the form. David’s act directs the people toward God rather than toward himself. Worship not only changes us, but it changes our relationship with God and with others.
As we continue to read from the Gospel of Mark, today’s reading offers an opportunity to talk about the development of his followers from disciples to apostles. The word, “disciple,” means one who learns, and we have seen many instances of followers learning from Jesus. In this passage Jesus is sending out the twelve apostles, two by two, and “apostle” means one who is sent. We are ourselves, of course, disciples and apostles, called continually to be in a posture of learning and then to be sent out as equipped by Jesus to do ministry. Today in the service of communion, we experience the discipleship, and then, as the service ends, we, as apostles, are sent out to share the good news and to minister to others. Then next week we will come together again to sit with Jesus as disciples and then, again, to be sent out as apostles.
As we continue to read from the Gospel of Mark, today’s reading includes two stories of Jesus healing, both somewhat unusual and different from each other. The gospel writer integrates them, setting one inside the other. A synagogue leader comes to Jesus, desperate, because his daughter is at the point of death. In the midst of that, a woman who has been hemorrhaging for years reaches out in the crowd and touches the garment of Jesus. The synagogue leader is well established, but the hemorrhaging woman is poor and desolate. The synagogue leader sets aside his status to approach Jesus. In contrast, the hemorrhaging woman, unclean in her condition, does not approach Jesus face-on, but reaches out to touch his garment. Jesus, not repelled by her condition, now addresses the rejected and unclean woman, as “daughter.” We can imagine a dinner in the house of the synagogue leader some years later after Jesus has been crucified and news is circulating that he has been raised from the dead, and these two “daughters” are together as a testimony to the story of Jesus.
The scripture for today from Mark is the familiar story when the disciples and Jesus are in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, and a storm hits. In this gospel, the disciples frequently seem to be thick headed and not understanding, but in this situation, their frustration seems more justified. This is, apparently, a terrible storm, and in the midst of the disciples’ fear, Jesus is asleep. Does he not care? We can imagine the storms of our own lives when we, too, wonder whether God cares that we’re about to drown. That Jesus is asleep may be to demonstrate that in the midst of storms there is deep peace – perhaps Jesus is resting on my heart. In the story, Jesus doesn’t rebuke the disciples, he rebukes the storm. This does not mean that there won’t be storms, but that God will be with us through them, and we must not underestimate the power of God to transform those storms and to transform us within them.
From this week’s Vacation Bible School, the Children’s Moment, led by Minister of Children and Families, Maggie Jarrell, remembers and celebrates that. We have been working our way through the early parts of the Gospel of Mark, and today’s passage includes the very familiar parables of the seeds and the mustard seed. We live in an age when technology gives us constant access to news, and with that, as followers of Jesus, our hearts hurt with all the conflict and suffering. How far are we from the kin-dom of heaven on earth? How do we navigate the gap? Some of the parables of Jesus might help encourage us. Those listening to Jesus in his day were living under oppression and were living with anxiety and dread, even though they knew the words of the prophets who declared the kingdom of God. Although we might think of the kingdom of God as a great army, Jesus says, instead, it’s like the mustard seed, the tiniest of seeds. Perhaps the kin-dom is not coming in giant moves but in the smallest ways, and those tiny ways can be multiplied by God into the largest of shrubs. There are many examples. The parable of the seeds tells us to sow the seeds and then trust God.
Chosen Family – Rev. Will McLeane is preaching on a story in Mark 3 when Jesus comes to his home, and the crowd is oppressive. The multitudes are there for different reasons: some because of his powers of healing, some because of the words he has spoken, and some who see him as a false prophet and a threat to the status quo. His own family members wonder if he hasn’t gone crazy as others think he may be inhabited by a devil. In the midst of this, Jesus tells a few parables and then asks, “Who are my mother and brothers?” He then defines his family as whoever does the will of God. For us this is an open invitation to go beyond any borders of family and history to understand that all of us who carry out the work of Jesus are family, and that this sense can serve to break down barriers and spread God’s love throughout humankind. It is the same as the invitation to gather around the Communion table – to sup together no matter who we are or where we have been.
Healing the Withered – The scripture for today is from Mark 3, a scene in which Jesus is being watched to see whether he will, on the sabbath, cure a man with a withered hand. He does, of course, heal the man. This man with the withered hand has likely been overlooked. A withered hand is easy to hide or overlook, and it may be that he wasn’t noticed. This healing story is often overlooked, too, because of all of the other significant and miraculous healings Jesus performs. In this gospel this story is buried in the midst of controversy between the Pharisees and Jesus. Jesus could have waited until the Sabbath was over to heal the man, but Jesus does not ignore this man. We, too, may have aspects of our lives that are withered and hidden. Even if the man is hiding the withered aspect of the man’s life, Jesus notices, beckons, and heals the man. Our vulnerabilities are difficult to reveal by opening ourselves in the church, but this is where we are healed.
Born Into Love (Again) – This is Trinity Sunday, and the scripture from the Fourth Gospel is about the learned Pharisee Nicodemus coming to Jesus at night to ask a number of questions. Much as Nicodemus had questions, even as learned as we may be, we, too, can have questions, even about the concept of “The Trinity.” Although for centuries The Trinity has been described in terms of “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,” we know that such terms cannot contain all the meaning associated with The Trinity. In recent years we have, for example, grown to use, “Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer” as another description. We might well note that however one conceptualizes “The Trinity,” there is a bond of love that flows between the three parts, and we, too, can join and experience that love. In some ways we can understand The Trinity as an invitation to move beyond intellectual understanding into a relationship. The sermon reminds us of that example of John Wesley whose heart was “strangely warmed” in his Aldersgate experience.
This is Pentecost Sunday and we are reading the account of the Holy Spirit coming in dramatic fashion to inhabit the disciples after the ascension of Jesus. The account is demonstrative of the power and work of the Holy Spirit as it acts in dramatic fashion, but not in random fashion. The participants are around 120 people, and there were surely differences among them. Although we might guess that some were people Jesus had healed or perhaps, like Zaccheus, some who encountered him along the way and were changed. Peter, for example, had denied knowing Jesus, but here he is, filled with the Holy Spirit, and taking on a large role in the crowd. All of these different people were united by the act of the Holy Spirit, and we, too, as different individuals (even we are in the same West End UMC congregation) can be inspired by the strategy of the Spirit to do things to further the mission of Jesus among our people. We can all tell the same story, even if we tell it in different ways. The church was born on Pentecost.
This is Ascension Sunday, the day we acknowledge and celebrate Jesus’ ascension to heaven after his crucifixion and resurrection. The text for today is from the opening verses of Acts, recording that ascension of Jesus. In some ways it is reminiscent of this season in our lives when there are graduations from high schools, colleges, and such, where children and others have been educated and trained and are now sent out to the next phase of their lives. Acts records that during the forty days between the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension, he has appeared to them repeatedly and has continued to prepare the disciples to carry on his mission after he is gone. As he is about to leave them to reunite with God in heaven, Jesus lets the disciples know that they have not only been prepared by him but will soon be empowered through the Holy Spirit to carry on the work. It reminds us that we, too, are commissioned and empowered to carry on discipleship and the work of Jesus in the world.
Love Is the Way – Today we continue a post-Easter series of several weeks of focus on 1 John and the idea of love, that God loves us and that our response to that is to love God in return, but also to love others. This is also Confirmation Sunday when we present a dozen young people who have been through the confirmation process and are ready to become full members of the church. Delivering the sermon today is Rev. Will McLeane, our Pastor of Spiritual Formation. He begins with examples of our needing direction, such as when we’re traveling by car and use a navigation system. There are other times when we desperately need physical or emotional direction from a doctor or a therapist. This letter of 1 John was received by an early church and offers guidance and direction, based in God’s love through the incarnation. When we understand that and trust and feel God’s love, we get a fullness of self and can have our hearts and minds changed so that we are commissioned to take courageous stands to embody and spread that love. We are open to and given direction by the love of God, embodied and exemplified in Jesus.
Love Casts Out Fear – Today we continue a post-Easter series of several weeks of focus on 1 John and the idea of love, that God loves us and that our response to that is to love God in return, but also to love others. There are numerous examples in our lives and in our day of fears. Even among some churches the incentive for believing in God is the fear of God’s judgment. But the writer of 1 John says clearly that “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear,” so that our relationship with God is not built out of any fear but is a response in love to the fact that God first loves us. Given that context, we can see throughout the Bible God’s persistent love for the people, in spite of their turning away at times. Our response to God’s love of us is to love ourselves, our neighbors, and even our enemies.
Today we begin a post-Easter series of several weeks of focus on 1 John with some verses from chapter 3 that are centered on God’s love and how our love can be manifested in acts. Although the English word, “love,” can refer to a wide variety of emotions and acts, Greek has several different words that can be translated “love” – philos, eros, and agape, each with different applications and contexts. In 1 John, it is agape that is at the heart of Christianity, and in the passage for today, agape is love in action: laying ourselves down for others. Some of us are exploring that further through the book, Love Is the Way: Holding on to Hope in Troubling Times, by Bishop Michael Curry. Every day there are opportunities for us to choose to love others, putting the well-being of another above our own. In our Methodist tradition, John Wesley would call this “sanctification,” the process of practicing agape through the church. Our own church experience gives us the opportunity to learn agape through practice.
This is West End’s annual Youth Sunday when youth take on every role in the service, including all readings, music, and preaching. The two delivering the sermon(s) are Brazier Pierce and Mary Peacock, both of whom give their own experiences related to the scripture from Luke 24:36-48, where the disciples of Jesus, having seen him crucified, are surprised when he appears to them. Brazier and Mary each describe not only personal experiences, but offer how, in brief moments of encounter, we, too, can offer love and hope to others, whether they are friends, family, or complete strangers.
Forgiveness Is Not What You Think – On the Second Sunday of Easter, our Congregational Care Intern, Dr. Tammy Lewis Wilborn, delivers the Communion Meditation, based on the passage from Genesis 45 where Joseph’s brothers have come to Egypt during the famine to seek food. Unbeknownst to them, he is the one from the Egyptian administration who meets with them – they are his brothers who sold him into slavery and told their father he had died. In this scene, Joseph confronts them but with forgiveness. Dr. Wilborn says that forgiveness is complicated because its “is-ness” is confusing. We think of Jesus as a model for forgiveness, but she gives examples (like the turning over of the tables in the temple) where we’re not so sure. We feel like suffering requires forgiveness, but sometimes we blame our own suffering on God. In our day and time we now understand that one who forgives receives much mental health benefit in that process. And, looking at this example of Joseph with his brothers, he didn’t “forget,” but pointed out that they are the ones who had sold him into slavery. But his actions dictate the end of the story, and they demonstrate that with God’s guidance, we, too, can dictate the end of a situation that elicits our forgiveness. Forgiveness is complicated.
Easter Sunday! The Gospel reading for our Easter service is the one from Mark’s Gospel (16.1-8). It is an odd and somewhat unsatisfactory ending to the story in that the three women who go to the tomb and are told that Jesus is risen and are then directed to tell the disciples about that and instruct them to return to Galilee where they will see him. But the final verse says they were afraid and told no one. Scholars say that the earliest forms of this Gospel ended there. The person who wrote this gospel, though, has been very deliberate and purpose-driven in all of it, so what might that purpose be in ending this way? Perhaps it is a challenge to hearers/readers of the Gospel to take on the responsibility of spreading the news of the resurrection of Christ. The direction to “return to Galilee” may direct us to re-read the stories of Jesus, not just for information but for transformation, and with that to realize that life has conquered death, and that we are to live every day choosing life over death and treading the steps of Jesus so that we and the world will forever be changed.
We welcome you to listen to our Lenten podcast which will offer guided readings of the Common Prayer liturgies from your pastoral team. We are offering podcasts every day during Holy Week. ...
This is our Good Friday service, a remembrance held at the traditional hour of the crucifixion of Jesus. It begins with the chiming of the hour, which sets the mood. It includes a reading of two chapters of the Fourth Gospel that describe the arrest, condemnation, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus, a familiar and agonizing section to hear and recall. Rev. Maggie Jarrell, our Pastor of Children and Families, delivers the Good Friday Meditation. The title comes from the scripture reading as Pilate asks Jesus, “What is truth?” In a sense, Pilate’s question to Jesus is, “What’s the point?” a question we often ask. We put off discomfort and pain, but avoiding such things is not possible because we are not in control. God keeps on loving us, no matter, and this suffering of the son of God reminds us that God knows our suffering and pain and loves no matter the situation. Solidarity with those who suffer means we take risks and give up comforts, but the example of Jesus who worked for the suffering and in so doing, also suffered, stands in front of us. During Holy Week we do not flinch from the truth because of God’s great love for us. God is with us; we are not alone. We know Easter is on the horizon.
This is Maundy Thursday, the service in which we remember and participate in the Last Supper. The scripture for this service is the familiar story from the Fourth Gospel wherein Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and leaves them with the commandment to love one another. Delivering the communion meditation is our Pastor of Spiritual Formation, Rev. Will McLeane. He begins with the contrast in his own children of rejecting the traditional cartoons in favor of “real” people in their programs, and he speaks of our own desire for reality. The disciples have followed whom they feel to be the real Jesus, but in this moment of Jesus taking on the mantle of servitude he was actually revealing reality to them. Through this, Jesus lays out a love story that is absolute and fundamental reality. Receiving the reality of God’s love can be one of the most difficult things in our faith, and that is demonstrated by Peter’s resistance in the narrative. The power of the resurrection can only be known when we realize the power of the passion – in spite of all of those things he suffered, Jesus and his love remained. Tonight Jesus offers us the path to the reality of love.
This is Maundy Thursday, the service in which we remember and participate in the Last Supper. The scripture for this service is the familiar story from the Fourth Gospel wherein Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and leaves them with the commandment to love one another. Delivering the communion meditation is our Pastor of Spiritual Formation, Rev. Will McLeane. He begins with the contrast in his own children of rejecting the traditional cartoons in favor of “real” people in their programs, and he speaks of our own desire for reality. The disciples have followed whom they feel to be the real Jesus, but in this moment of Jesus taking on the mantle of servitude he was actually revealing reality to them. Through this, Jesus lays out a love story that is absolute and fundamental reality. Receiving the reality of God’s love can be one of the most difficult things in our faith, and that is demonstrated by Peter’s resistance in the narrative. The power of the resurrection can only be known when we realize the power of the passion – in spite of all of those things he suffered, Jesus and his love remained. Tonight Jesus offers us the path to the reality of love.
We welcome you to listen to our Lenten podcast which will offer guided readings of the Common Prayer liturgies from your pastoral team. We are offering podcasts every day during Holy Week. ...
We welcome you to listen to our Lenten podcast which will offer guided readings of the Common Prayer liturgies from your pastoral team. We are offering podcasts every day during Holy Week. ...
We welcome you to listen to our Lenten podcast which will offer guided readings of the Common Prayer liturgies from your pastoral team. We are offering this podcast every day during Holy Week. ...
We welcome you to listen to our Lenten podcast which will offer guided readings of the Common Prayer liturgies from your pastoral team. We are offering the podcast today, Ash Wednesday, and every day during Holy Week. ...
A Humble Walk – Today is Palm Sunday. Through Lent we have been considering what we can do to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly,” and our focus is now on “walk humbly.” The script is the Markan version of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, and we celebrate that with our own palm branches waving as we sing “Hosanna!” We know the scene was of a triumphant Jesus being welcomed and hailed as the long-awaited king. But we also know, as Jesus must have known, that he was about to face trial and crucifixion. Although the Gospel account of this entry is of much celebration, Jesus does not speak a word, and he is riding on a mere donkey colt. Even if he knows what is coming, he also knows that God is with him, so he can ride and walk humbly. That grounding in and identification with God allows him to speak for God in cleansing the temple shortly thereafter. We, too, are grounded as creatures of God, created in the image of God, and we are called to walk humbly with God, and also to love mercy and do justice. Our example in all of this is Jesus.
Just Keep Walking – Through Lent we are considering what we can do to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly,” and our focus is now on “walk humbly.” The scripture today is the familiar story in Mark 10 where James and John ask a favor of Jesus, which is that they be seated at the right and left of Jesus when he comes into his glory. In all the time that the disciples have spent with Jesus, apparently they don’t really understand. We, too, tend to think of rewards, and that seems to be human nature. We want to be recognized for who we are and what we do. But Jesus, in words and example, calls us to serve rather than to be served. To walk with Jesus is to learn to give of self in service, and if we keep walking with Jesus, he will correct us and guide us to walk humbly with God.
Through Lent we are considering what we can do to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly,” and our focus is now on mercy. The scripture today is the familiar parable of Jesus talking about separating the sheep from the goats: “If you have done this for the least of these, you have done it for me.” Jesus is saying that God is near in the needs of the needy. If humans are made in the image of God, then we can surely behold God in our paying attention to the needs of others. That also means that when we, ourselves, are needy, we encounter God in our broken places. It also means that the more time and energy we spend with the needy, the more we encounter God. Our ancestor in Methodism, John Wesley, encouraged the rich to visit the poor and through that action to see God.
A Merciful Messiah – Through Lent we are considering what we can do to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly,” and our focus is now on mercy. The scripture today is the encounter of Jesus with blind Bartimaeus who knows Jesus is approaching and calls out to him. Some around the scene react to restrain the blind beggar, but Jesus asks him what he wants Jesus to do. We can put ourselves into the story as the beggar, the crowd, the disciples, or Jesus, but the actions of Jesus teach what we are to do and reflect the words of Micah to love mercy. Jesus is heading to Jerusalem with an agenda, much as we frequently have an agenda when we’re in transit, but it doesn’t prevent Jesus from asking what Bartimaeus needs. Further, Jesus does not assume what Bartimaeus needs, but asks and supplies. Bartimaeus ends up with the ability to see, and as a result he becomes a disciple. Jesus did not deliver that mercy expecting anything in return, but delivered precisely what the beggar needed. It is a model for us to show mercy.
What Is and What Can Be: Aligning our Hearts and Heads with God’s – Through Lent we are considering what we can do to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly,” and this is the second week our focus is on justice. The reading for today is a passage from Isaiah (10:1-4) that is clearly from a God angry at those who “pronounce wicked decrees” that deprive the needy. Stacey Harwell-Dye, our Pastor of Mercy and Justice Ministries is preaching, and she traces the idea of broken relationships back to the Genesis creation story and the delivery of the people from slavery in Egypt, demonstrating that right worship is very much related to right relationship. She cautions us to beware of enclosing ourselves inside a bubble of worship at West End and seek relationship with those outside our inner circle. She gives a number of examples of that in her own life and proclaims that God is on the side of the vulnerable, referring to Isaiah 58 as God’s ideal.
How the Tables Have Turned – Through Lent we are considering what we can do to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.” The reading for this Sunday is the Markan account of Jesus entering the temple, observing the transactions going on as doves and other sacrificial beings are sold to people arriving to make sacrifices, and Jesus accusing those selling the sacrifices of misusing the Temple. Jesus, enraged, turns the tables of those sellers upside down. To this point in Mark, Jesus has performed countless acts of mercy as he has healed individuals. But this is an act of justice, an attempt to turn around a societal function that is unjustly preying on particular groups of people who are coming to the temple to make sacrifices but do not have the means to provide the sacrificial animals. In our own lives, acts of mercy, although called for, are often much easier to perform than are acts of justice. We are, however, called to act justly, and one way to do that is through group, rather than individual, action. We have many opportunities to do such work through our own church and congregation.
We welcome you to listen to our Lenten podcast which will offer guided readings of the Common Prayer liturgies from your pastoral team. We are offering the podcast today, Ash Wednesday, and every day during Holy Week. ...
Observing a Holy Lent – This is our Ash Wednesday service of the imposition of ashes, a time of introspection and confession in the forty days leading up to the Easter celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. Rev. Shannon Baxter, our Pastor of Congregational Connection, delivers the homily. In a sense, through these forty days we walk with Jesus through the forty days he spent in the wilderness after his baptism. We also look for practices that help us turn the focus from ourselves to God. One of those might be to sacrifice our riches, which seems in some ways to make sense. But Rev. Baxter says that our relationship with God is not transactional. The passage from Micah 6 is central in that the prophet says that God does not want our sacrifices of riches, but to follow God means to “do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” It is a way of living, exemplified by the way Jesus lived. And in thus living we can build our relationship with God through these forty days of Lent.
This is our annual Shrove Tuesday Jazz Mass, a celebration before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Aimee Baxter, our Pastor of Young Adults delivers the Communion Meditation, and she begins by giving a number of examples of someone being up, then down. It is much like we will experience with this Shrove Tuesday of celebration and then tomorrow’s Ash Wednesday. The scripture is the Markan version of the baptism of Jesus wherein we read about Jesus’ baptism by John, then his coming up out of the water to feel the heavens open and hear the voice of God calling him beloved. But in the writer of Mark’s usual fashion of brevity, the Spirit “immediately” sends Jesus into the wilderness for forty days of deprivation. In some ways it is the ultimate beautiful, terrible day. Yet it is clear that Jesus is sustained in the wilderness by the knowledge that he is the beloved of God, and that is a lesson for us, too. That we are beloved of God should sustain us in those difficult times.
Invited to the Thin and Thick Places – This is Transfiguration Sunday, and we read the story from Mark where Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with him to a mountain, and he was transformed before them with Elijah and Moses appearing, too, certifying Jesus as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. As she delivers this sermon, Carol gives examples of times when she has been filled with the light of the spirit, calling those the “thin times.” Those kinds of transforming moments are the keys to our return to our daily lives and ministries, and they equip us to navigate the “thick times” of everyday life and also of obstacles. There is hope that Sunday worship, although it can become routine, enlightens us with “thin times” so that as we are sent forth we can be a light to others. Experiencing God can transform us.
We have been reading through the first chapter of Mark, and in today’s reading Jesus and the first four disciples go to the house of Simon and Andrew. There they find Simon’s mother-in-law is sick with a fever. Jesus heals her. Then that evening, everyone in the town gathers in front of Simon’s house, and Jesus heals many who are ill or afflicted with demons. The next morning Jesus goes out by himself to find a deserted place where he can pray. Thus he makes himself unavailable to the crowds and available to God, to abide in God’s love and support. It is an example for us. Although God is with us at all times, to secure time to be alone with God, to express our love for God and to feel God’s love for us, is critical. Amazingly, after that time of communion with God Jesus did not return to Capernaum to heal people. Instead, he insisted that his mission has been clarified in that one-on-one with God, and his mission is to spread the Good News to other people and towns. As individuals and as a congregation, we must follow the example of Jesus to be people of prayer.
You’re Invited into Healing Liberation – Today’s passage is from Mark, early in Jesus’ ministry but after he has called the first four disciples. He is in Capernaum, enters the synagogue and begins teaching, and the people are astounded by his authority in that teaching. Then a deranged man cries out, and Jesus exorcises the demon in the man, healing him. Both are demonstrations of the person and mission of Jesus, and this is a learning experience for those new disciples. As we are concerned about authority today, this scene in Capernaum of Jesus healing and liberating demonstrates the unlimited and unhindered authority of Jesus, who uses that authority to liberate rather than to dominate. Jesus later sends out the disciples to do just that: heal and liberate. It is also an example for us: as we are baptized, we, too, are sent out with the authority to heal and liberate, and thus we, like the disciples, are called to help achieve the vision of God’s world as described by the prophets.
Today’s scripture from John 1 is about Jesus meeting Philip and calling him into discipleship, but it is also about Philip, in turn, inviting Nathanael into discipleship, too, with the invitation to “come and see.” The Gospel of John uses that phrase several times, and we are invited to share in the excitement and the invitation. Nathanael’s initial response to the invitation demonstrates some prejudice on his part, but when he actually meets Jesus, all that changes. We are challenged to inspect our own prejudices and wonder whether they are preventing us from meeting and receiving Jesus. Further, when we, like Philip, invite others to “come and see,” as inviting someone to come to our church, what is it that we want them to “come and see”? Philip invited Nathanael to come and see Jesus, and it was that meeting Jesus that opened everything to Nathanael. Our invitation is, then, to come and see Jesus.
Today, using the account in Mark, we read about the baptism of Jesus by John at the Jordan, and we remember and celebrate our own baptism. A question that often arises with the baptism of Jesus is why would Jesus need to be baptized like the sinners to whom John was preaching, “Repent and be baptized”? Maybe Jesus was baptized and the spirit descended to proclaim he was beloved in order to demonstrate that Jesus was very much one of us and we, too, are beloved. In our own baptism God declares us to be beloved just as Jesus was proclaimed beloved. In our baptism, we are all loved uniquely, and we are thus all of one family, created in the image of God who loves everyone. It is incumbent on each of us to realize that not only are we beloved of God, but everyone is, and we need to reflect that in our relationships. When we are feeling down, we must realize that we are beloved. If we get angry with someone, we must realize that they are also beloved. Remembering our baptism is a way to reconnect to that deep feeling of being beloved.
Invited to Another Road – This is Epiphany Sunday, the day we remember the trip of the Magi to see the baby Jesus. Although many legends about the magi have grown through the centuries, the account in Matthew is the only account available, and it does not reveal how many magi were in the group, where they came from (it says only “the East”), or how old Jesus was when they made this trip. What we do know is that it was a journey of faith with the goal of worshipping the baby. When they consulted Herod as to the place the new king had been born, Herod, out of fear, told them to come back to report their finding so he, too, could go pay homage. But Herod was operating out of fear. The Magi had followed the star to the land and then to the house where Jesus was with Mary and Joseph, and when, in a dream, they were told to find a way back to their country without reporting to Herod, they again followed a road of faith rather than one of fear. They kept eyes on the star with their priority to worship this Jesus. We, too, need to follow the path of faith and worship.
We have now celebrated the birth of Christ and are at the brink of a new year. The scripture for today is from Joshua, the account of the people crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land, and God tells them to set up a pile of 12 stones, one for each tribe, as a memorial. Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye, our Pastor of Mercy and Justice ministries is preaching and says that on New Year’s Eve we often look back on memories while looking ahead to the new year. And that is something that the scriptures frequently prompt both the ancient believers and us to do – to look back and remember what God has done and to move forward under the grace and helping hand of God. We are encouraged to remember the places we forgot God and what happened as a result, and then to move onward with that in our hearts and souls to change our directions and also to educate the generations behind us. Jesus called on the disciples to do just that as they communed at the last supper, to “Do this in remembrance of me,” and we are called by the same directive in our own communion services.
Today, the fourth Sunday of Advent and also Christmas Eve, the scripture is the section of Luke where the young Mary responds to the announcement of her pregnancy with “the Magnificat,” praising God for raising her from her modest place to this place of honor as mother of this holy infant. This comes when Mary famously visits her cousin, Elizabeth, who is also pregnant, blessed at an old age with a child who will turn out to be John the Baptist. The words of Isaiah, which we have been reading through Advent, may seem to promise something way off in the future, but for these two, the surprise and joy are immediate. At times we can look at the words of The Magnificat and identify with the rich and well-fed, who, as Mary proclaims, are brought down. But we each have our low points, and if we hear God’s word, we are called to work to help others who are not as fortunate as we are, and in so doing, not only will those who receive our help experience surprise and joy, but we may well do so, too.
As we enter the fourth week of Advent, take a few minutes to stop, center yourself and ponder this guided meditation on love, led by Rev. Will McLeane.
– In the season when many people are joyous over the birth of the Christ child, gift giving and receiving, and family gatherings, many among us are experiencing loss, aloneness, grief. This service, held on the longest night of the year, is meant to provide comfort and hold a safe place for those who need quiet reflection. The service incorporates scripture, lighting of candles, prayer, communion, and comforting words. The sermon is delivered by Tammy Lewis Wilborn, our Congregational Care Intern, who describes for us the journey “From Mourning to Morning,” as codified in a brief passage from Lamentations.
Justice and Joy – Through this Advent season we are reading words of Isaiah, and today’s prophecy from chapter 64 comes again to a people in despair but offers a glimmer of hope, and beyond that hope it offers comfort and joy. Today, the third Sunday of Advent, we light the third candle, a pink one representing joy, and in that sense this section of Isaiah fits. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus preaches for the first time in his own hometown and uses these words from Isaiah, but the people are upset because the joy he describes is dependent on justice for people who aren’t the ones hearing him and aren’t themselves experiencing injustice. We can experience joy when God’s vision of justice for everyone is realized, and we have roles in making that happen.
As we enter the third week of Advent, take a few minutes to stop, center yourself and ponder this guided meditation on peace, led by Rev. Aimee Baxter.
Through this Advent season we are reading words of Isaiah, and today’s prophecy of “Comfort Ye, Comfort Ye My People” comes from chapter 40 but is also familiar to us as the first choral movement in G. F. Handel’s Messiah. The message comes to a people whose city, Jerusalem, has been devastated, the temple destroyed, and they have been displaced and are certainly in need of comfort. That message of comfort is followed by a command to make a straight path through the desert, lowering the mountains, raising the valleys, to prepare for the Lord’s coming. We, too, need comfort in the midst of distress, whether personal, health related, or with respect to our world. Isaiah can give us hope, too, and prompt us to work to make the path straight in preparation. And in this season of awaiting the birth of the Christ child, hope and comfort are key ingredients.
As we enter the second week of Advent, take a few minutes to stop, center yourself and ponder this guided meditation on peace, led by Rev. Shannon Baxter.
This is the first Sunday in Advent, and our scripture is from Isaiah’s words to people who had great reason to feel that God had abandoned them. The prophet describes a God who had done awesome deeds in the past, but then God’s abandonment had given rise to the people’s abandonment of God. The prophet speaks of repentance, a turning around of the people, and a cry out to God to return with all of the mighty presence and works God had exhibited in the past. On the people’s side, besides repenting they are to wait in hope, in the deep hope and faith that God stands beside them and will return. This is the waiting in hope represented by Advent. If we as individuals or as groups feel abandoned, it is okay for us to cry out for God to reappear and then to wait with hope for that reappearance.
As we begin the season of Advent, we will be guided by the prophets and by the poetry of E.E. Cummings. Be sure and pick up your Advent guide at church on Sunday or let us know if you need one sent to you. As an added practice each week, we will provide a brief guided meditation through one of Cummings’ poems. Here is the first one to lead us into Sunday.
– In January we began a year-long journey through the Bible with Genesis, and today we end that journey with a reading from the last chapter of Revelation. In this final vision of final days John of Patmos sees a city wherein all things are reconciled. A Tree of Life is the focal point, somehow reminiscent of that tree in the Garden of Eden that broke down relationships between God and humans, between humans, and between humans and nature when humans gave into the temptation to trust themselves rather than trusting God. In God’s pursuit of restoration, at some point God decided to become human in the form of Jesus, who speaks of reconciliation and perfection in relationships, but who is crucified on a tree. In this final vision, then, we see God’s vision of reconciliation and the restoration of relationships. It is not here yet, but we can not only look for it but live into the vision by working to restore relationships with each other and with God.
The Alpha and Omega – In January we began a year-long journey through the Bible with Genesis, and today and next Sunday we end with readings from Revelation. Today’s reading comes from the first chapter where the visionary, John, reports on his encounter with the risen Jesus. The book of Revelation is and has been controversial through the millenia with some people citing it to predict the coming of the apocalypse as a punishment. It helps to know some of the historical setting, and it was a time when the Roman empire had Judah, both Jews and Christians, under its control. These visions helped the occupied peoples know that God was still in control. But how does that relate to us? As the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, it is assurance that no matter the current circumstance, God is in control, and, as we say in our Affirmation of Faith, “We are not alone.” It also helps to know that much of God’s work needs to come through our own actions of love and justice.
Continuing our journey through the Bible, this week’s reading is from the epistle of James with a particular focus on James 1.19-20 where the writer, writing to a congregation that has apparently had some conflict, cautions them to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.” It is a caution appropriate for our era of social media and political division and a teaching that sounds like one Jesus might have given. Anger can be controlling and certainly divisive. We each get angry from time to time, but we need to notice when that happens and analyze why we are angry. We need to use prayer, love, and a spirit of joy and hope to quell our anger, and we need to listen to one another with prayer, love, and a spirit of joy and hope. We can practice listening in prayer, listening for God to speak.
Continuing our journey through the Bible, this week’s reading is Paul’s letter to Philemon, a letter filled with familial terms, and it is clear that the focus of the letter, Onesimus, has been a slave of Philemon. Although we don’t know how or why Onesimus is currently and has been with an imprisoned Paul, it is clear that Paul is sending Onesimus back to Philemon. Onesimus has become a convert to Christianity, and Paul encourages Philemon to receive the former slave as a brother, to learn from him, to grow with him. In many ways the entire ministry of Jesus can be seen in this letter, and Paul’s appeal to Philemon calls us as a church to live a life of love.
Continuing our journey through the Bible, this week’s reading is from Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In this letter, Paul is frustrated with the church he had helped to form in Galatia. They were largely Gentiles, but apparently some Jewish had moved in and demanded that those in that church obey the Jewish law, including such things as circumcision. Paul says it is not about earning God’s love through obedience to laws but accepting God’s grace. Sometimes an inner voice tells us we’re not worthy, but Paul insists we are free from such burdens: “You are called to freedom!” It isn’t a matter of whether we deserve to be a part of the church, but that we accept the God-given grace and are thus relieved of such burdens as whether we are worthy. As Methodists, John Wesley spoke and wrote extensively about types of grace, so that in Methodism, grace is in our DNA. The question for us is how to respond to God’s grace given freely to us.
A God Ever Faithful – This is the Sunday we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of our church. One of the things we are doing through this 150th year is reading through the Bible and, on Sundays, taking our scripture readings from the books of the Bible in sequence. Today we are looking at a passage from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, which is a little out of order, but it applies to our own church in that Paul is writing to a church that has taken the journey seriously and, in Paul’s mind, will be faithful to that journey. The church at Philippi was founded somewhat unusually for that day, but its congregants have been faithful, and Paul is full of praise for them. West End, too, has had some struggles along the way, but has worked through those with inspiration and design. West End is a congregation that has shown that although individuals can be flawed in various ways, God’s appointment, grace, and strength can build community through such individuals, and thus a church can be a major part of the movement of God’s work in the world. We are here to celebrate our church’s past and to take on the responsibility of continuing God’s work.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from 1 Corinthians. Rev. Shannon Baxter, our Pastor of Congregational Connection, is preaching. The text is Paul’s familiar comparison of the community of the church to the members of the body, an analogy that can surely be understood by anyone. Historically, the Corinthian congregation must have had need of such encouragement to come together as one body, with each given unique gifts, not for the benefit of that person, but for the collective benefit of the group, the congregation, so that the Corinthian church would become what it was meant to be. For us, this means realizing that our individual gifts should be identified, received and used in humility and that we are incomplete without the gifts of others.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from Romans, the first of the letters of Paul. Romans is a multi-layered and intricate letter. Much of the first part of the letter is about God’s grace through which all are welcomed. Then in chapter 12, Paul says, “Therefore” and begins to write about how this oneness in the body of Christ affects how we treat each other. He describes it as a “living sacrifice” that prompts us to surrender ourselves to the grace of God daily. Through this Paul says we are transformed and renewed. He warns us not to be “conformed to this world,” which challenges our own certainty, the resistance to being open to having our minds changed. World Communion Sunday is a recognition that we need God’s grace as do all others, and we are all invited to the table, to come with uncertainty and openness to being transformed.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from Acts, a book that chronicles the early days of Christianity. Our focus is on Barnabas, who plays a minor role in Acts. His character is all about support and encouragement. We may recall that Saul (later Paul) was initially intent on crushing the belief in Jesus until his conversion on the road to Damascus. When Paul went back to Jerusalem to join the Christian movement, the leaders there rejected him because of his previous actions. It was Barnabas who encouraged them to accept the converted Paul. Perhaps if Barnabas had not encouraged Paul and encouraged the Christian leaders to accept him, we might not have had Paul as a major character in early Christianity. In part of today’s reading, Barnabas convinces Paul to come with him to Antioch, and the two of them prompt the growth of the Christian community there. Who in our lives has encouraged us? Are we ready to take on the role of one who encourages, much as Barnabas did?
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from the Gospel of John. Early in this gospel, Jesus tells the disciples he will be leaving them, but in this passage Jesus describes himself as the vine and those around him as the branches, telling them that if they “abide in him,” they will have joy, peace, and love (even if he is not physically with them). It is a strong message to us, too, that if we put ourselves into his presence, even if he is not with us physically we will experience that presence in joy, peace, and love. We must realize Jesus is talking with “them” rather than with an individual, and that sends us a message of the importance of community – when we are connected as community through Jesus we bear fruit. In a sense of gardening, we can understand that God chooses to nourish the world through us.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from Luke in which Jesus heals two people from very different segments of the community. The writer of Luke seems to have an interest in “the great reversal,” in which, for example, the downtrodden are elevated and those of privilege are taken down. These two healing stories in Luke 7 reflect in the realm of Jesus the equality of a centurion and a widow, whose stations in society are not at all the same. The two stories also comment on two stories in 2 Kings that involve the prophets, Elisha and Elijah, respectively. For us, it demonstrates the gathering of God’s people into a worshiping community, the church, where everyone is welcome at the table and is subject to God’s grace. We, as the church, need to realize how central this was to the ministry of Jesus, and how our own behaviors should reflect that.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading of the familiar of the healing of the demoniac. In this story, Jesus retreats to Gentile territory, which is unusual for him and makes us wonder whether he knew about this man and intended to go there. The man is clearly out of control and is relegated to “the tombs” away from people. When Jesus arrives, the man asks “What have you to do with me?” But in the end, the demons are exorcized and the man is healed. He asks Jesus to take him along, and, surprisingly, Jesus declines, telling the man to go back to his people and tell them what Jesus has done. So the story ends up not just about curing the man, but about his re-integration into his people. It should teach us something about pursuing those in need, those rejected from society, and healing them and reintegrating them into community.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading of the familiar parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, a parable that appears only in Matthew. In many ways it is shocking because it seems so unfair. The worker who worked all day gets the same pay as the workers who came on the job later, even the same pay as the worker who arrived at the end of the day. It seems economically improper and unfeasible, and in the story the one who worked all day grumbles about it. But he was given his due, and it was the choice of the farmer to give everyone, even those who came late, a day’s pay. Paying attention we realize that it’s God’s economy. Those of us who have been committed to God all of our lives are no more welcomed or rewarded than those who arrive at the last minute. Knowing that should prompt us to be more grateful than grumbly, and it should encourage us to be inviting and welcoming to those who come later. We remember that Jesus in many cases dined and associated more with the people of low status than with those in the religious establishment of their day. We need to be grateful for God’s economy and share in it and extend it to others.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from Matthew as we begin the New Testament. Our guest preacher is Bishop Ken Carter, currently the bishop of the Western North Carolina Conference, and the text is the familiar encounter when a lawyer tests Jesus by asking him the greatest commandment. Matthew is not the earliest of the Gospels, but it does have the most connections to the Old Testament, frequently quoting the Hebrew scriptures and seeing Jesus as the new Moses. In addition to the response of Jesus to love God and love one’s neighbor as oneself, Jesus says that all of the other commandments hang on these two. There’s a structure. John Wesley, too, had a structure, to be made holy through one’s life, and thus the title, “Methodist.” Wesley’s vision of striving for perfection was based on loving God and one’s neighbor. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus frequently says, “You have heard it said, but I say . . .” by which Jesus is calling us from a focus on the law to move toward love. In a polarized nation, it is to live our lives knowing that everyone is created in the image of God. Our journey is about loving God and loving each other.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament in our Protestant Bible. We’re using Malachi as a lens to examine what we’ve learned about the character of God to this point. Malachi is speaking to the people after they have returned to Jerusalem from exile, and, yet, they are not following God as they should. Malachi speaks out against the people for various things, like neglecting the least and most vulnerable. But Malachi also offers a word of hope as God calls the people back, telling them that if they follow God they will have another chance. Throughout the scriptures we’ve read, the people have repeatedly turned away from God for which there are consequences, but God does not turn away from them, encouraging them to return. Malachi assures the people that God will always be there for them, and they are always called to return. As with those ancients, God is not finished with us, and we must open ourselves to God.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from Zephaniah. In the lectionary, because of its words of hope in hard times, readings from Zephaniah come up on the third Sunday in Advent and also on the night of Easter Vigil, which is the Saturday of the tomb before the resurrection on Easter Sunday. As the Israelites found themselves in Babylon, all of us find ourselves in times of desolation, and these words are meant for such times. Notably, the subject of nearly every sentence in our text is “I” or “God,” as God makes promises to the people – it is God who brings restoration, hope, healing, power, belonging. At times we tend to rely on ourselves, but God is always with us, holding us, never forsaking us, and it is God who acts. Zephaniah calls on the people to rejoice and not fear. Some in our world use fear to conquer and control, but Zephaniah tells us to release that fear and trust that God holds us. Beyond that, Zephaniah calls us to sing with joy because God looks at us with joy and embraces us.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from Jonah. The story of Jonah is one that appeals to all ages, but in some ways it is also a difficult story. Initially, God calls Jonah to go to Nineveh and give God’s word to that city. But he goes in the opposite direction, heads out to sea, and, in a storm, is swallowed by that big fish, and, in that way, was brought back to the land. This time he does go, and the Ninevites repent and are saved. But Jonah is angry that the Ninevites have been saved. This is a theme we see throughout the Bible and may experience ourselves when we are not happy about God’s mercy to others. Another Biblical example is in the story of the prodigal son when the older brother is angry. Both stories end with an invitation from God or the father of the young men, but there is no account of whether Jonah or the older son accepts that invitation. We learn that there is no end to God’s mercy, and we are invited to join God in the joy of that mercy: God loves Nineveh unconditionally.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s readings from the prophets Amos and Micah. Reading Amos is, in some ways, hard because it is largely gloom and doom. Amos lived in the period when the Assyrians were threatening from the north, and he was warning that the reasons had to do with Israel’s infidelity to God in their mistreatment and neglect of the poor. This can guide us into self-examination: choose what is good and reject what is evil. God rejected their worship because it was empty – they leave worship and then do not live it out. Does our worship lead to change in our lives? Micah’s words are instructive as to how we must live: Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. Both prophets then instruct us to change our lives. John Wesley at one point expressed concern that Methodists would keep the form of worship without the power of worship, which is a reflection of these prophets.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from the prophet Ezekiel describing one of a number of visions Ezekiel has throughout this massive book. The historical situation is that Ezekiel is with the other Judaic exiles in Babylon, Jerusalem having not only been conquered, but destroyed. Every aspect of their lives has been upended, and they are lost in every sense. In this vision, Ezekiel is led through the restored Jerusalem and sees, flowing from the Temple, a tiny trickle of a stream. He is led further, and as the vision progresses, the trickle becomes a stream, a river, and then a river so broad he could not cross it. But it is a life-giving river, one that enables fruit trees to grow in desert land and an abundance of fish even to the Dead Sea. In the midst of the despair of exile, this stream gives abundant life. It is reminiscent of the scene in John 7.37f when Jesus cries out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink,” then, “Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.” If we are open to this living water, even in our times of deepest despair, God is there to provide unimaginable life. (NOTE: Rev. Will McLeane, our new Pastor of Spiritual Formation, is preaching today.)
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s readings from the prophet Jeremiah. In this passage we find God calling Jeremiah to prophesy when he is merely a boy. Jeremiah cannot understand why he would be called as a mere child, and, throughout his prophetic career, his prophetic tasks are often sharp rebukes of his own people. Jeremiah seems to be a prophet who struggled at times, wishing he wouldn’t have to say God’s words, but he can’t stop himself. While others were advising the king to ally with Egypt or Babylon to avoid being conquered by them, Jeremiah says they must suffer the history that God has meted out. He was, of course, greatly unpopular, and he ended up in prison. In the New Testament, the word of Jesus was also wildly unpopular. In Acts, Peter and John ended up in prison, too. Carol also describes some history of the Wesley family, and how some roles that were considered “vile” were actually God-given. There are, at times, calls for us to be unpopular and to deliver words of God that will sting, but for those times God assures us of God’s presence. We have amazing songs of grace to sing to the world, but when the going gets tough, we know we are spreading God’s word.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s readings from the prophet Isaiah. The prophets were noted for putting forth visions of the world as God intended it to be. These were God’s visions, but the people were to participate in making them become reality. On this Independence Day weekend, we remember the Declaration of Independence’s statement that “all men are created equal,” and we know that meant something different then than it has meant in recent decades as, for example, when slavery was abolished and women gained the right to vote. Isaiah chapter 2 paints a vision of the mountain of God where all people assemble in love and unity. Isaiah chapter 65 paints another vision of a new creation where there is no weeping or distress, where people rejoice, and “the wolf and lamb shall feed together.” We must be infused with these visions of hope, working with God toward the realization of such a new heaven and earth, knowing that God is with us. That hope is embodied in the communion we take together at the table of the Lord with no restriction and no hesitation.
Learning to Lean – We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s focus on Wisdom literature and passages from Song of Songs, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Our church has had an intergenerational Sunday school through the month of June, and sitting at a table with people of various generations who can share their views of God and God’s people is not dissimilar from examining the voice of youth in Song of Songs, then Proverbs as the voice of an adult of middle age, and Ecclesiastes as the voice of wisdom of age. Song of Songs is a love poem of passion between two people, and it gives the potential and hope of life, longings for a perfect world. Middle age comes with its joys but also its challenges of living, caring for children and older adults as well as making it through every day. Proverbs, like middle age, offers pieces of wisdom but ultimately urges trust in God. Some of Ecclesiastes is cynical, but it also assures that God has long ago approved of who we are – we don’t need to go through so much to make ourselves somebody else because God has approved, and we can live out of gratitude, continuing to learn and lean on God.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s focus on Psalms. Not only are the scripture reading and sermon from Psalms, but the liturgy, prayers, and anthems are all either Psalms or are adapted from them. The Book of Psalms not only has been the “hymnal” through millennia for those who worship God, but it contains hymns/poems for any situation in which we might find ourselves. Embedded in the midst of the Book of Psalms is a series, “Psalms of Ascents,” which scholars believe were traveling psalms as pilgrims traveled toward Jerusalem to the Temple and then arrived there. Carol cites one of them, Psalm 130, as a cry out to God from the depths, a place we have all likely been. But even in the time of deepest distress, it also expresses strong faith in the Lord. Psalm 131 also expresses a feeling of focus, not on “things too great and too marvelous for me,” but on a quieted soul “like a weaned child with its mother.” As a people of God we are on a journey, certainly called to strive for peace and justice for all, but this Psalm also calls us to firm grounding in God. The scenes of Jesus at rest are good examples.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from Job, a difficult text recounting God’s appearance to Job to respond to Job’s doubts. Preaching today is Rev. Dr. Soren Hessler, who recounts the story of Job, a righteous man who loses everything, and whose friends insist he must not be all that righteous if he has ended up in this position. The friends represent the wisdom tradition insisting that righteousness brings the good life, but in Job’s situation and from his perspective the question becomes why do bad things happen to good people? Today’s reading is God’s response to Job, essentially saying, through challenging questions, that God is God and Job is Job. But often, when one has questions or suffers, being in the presence of God’s creation can put things in perspective – God is present in our times of suffering and loss, and, although that doesn’t clear up the problem, it does offer a setting of comfort and perspective. Even if we don’t find the answer to our difficulties, we can experience God’s presence with us.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from Esther. Rev. Erin Racine is preaching in one of her last Sundays with West End UMC as she moves on to another assignment. In this reading, Esther, a Jew by birth but married to the Persian king, is asked by her cousin to do something truly dangerous in order to help save the Jews living in Susa. The king does not know Esther is a Jew, and she is timid and submissive. But she asks that the Jews in Susa hold a fast for her, and with that community support she does approach the king. Erin relates that to a recent survey that asked what churches in Nashville need to do to help in our communities. She cites a study that showed only 37% of church goers in Nashville volunteer, and she reminds us that we are the body of Christ. Erin then lists many things she has seen our church and West Enders do in her years with us, and she challenges us, as a well of resources, to remember that, like Esther, we are called to do the hard work that we are in a position to do, and, like Esther, we have the community around us to support us in meeting those challenges.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from Nehemiah in which Nehemiah goes out under cover of darkness to inspect the walls of Jerusalem that had been destroyed by the Babylonian invasion. More than a century before, Babylonians had conquered Judah and exiled many of its skilled and brightest people. When the Persian king, Cyrus, finally defeated Babylon, he allowed the Jews to return to their homeland. Nehemiah was not among the first to be released, but when he did return the Temple had been restored, yet the city was still in shambles. Before he had asked to return to Judah, and after he got there, he was careful to consult God, and, having done so, then having seen the destruction, Nehemiah told the Jews around him about his conversations with God and said that together they should rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. This informs us that a strong relationship with God is crucial, and such relationship results in our work, our service to building and rebuilding the world around us.
We continue our trip through the Bible with today’s reading from 2 Kings 7 in which four lepers find themselves in a desperate situation. They are rejected by their own people (Israelites) for their disease, and their city is taken over by invading Arameans. Given little choice, the lepers enter their city, hoping the Arameans will be generous but thinking they are heading to their deaths at the hand of the enemy. But upon entering they discover that the Aramean army has, through an act of God, fled the city, leaving all of their food and possessions. The lepers begin to take the booty, but at some point they realize this is wrong and they should let their fellow Israelites know that their city is safe again. It is an example of God using unlikely characters to do God’s work, even sharing the good news and the bounty with people who had mistreated them in the past. We must ask what this means for us and how we, too, are called to share the Good News through our actions. And we must realize that God often calls the marginalized to spread the Good News, and we must be accepting.
After Lent and Easter we have returned to our trip through the Bible with today’s readings from 1 Kings 19 in which Elijah, who has worked as God’s prophet through incredible odds and in difficult times is now suffering burnout. He has challenged the people and the king and now is ready to die. He feels alone and totally spent, not unlike we feel at times. But in the desert God meets Elijah, first demonstrating the divine presence with power, and then with ultimate quiet. Got asks Elijah why he has come here, and Elijah lays down his burdens. Then God gives Elijah new assignments and demonstrates that God is ever present. It is a good lesson for us and for the young people who are confirmed in today’s early service, that no matter our burnout, God challenges us to keep going and assures us of the divine presence.
After Lent and Easter we have returned to our trip through the Bible with today’s readings from 2 Samuel in which, in spite of the friction between King Saul and David, as David was deemed to be Saul’s successor instead of one of Saul’s sons, after the death of Saul and Jonathan in battle, David reaches out in kindness to help any of Saul’s family. Mephibosheth, a crippled son of Jonathan, receives David’s help. This is an expression of God’s own kindness, and just as David invited Mephibosheth to eat at his table, today God invites all of us to God’s table in communion. We know Jesus offered kindness countless times to people who were afflicted or rejected or hungry or simply needed kindness, and we, too, are called to extend kindness.
After Lent and Easter we have returned to our trip through the Bible with today’s readings from 1 Samuel, a passage where the people are rejecting Samuel’s leadership and asking for a king, which they have seen in other nations. We’ve seen and will see in our trip through the scriptures that God has a plan and design for what the kingdom should be, but the people continually turn aside and choose worldly things over what God would have them choose. In this particular case it is a choice between God’s kingdom and a worldly kingdom, like the other nations. Early Christians proclaimed, “Jesus is Lord” rather than “Caesar is lord.” We, too, have to decide what to put at the center of our lives, and we do that in proclaiming, “We are Easter people!”
This is our annual Youth Sunday when the youth in our church take on all the roles in the services, including preaching and being liturgists. They have studied the Book of Ruth, and from the first part of that story, when in a tragic situation Ruth declined to do what was perhaps better for herself and, instead, went with her widowed mother-in-law, Naomi, to Judah, Naomi’s native land, she was “drawing the circle wide” to adopt Naomi’s people, land, and God, and as such she is the symbol for today’s service. The two youth delivering the sermon today, Anna Bigelow and Trip Cook, give their experiences of their being included in a widened circle through their years in the youth group, and both also challenge us to widen the circle around us as a calling from God.
After Lent and Easter we are returning to our trip through the Bible with today’s readings from Joshua and Judges. The Joshua passage tells of the people crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land and the instruction to pick a man from each tribe to go back into the river and take a stone to set up to remind people of that day and journey. Stories in Joshua and Judges are often about battles to conquer peoples and territories in Canaan, not the most pleasant of Israel’s stories. But, as the stones remind them, those stories must be told. Any single story is incomplete, and stories in the book of Judges show the people wandering off course and from God because they had not remembered those stories told in Joshua. We must remember to tell all parts of our own stories so we can remember the mistakes and maintain a course with the love of God.
This is Easter Sunday. The scripture is the Matthean account of the women arriving at the tomb to be met by an angel and then by the risen Jesus. Having been in “a Good Friday place” for several weeks now from our community’s sorrow, and having preached on “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” in a Good Friday service, Carol confessed to having felt lost as late as yesterday. From this text in Matthew, she realized that those closest to Jesus must have felt down and lost, too, from the burial of Jesus through their Sabbath day. Then on the first day of the week those two Mary’s went to the tomb, still deep in grief, only to witness an angel opening the tomb and announcing the resurrection. They are convinced and leave to tell the disciples as the angel had instructed them to do, but in a culmination to their experience, the risen Jesus appears to them. We, too, leave this place having experienced the resurrection, so that we, like the two Mary’s and the disciples, are sent out to love in the power of resurrection, recalling the words of Jesus, “I am with you always.”
This is Good Friday, and it comes at a time when in Nashville we have had a school shooting and a legislative session in which two legislators were expelled. Rev. Erin Racine delivers the message, and in the midst of all of this heaviness, she heard the familiar line from the Christmas carol, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” That carol celebrates the birth of the redeemer, of course, but that is what happens with the crucifixion and resurrection, too – that Jesus was crucified might have seemed to have been a horrid end, but, in fact, it is the place where the outstretched arms of Jesus reach out to us all. In the Gospel of John, most things that happen to Jesus are fulfillments of things. When Jesus, on the cross, says, “It is finished,” it does mean the end of what everyone thought was his life, but it was also that his ministry was finished – he had shown his followers and us the posture of love. On the cross we are unburdened but also beckoned.
This is Maundy Thursday, the service a reflection and remembrance of the Last Supper as we, too, take communion. The scripture from John is of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples at that final dinner. Delivering the Meditation at the service is the Rev. Maggie Jarrell, Pastor of Children and Families. She gives her own experience with dirty feet from camp, and she points out that in the Gospel of John’s account of the Last Supper the focus is on Jesus washing the feet of the disciples, the act of love, much more than on the supper itself. This week Maggie participated in demonstrations after the shooting at Covenant School, telling us that at first she was overcome with emotion and unable to speak. She compares that to this act by Jesus, not really speaking at first but acting, a radical act of service in love, love in action. She asks us how we are living out our love.
This is Palm Sunday. For Lent we are pausing reading the Bible beginning to end and are exploring a theme of Encounters with Jesus in the Gospel of John. In today’s scripture, Jesus and Pilate are face to face. Pilate leaves the encounter several times to consult with the high priest, both Pilate and the high priest representing earthly power to which they see Jesus as a threat. Jesus says his power (kingdom) is not of this earth. Jesus seems vulnerable, but his power is in his gift of his life to truth, love, and grace. It is an example for us of vulnerable love fighting against the powers of the world.
For Lent we are pausing reading the Bible beginning to end and are exploring a theme of Encounters with Jesus in the Gospel of John. In today’s scripture, the encounter is with his friends, Mary and Martha, and their brother, Lazarus. Although we don’t often think of people who might be friends of him, rather than disciples or followers, Jesus is clearly friends with these three siblings. When he gets word that Lazarus is gravely ill, though, Jesus hesitates before going to Bethany, and then when he does go, Lazarus has been dead for four days. When Jesus travels toward Bethany, Martha meets him. Later, when he gets to the house, Mary meets Jesus, and she and friends around the house are weeping, at which Jesus, too, weeps. This show of love on his part might have been enough to console them, but Jesus goes with them to call Lazarus from the tomb. The story is filled with despair and grief, but it also demonstrates the presence of Jesus in any such despair and grief, and it also demonstrates hope.
During Lent 2023, we invite you to pause in the middle of your week to contemplate the scriptures. In each week’s podcast, we will listen as Jesus has a one-on-one conversation with someone. This guided meditation will help you place yourself in the conversation and ponder what Jesus might be saying to you or asking of you in the text. Take a few moments, find a comfortable, quiet place, and open yourself to the presence of Christ as we hear the words from the Gospel of John.
For Lent we are pausing reading the Bible beginning to end and are exploring a theme of Encounters with Jesus in the Gospel of John. In today’s scripture, the encounter is with a beggar who has been blind from birth. Jesus heals him. But in this chapter of John, there seem to be six scenes in which Jesus only appears in the first and last scenes. Other scenes show the Pharisees trying to figure out this situation and the parents of the healed man also trying to figure it out. In fact, no person or group of people is shown as rejoicing that the man has been healed. Pharisees, who discuss the situation, are divided as to who this healer might be. When they call in the man to tell them the story, he is summarily excommunicated. Only Jesus, in the end, has not only given the man his sight, but it is Jesus who rejoices with that man. In our daily lives, when we encounter someone who is in pain or outside the societal norm, it is up to us to make sure Jesus does not leave the room but heals and rejoices with that person.
We are pausing reading the Bible beginning to end for Lent and a theme of Encounters with Jesus. In today’s scripture, Jesus, traveling through Samaria, finds himself sitting at a well, tired and famished in the middle of the day, when a Samaritan woman approaches the well. It is a familiar story, but there are aspects of it that merit exploration. Traditionally, this woman who had been married five times and is now with a man who is not married was thought to be a woman of ill repute. But the story does not say why she was married five times – did her husbands die? Jesus asks for water, and she is put off by this Jew. But in the intervening conversation, hospitality takes over both from Jesus and from the woman. They both cross forbidden societal lines, but their conversation leads to conversion. Perhaps this lengthy story challenges us to do the same – cross societal lines with hospitality to do the work of Jesus, which is evangelism.
We are pausing reading the Bible beginning to end for Lent and a theme of Encounters with Jesus. In today’s scripture, Jesus is approached by Nicodemus, described as a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, a learned and respected member of the religious establishment. Other Pharisees have seen Jesus as a troublemaker and someone to be dealt with, but Nicodemus wants to find out about Jesus and approaches him by night. Nicodemus doesn’t begin with an accusation or question, but with a statement. The response Jesus gives is taken literally by the Pharisee, and Jesus goes further to explain, ending with the familiar lines that God so loves the world that he gave his only son. He goes further to say that God is not in the business of condemnation but is focused on salvation. Although Nicodemus doesn’t seem to be converted on the spot. His later appearances in the gospel indicate that he was changed. We, too, need to be vitally aware that God is not about condemnation, but about salvation.
We are pausing reading the Bible beginning to end for Lent and a theme of Encounters with Jesus. Today’s scripture is the story of the temptations of Jesus at the end of his forty days of fasting in the wilderness. The tempter appears and first tempts Jesus with food – turn these stones into bread. The Rev. Erin Racine says it then becomes a battle of scriptures, with the tempter quoting scriptures with the temptations and Jesus responding with other scripture. In each case, as he is tempted Jesus chooses self-control over power. Temptations for us don’t often show up as a figure with a pitchfork and forked tail, but are more insidious and grab us when we forget we are loved by God. We need to realize temptations are often the products of hunger and longing, and they come with choices. As Jesus trusted his temptations to God and was served by angels, we must trust our temptations to the Messiah. When Jesus left the wilderness, he went out to preach, and we, too, are called to be witnesses in the world.
In contrast to our Shrove Tuesday Jazz Mass, which is a celebratory service, on Ash Wednesday we turn our hearts and minds to the introspection and meditation of the Lenten season, using the sign of the cross in ashes on our foreheads as a symbol of that shift. The Rev. Carol Cavin-Dillon gives the homily, “To Show or Not To Show,” initially asking whether when we leave the service we will wipe the ashes off our foreheads or will leave the ashes there for others to see. The scripture for the service, from the Matthean version of the Sermon on the Mount, seems to give us both answers, and so, “It depends.”
This is our annual Shrove Tuesday Jazz Mass, a celebration through worship on the eve of Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. As a story in the contrasts of the joy of Shrove Tuesday and the introspection of Ash Wednesday and Lent, in her meditation, Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye uses a passage from Habakkuk to illustrate the severe trauma and ills the ancients faced contrasted with the sheer joy of the presence of God in their lives. She also uses some joys from her own live to lift our spirits in Shrove Tuesday. We all face “downs,” and we all also celebrate joys, but even if we face terrible tragedies we are assured that the ultimate joy is ever present in God’s love for us.
We continue reading the Bible with a passage from Numbers right after the Hebrews have received word from the spies who went to check out the land of Canaan. They have already been to Sinai to receive the law and instructions, have been fed manna in the desert, and have been led by the pillars of cloud and fire. But when most of the spies report that the people in the land are big and cannot be conquered, the Hebrews are ready to give up and return to slavery in Egypt. We, too, wander in the wilderness at times, with much provided, but when doubts arise, we, too, are prone to give up. This example in the wilderness should tell us that although it is easy to give up, trusting in God will always get us through.
We continue reading the Bible with a passage from Leviticus that lays out the ritual for the Day of Atonement. Carol gives some background for Leviticus with the freed Hebrews wandering in the wilderness for a generation, while God, through Moses, leads them and gives them the laws and rules for living. On the Day of Atonement, the people come together to lay out all their sins for this ritual of atonement. Two goats are chosen, one for sacrifice, and the other to carry off the burden of all those sins that are confessed. As New Testament people, we are influenced by the letter to the Hebrews to see Jesus in the same light as that goat, lifting the burden of our sins from us. Although we know that God forgives us, sometimes we have trouble forgiving ourselves, and it is in confession that we can release that burden to Jesus. Sometimes those sins are individual, and sometimes corporate, and as we gather at the communion table and confess we can release all of them.
We continue reading the Bible with a passage from Exodus 33 wherein Moses and God are conversing, and Moses asks God for reassurances about the mission God has directed him to do. Moses asks to see God’s “glory,” and God hides him in a crevice and passes before him, not allowing Moses to see God’s face. The Rev. Dr. Derek Weber, Director of Preaching Ministries in United Methodism’s Discipleship Ministries division, is the guest preacher. Derek begins by giving his personal historic connection to the church, as he is descended from Fountain Pitts, West End’s first appointed minister. Pitts was an officer in the Confederate army and a slave owner, and he was a gifted preacher. The quest for Moses to see God’s glory with God denying a glimpse at the divine face means that Moses, in God’s service, turns out to be the face of God, and Derek presses us to examine our church and ourselves to see how we serve as the face of God. Much as the slavery in our history may be distasteful to us now, it is our mission under God to reinterpret God’s mission for us and to serve as the face of God so that when others see us carrying out that mission, they will see God’s face in our faith and actions.
We continue reading the Bible with a passage from Exodus, the familiar story of Moses and the burning bush. Although, according to Genesis, the Israelites originally went to Egypt to seek relief from famine, they have since become enslaved. In this story, God calls Moses to be God’s representative to Pharaoh and free God’s people. Moses, however, is hesitant and offers several reasons he is not the one to do this. But God assures Moses that God will be with him. When Moses asks God’s name, God’s response has been one of the great mysteries of the Bible: “I AM who I AM.” God further identifies God’s self as the God of Moses’s ancestors. The story demonstrates that God is awesome and unknowable, but also very much relates to humans. It is a lesson for us – we are called to do God’s work, and although it may seem overwhelming and we feel incapable, the relational God is with us.
We continue reading the Bible with our second Genesis reading today, the story of Joseph and his brothers, and their jealousy erupting in their throwing him into a pit. For us it prompts a study of “Shalom,” most often translated, “peace,” but meaning much more a complete state of well-being wherein everything is right with the family or with the world. It begins with the creation as “very good,” and the Garden of Eden. The theme of humans falling short and God working for Shalom continues throughout the entire scripture. Human failure happens in families today much as it happened in the family of Jacob with all of the brothers aligned against Joseph. But in the long story of Joseph, when Joseph ends up in Egypt and the brothers come to get food to relieve their suffering during the famine, Shalom takes place. Joseph’s attitude is that his brothers meant to do him harm, but God turned that into good. On the eve of Martin Luther King Day, we remember King’s dream of Shalom. We, too, are called to do our part to help the Shalom of God’s plan come about.
This year is the 150th anniversary of West End, and one of the things we’re doing is reading the entire Bible, selecting passages from beginning to end, for our Sunday scriptures. Today we begin with Genesis and the six days of creation as told in Genesis 1. That there are two creation stories (Genesis 1, then Genesis 2-3) points out that these stories are stories of faith and God’s relationship to people. On the sixth day God created humans and gave humans power over all creation, then looked at creation and declared it “very good.” We are all made in the image of God. The second creation story is of God creating a human from the earth, then seeing that human needed a companion and creating one. Then God created the garden to serve their every need. But those humans, Adam and Eve, sought more and ate the forbidden fruit, immediately feeling shame and hiding from God. At the end of the story, God provides for them and goes with them as God will do with us. Today is also the day we remember our baptism, and when we touch the water in remembrance and declare, “Here I am,” God answers by declaring God’s love for us.
This is that rare year when New Year’s Day occurs on a Sunday. Maggie Jarrell is preaching, and the familiar text is from Ecclesiastes 3 wherein the poet is musing about the opposites in life: a time to laugh, a time to cry. We know those feelings as expressed in our bulletin cover, “Life is so beautiful: Life is so hard.” To consider these opposites is appropriate for New Year’s Day when we are looking forward as well as backward, perhaps making resolutions for the new year. Through that we may be pondering who we have been and who we’d hope to be. In our 150th year as a church it is incumbent upon us to do that: reflect on the past and plan for the future. Although we can plan, we know those plans don’t always materialize, but what we do know is that, through it all, God is faithful to us and is with us.
This is that rare year when Christmas Day occurs on a Sunday. As we have cited the birth narratives in Luke and Matthew in the two Christmas Eve services, now is the time to celebrate the joy of the arrival of the baby. The scripture is from the first chapter of John, those familiar and mysterious verses about “the Word” and its identification with God. “The Word” is described as life, the light shining into the darkness, becoming flesh and dwelling among people. Rev. Carol Cavin-Dillon points to the element of joy in our Advent trek to the nativity, recalling that the third candle of the Advent wreath represents joy. At the end of the Christmas Eve services we sing the very familiar, “Joy To the World.” She shares a number of joys she has experienced in the last few days and then presses us to recall a moment of joy in our lives and to share that with each other in the midst of the service. Joy is given to us in the birth of the Christ child, God incarnate, and that gift of joy is ours.
This is our traditional Christmas Eve Service, late on Christmas Eve, the end of the Advent period of waiting. The four Advent candles have been lit through the season, and at the end of this service the Christ candle is lit. The gospel reading, Luke 2.1-20, is read from the midst of the congregation rather than from the lectern, and Senior Minister Carol Cavin-Dillon’s Communion Meditation focuses on how, much as things must have happened for Joseph and Mary as they went to Bethlehem, many of us have experienced grief and other down times and struggles recently, but in the midst of all that the Christ child is born in a quite unexpected way. Jesus arrives, ready or not. God intervenes with Emmanuel at times when we may need that intervention most, and there is much joy in that coming. The service ends with a changing of the paraments from the color of Advent to the color of Christmas.
This service is designed for the longest night of the year, the Winter Solstice, and it speaks to any who are feeling lost, stressed, grieved. In this context, Rev. Erin Racine delivers the “Words of Hope,” stemming from Psalm 91, which addresses the kinds of lost-ness many are experiencing by assuring, with numerous expressions, God’s protection. Erin talks about loss, but also about the ever-present God, explaining with some examples that the vision of God’s protection is not a bargain with God such that if one worships God, God will return the favor with protection. She also uses examples to show that “protection” in this sense is not necessarily what we might consider protection, like protection from pain or illness. Rather, it is a wrapping of God’s wings around us to care for us in moving and spiritual ways. After her message, worshippers are encouraged to light candles, take communion, and pray, with the lighting of candles being a symbol of coming into the light out of the darkness of the Longest Night and of one’s suffering.
This is the fourth Sunday in advent, and in the scripture from Matthew 1, Joseph has found out that his betrothed, Mary, is pregnant, the only logical cause is that she has been unfaithful. In effect, Joseph is a minor character in the Gospels with no speaking lines at all, but this reading gives a chance to focus on his character. Here, he is faced with a problem for which the law says he can publicly disgrace Mary and her family. He has been building a future for them, but this changes everything, and, instead, he chooses to dismiss her “quietly.” Then, in a dream he is visited by an angel who explains the origin of the pregnancy, and Joseph went even farther in an act of mercy and “took her as his wife.” The question for us is how have we experienced the loss of a future, and how should we act in that moment so as to ensure the coming of God into the world?
(Anna Bigelow reads the scripture.) This is the third Sunday in advent, and in the scripture from Matthew 11 John the Baptist is in prison. This was the fiery preacher who, early in Matthew, baptized Jesus and recognized him as the Messiah. But, perhaps now seeing his ministry at an end and the long-awaited king not having taken over, John is wondering whether Jesus is the Messiah and sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus whether he is, indeed, the Messiah. The response Jesus gives may not have been exactly what John had thought it would be from a Messiah. Jesus points to the healing he’s done and the word he has spread. It is a good example for us when we feel trapped or down. God’s coming is not necessarily going to fix every one of our problems, but God is with us, Emmanuel.
This podcast contains Derek Weber's dramatic reading of a passage from Isaiah 11, then the Children's Moment and Communion Meditation. This is the second Sunday in advent, and the scripture is part of a vision in Isaiah 11 that starts with the “stump of Jesse” and describes with imagery a world in which there are peace and love. Rev. Nancy Parker is preaching and gives a personal example of a fig tree she and her husband planted and cared for that appeared, after the first winter, to have become a “fig stick.” But with care, they eventually saw a branch or two leaf out. She says most of us know how it feels to be a “stump,” waiting for life, and that is what Advent is all about – waiting for life with belief in the power and presence of God. Advent, then, is holy anticipation.
This recording begins with a dramatic reading of the scripture, continues with the Children's Moment, and then the sermon. This is the first Sunday in advent, and the scripture is (part of) Matthew’s version of the genealogy of Jesus, and the focus of the sermon is the significance of family ancestry. In our own hunger to know more about our ancestry we find a richness and foundation. The genealogy of Jesus in Matthew may well not be historically accurate, but the point is to establish the identity of Jesus. Five women, whose stories are somewhat scandalous, are included in the genealogy, and in her sermon Carol examines the story of each of those women. The writer of Matthew clearly points out the scandalous nature of each of those stories. In spite of those stories in which we can see human imperfections, we can also see Jesus as the Savior whose purity comes through all of those human imperfections, demonstrating that God can work through such imperfections, and also demonstrating that in spite of anything scandalous in our own lives, we are children of God.
Today Jefferson Furtado is the guest preacher, and the scripture is from the vision in which God shows Ezekiel a valley filled with dry bones. When asked if they can live, Ezekiel replies to God that God knows. As a picture of the hopelessness of Israel at the time, with Jerusalem in ruins, to look beyond the hopelessness of the dry bones is to look toward a reality that is beyond what one can see. That reality is God’s reality, and God can make that reality our reality, but God also calls us to faith and to help that reality come about, just as God called Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and then to prophesy to the breath to enliven them. Justice and love are components of God’s reality, and we’re called to imagine such reality and to participate.
Today’s scripture is part of a vision of Isaiah wherein God describes the creation of new heavens and a new earth. Although to us it might initially sound like an apocalyptic vision of the end-time, the promise is for a new Jerusalem wherein there will be no distress, no weeping, and people will live out full lives. Several other specific examples are given, and soon we begin to realize this newness is something we can all help create by working with God. There are opportunities for us to alleviate poverty, discrimination, illness, and such, and help maneuver where we all stand now into the posture of the new Jerusalem. Isaiah’s vision of God’s new creation can come to pass with our faith and willingness to aid in its coming.
This is in a sermon series based on passages from Luke as Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem, and today is All Saints Sunday. In today’s reading, Jesus is confronted by a group of Sadducees who want to trip him up by posing a question on resurrection, based on a law from the Torah. His response not only underscores the ridiculous nature of their question, it throws a light for us on the concept of being children of God, as are those who have gone before us, and thus we are all together in the “eternal now.”
This is in a sermon series based on passages from Luke as Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem. Today’s reading is the familiar passage where the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus, climbs a tree to see Jesus, and Jesus calls him by name and says he will go to the house of Zacchaeus. The story is full of active verbs with Zacchaeus going quickly, climbing the tree, and so on. In Luke’s parables to this point, being rich is not a good thing, but with Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus, it turns out very well with the tax collector overjoyed and giving away his riches. The story evokes questions about our own reception of and reaction to the call of Jesus. How does our relationship with Jesus shape our own actions?
This is in a sermon series based on passages from Luke as Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem. In today’s reading, Jesus tells a parable about two men, one a Pharisee praying that he is grateful to be righteous and effectively leaving no room for God. The other man is a tax collector who throws himself on God’s mercy. In that day, Pharisees were the good, religious people while tax collectors survived off of others, so this is a reversal. One of the questions it raises for us is whether we have a bit of the Pharisee in us – proud, accomplished, but not open to others. It calls us to humility, to a practice of proximity by which we draw close to others.
This is in a sermon series based on passages from Luke as Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem. In today’s reading, Jesus tells a parable about a widow who repeatedly pleads to a judge for justice without result. The judge does not fear God and declines to act. In some ways it is humorous because the judge finally gives in, just to get her off his back. Widows were among the outcast and hopeless in that day, so this is likely a parable that shows that the result of persistent prayer can be justice. Justice is when all people are treated as God’s children, equally. And perhaps the persistence represents God’s persistent call for justice. Maybe we need to ask ourselves whether we, as God’s believers and children, are persistent in that call.
This is in a sermon series based on passages from Luke as Jesus travels from Galilee to Jerusalem. In today’s reading, he is in an area between Jews on one side and Samaritans on the other, and he is met by a group of ten lepers, united by their leprosy and thus by being outcasts from both Jews and Samaritans. At their request he gives them instructions that will heal them. They are healed, but only one of the ten returns to thank him and to praise God, and that one is a Samaritan. By this act of gratitude, that thankful Samaritan establishes a new relationship with Jesus and with God, demonstrating a difference between being healed and being made whole. The story presses us to ask ourselves whether we pray for something and then neglect to give thanks when it is granted.
The scripture for today is a section from Numbers describing the cloud over the tabernacle as representative of God. When the tabernacle was completed, the cloud descended upon it. Thereafter, when the cloud moved, the people packed up and followed it until it stopped again. When it was stopped and the tabernacle was reassembled, the tribes camped around it, with God, significantly, in the center. In his last sermon with us (he has been appointed Senior Pastor at another church), Brandon says that we often think of clouds as ominous signs of danger, and we are sometimes caught up in a cloud of self-doubt and despair. But if we recognize that cloud as a way to follow God, we may well find new ways to follow our God and renewed confidence in our paths. We must be open: Where is God leading West End UMC?
The scripture for today is a parable Jesus tells of a rich man and Lazarus, men at the extremes of wealth. The rich man feasts daily while poor Lazarus lies at the house gate, dogs licking his sores, and longs for even a crumb. The parable changes scenes until after both characters have died, and Lazarus is with Abraham while the rich man suffers in Hades and begs for Abraham to send Lazarus with water to cool his tongue. It is a reversal, a theme that surrounds Jesus in the Gospels. One clue to the resolution of the situation is that the parable names the poor man, but not the rich man, in a sense giving the poor man identity. What does the parable call us to do?
The scripture for today is a difficult section of Luke 16 where Jesus tells a parable of a rich man about to fire his manager who has been squandering his property. The parable’s “solution” seems to be odd and difficult to interpret because the rich man ends up judging the manager to have acted “shrewdly” and the parable clearly praises that shrewdness. Maybe in this case Jesus is saying that to use one’s wealth to benefit others is a way to benefit the kingdom. It is a complex parable, and Carol Cavin-Dillon confesses that it is, but she deals with it in her sermon.
The Children's Moment before the sermon is the presentation of Bibles to children. The sermon is based on the scripture for today, which is a familiar section of Luke 15 with the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. We did not read it, but the parable of the “lost son,” (the Prodigal Son) follows these two. Although we know them as the “lost sheep” and “lost coin” parables, the points Jesus makes are the fervor with which the herdsman and the woman pursue them, and the joy on finding them. We likely have had a similar experience of joy after finding something dear that was lost. Perhaps, though, a point of the parables, told to the religious establishment of the time, is that it is we who are lost, and the parables are adamant at showing God’s relentlessness for finding the lost and the joy of finding us.
The scripture for today is a section of Luke wherein Jesus tells a crowd of people what they must give up if they are to be his disciples. It is a difficult passage because Jesus is very clear, saying one must hate one’s parents, spouse, children, siblings, and give up everything. But does this give people permission to abuse others in pursuit of Jesus? Erin gives an example of a person well admired for his devotion to God, but whose home life, as a result, was a wreck. Erin reminds us that Jesus also told his followers to love others, and, in Luke, this demanding passage is preceded by the parable of a feast. The final dictate of this passage is that to be a disciple means giving up all of one’s possessions, but maybe that means one must be open to the needs of others and must be generous and eager to help others. It may well make us uncomfortable, but when we carry the cross of Jesus, we carry one another. Doing so may well draw us closer to others.
This is the final in a three-weeks sermon series on passages from the Letter (sermon) to the Hebrews. In Hebrews the “preacher” is encouraging a congregation that seems to be tired, and today the preacher brings the sermon to a close by explaining how keeping the faith means living the faith, and he includes step-by-step instructions. First, “let mutual love continue” by loving one another within the congregation. Then show hospitality to strangers, welcoming new people into the community and being open to strangers. He then says (to them and to us) to remember those who are suffering, whether they are within our church community or not. The preacher then focuses on our own homes saying to honor the marriage, a caution to live out the love of God to those closest to us. Then he warns us not to fall in love with money but to be content with what we have.
This is the second in a three-weeks sermon series on passages from the Letter (sermon) to the Hebrews. In today’s reading the “preacher” is aware that the people of that congregation are getting tired, and he reminds them of the faith of their ancestors in the faith who endured incredible odds and opposition and ran the race they were called to run. In this passage he tells them to look to Jesus. We look to Jesus for help and healing. For us, looking to Jesus may come initially by reading the Gospels and all their examples of Jesus healing and helping those in need. Jesus can also be provoking, making people uncomfortable with his challenges, and that image of running the race can help, listening only to the voice of Jesus.
(The Children's Moment is hosted by Maggie Jarrell, Minister of Children and Families.) Today we begin a new three-weeks sermon series on passages from the Letter (sermon) to the Hebrews, and today’s reading is a treatise on faith, giving examples of several well-known ancestors, especially Abraham. Carol explains that she’s preaching to this congregation about a sermon that was preached to a congregation centuries ago, a congregation that was tired because they were trying to live out God’s word in a time dominated by an empire while waiting on the return of Jesus and the coming of the kingdom. This can speak to us in our time. As examples, Abraham and Sarah were called and were faithful. In spite of great odds, God worked through them to begin the people of God. God’s miracles worked through their faith. God wants to use us, too, through our faith.
Today’s reading is the introduction to and a pronouncement from the first chapter of Isaiah in which God is sending a warning to Judah and Jerusalem. Rev. Brandon Baxter recounts his family’s recent experience seeing three shows on Broadway and how magical and transformative the characters were on stage. But then, after the show, they saw those people out of costume and character backstage and realized that those actors were normal people. He compares that to the prophet, a normal person, taking on the role of speaking God’s words. Then Brandon explores what it means to be a prophet, to stand on a balcony, looking downward to see the complexity of a situation and then delivering a strong summons for God’s people to realize the situation and return to living as God’s people.
Today’s reading is from Luke 12, continuing our series of readings from Luke as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem. In this text a man asks Jesus to tell his brother to divide his inheritance with him, and in response Jesus tells a parable about a man whose crops produced abundantly, and he was concerned with storing all that wealth. In some senses, this fellow seems practical in that he does things we do, saving for hard times. In the parable, all the pronouns are “I,” indicating that the man views all of the wealth as his without any thanks to God. What if he considered others who work for him or live in the community? He speaks to his soul, self-satisfied, but missing out on the abundance of life with God.
Today’s reading is from Luke 11, continuing our series of readings from Luke as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem. Here, as requested, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, using what we have come to view as “The Lord’s Prayer.” In a rare instance, Jesus answers the disciples’ question directly, giving them the words to say. But the lesson to the disciples goes much farther as Jesus teaches about God’s response to prayer. He uses a device, “How much more?” to describe the relationship between us and God in comparison to our relationship with our own children. Thus our own relationships can be a window into our relationship with God. As an example, Jesus asks them to imagine if they were to ask for bread at night from a neighbor and are refused, and how much more would God welcome their coming.
Today’s reading is from Luke 10, continuing our series of readings from Luke as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem, and it’s the story of Jesus staying at the home of Mary and Martha. Mary sits with Jesus and listens to what he has to say while Martha prepares the dinner. Then Martha comes in to complain that she’s been left with all the work. Nancy Parker begins her sermon describing this as a pillow fight with a broken lamp and a black eye with Martha as a doer and Mary as one who loves. She recalls that sometimes people are asked whether they’re a Martha or a Mary, but it isn’t an either/or situation. In his response to Martha, Jesus replies, “Martha, Martha,” an attempt to draw her from all the distractions to what is central. Nancy leads us through several possible interpretations, including a piece from a 16th century book where a monk feels the presence of God when he is washing dishes. We are invited both to love God and to serve God.
Today’s reading is from Luke 10, continuing our series of readings from Luke as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem, and it’s the very familiar Parable of the Good Samaritan, likely one of the most well-known of those parables of Jesus. One of the features of the parables is that we can always learn something from them, no matter how often we hear them. As comfortable as they feel, they can also poke us in the back, convicting us. The lawyer’s question, “Who is my neighbor?” is really a question of who is not my neighbor – who are the people I do not need to love? It is also a theological question, but Jesus tells the parable and through it invites the lawyer to examine himself. We, too, are invited to examine ourselves through the parable. Perhaps the Samaritan recognized himself in the brokenness of the wounded traveler. We want to be good, but we are called by this parable to do good.
Today’s reading is from Luke 10, continuing our series of readings from Luke as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem. In this passage, Jesus sends out seventy disciples in pairs to deliver the gospel. As believers and baptized Christians we are all in mission, and this passage can give us some direction for that. That Jesus sends out seventy, not just the twelve, is indicative of the discipleship of everyone. They are sent by pairs, so that no one goes alone. His instructions underscore the urgency, and they also are told to enter in peace, not with judgment or condemnation for the practices of that household. They are to tend to the health and well-being of both body and soul of the people they encounter. Ultimately they are to be messengers that the kingdom of God is near.
Today’s reading is from Luke 9, and it is the first of a months-long series of readings from Luke as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem. Here Jesus invites certain people to follow him, and this passage lays out something of what it means to follow Jesus. As he travels through Samaria he is not welcomed, and, when two of his disciples ask whether they should punish those rejecters, Jesus says no. There are other curious exchanges in this passage, all of which are instructive about what it means to follow Jesus. As followers of Jesus we are called to look at every situation through the lens of Christ, even if it means discomfort.
Today’s reading is from the Gospel of John, a story in which Jesus heals a blind man. Frances Merritt, our Pastoral Fellow for Congregational Care, is preaching today. She cites Jesus as the light of the world, but she also suggests that there is light from the world itself when one opens oneself to look around. The story in John is of a man who might have been hopeless because he had been blind from birth. Jesus saw the blind man as an opportunity, and she says that whenever there is hurt there is opportunity. We are sent to open blind eyes. Jesus knew his time was limited, and to heal the blind man was an urgent act. On the other hand, we rarely realize the urgency of a situation that calls for our acts of healing. On the other side of that story is that the only one who can testify to God’s work is the one who has been healed, and that telling sometimes risks the teller being tossed out of a religious institution that is blind to the work of God.
Today’s reading is from the last chapter of Revelation, including the final two verses, and are thus the last words in the entire Bible. Manuscripts of Revelation disagree on the last verse, some saying, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints,” others read, “. . . be with the saints,” and others, “. . . be with all.” Carol gives examples from various scriptures of God’s love for all, and she uses John Wesley’s ministry as an example. We must receive that truth that all are given God’s grace, and then we must live our lives accepting and believing that we, ourselves, are loved, and then we must turn outward to minister to others, including all. Our journey of a lifetime is working to proclaim God’s love for all.
This is Pentecost, the day we celebrate the birth of the church under the influence of the Holy Spirit as told in the Book of Acts. It’s an exciting celebration of an exciting event with the action of the Holy Spirit descending on the 120 followers of Jesus suddenly speaking various languages. Peter who had initially rejected Jesus, then denied Jesus three times around the time of the crucifixion, began to speak, and people stopped, listened, and heard in a language each could understand. It was a series of miracles. But it prompts the question as to whether we are good listeners. We use social media to tell people what we want to tell them, not to listen. Are we, as a people of God, invited to be better listeners? God has had a habit of picking unlikely people as spokespersons, and are we likely to listen to listen to those people?
This is the fifth and final in our five-week sermon series on the vows we make to support the church by “our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.” The reading is from Acts 10, where Peter has a dream that opens his mind, not only as to what is allowed or forbidden to eat, but that Gentiles, for example, could become believers. It is set in the context of Cornelius, a Roman centurion, who, along with his entire family, summons Peter to tell them whatever Peter has to say. It is the beginning of the mission to the Gentiles and, by extension, to everyone. We, too, are called to witness, sometimes by simply listening, but other times by inviting. Our West End signs, “God loves everyone unconditionally,” do just that.
This is the fourth in our five-week sermon series on the vows we make to support the church by “our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness,” and today’s theme is “service.” The reading is from Acts 9, where Peter revives Tabitha, a woman who has died. Preaching today is Katie Minnis, who has been a staff intern as she went through the program at Vanderbilt Divinity School, and this past year has been a Pastoral Fellow on our staff. In July, having been ordained an elder in the UMC, she will become the senior minister for a UM church in Paducah, KY, so this is a culmination and farewell for her. The story tells of some of Tabitha’s work in the community and the gathering of women to mourn her death. In her sermon Katie examines Tabitha’s experience in the darkness of death and her revival. As a parallel, Katie relates her own “dark night” experiences and her own revival, and she says that people often have to go through that dark night to realize their calling to service.
This is the third in our five-week sermon series on the vows we make to support the church by “our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness,” and today’s theme is “gifts.” The reading is from Acts 4, describing the early Christians in Jerusalem as a community where all was shared and no person considered possessions as their own. The question is whether that is a call for us to do the same and consider that everything belongs to everyone. But maybe it is a call for us to remember that everything we have is a gift, and that, like those early Christians, we need to provide for others such that the needs of everyone are met. The focus is on the community of believers intent on making sure everyone is cared for, and our giving together is for that very goal.
This is the second in our five-week sermon series on the vows we make to support the church by “our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness,” and today’s theme is “presence.” The reading is from Acts 2 where Peter gives a sermon, baptizes 3,000 people, and then the book describes how that community of believers comes together, essentially becoming the church in a deep spiritual relationship, sharing bread and love. “Church” is a unique gift from God, and followers of Jesus aren’t meant to go it alone. It was exemplified when John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, began forming discipleship groups who met regularly and shared their deepest thoughts. Today is Confirmation Sunday, another way of demonstrating that gift of presence as we are the church.
Today we begin a five-week sermon series on the vows we make to support the church by “our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness,” and today’s theme is that of prayer with the reading from Acts the situation when Jesus has died, is risen, and is about to leave the disciples, and they, along with some women (notably Mary) and others are in an upper room and devote themselves to prayer. Rev. Brandon Baxter is preaching and says that of these vows, prayer is the foundation. The act of praying is opening ourselves to God, perhaps via the Holy Spirit, and the scene in Acts really serves as a model for worship. Throughout today’s service there is a special emphasis on prayer in different and expanded ways. Today is also communion Sunday.
Today is our annual Youth Sunday when members of West End’s youth group design and run the services. Two seniors, Hilde Medovich and RJ Gilleland deliver the sermon, Anna Bigelow does the Children’s Moment, the Youth Vocal Ensemble and Youth Bell Choir provide music, and all the liturgists are West End youth. Trust/Fall is the focus, a theme rooted in John 20.19-31. RJ and Hilde each tell about their church and youth group experiences, and they describe their growth in faith through their years. Each related to the doubts of Thomas in the scripture passage from John. We do not get to feel the nail scars in the hands, so how is our faith grounded? We must see and feel the love of God and those around us, and we experience it much like a Trust/Fall exercise.
The crowd and celebration in the sanctuary for this Easter service are in stark contrast to the first Easter morning, when there were few who quietly went to the tomb, and for whom the mysteries of that morning were communicated in whispers. In Luke’s account of that morning, the women who come to the tomb were witnesses at the cross as the body of Jesus was taken down – from their perspective it’s over. Most of us know that feeling of an inability to do anything about some loss. The women hear the news from two men in dazzling clothes. Those the women tell simply don’t believe them. But in their time of despair God was at work in the darkness giving victory of life over death. In those moments when we are hopeless, God is at work. When we feel hopeless, we must remember that God is at work. Because God has raised Jesus, we must do what we can do – tell the story, live the life.
It is Good Friday. Maggie Jarrell, West End’s Pastor of Children and Families, is preaching. Part of this service is the retelling of the story of the passion from the Gospel of John. Then Maggie reminds us that it a gruesome, sad, and lengthy walk to the cross. And then she explores that grief from our pandemic experiences and other current happenings that make the world feel so heavy now. We feel all the feelings. Although our culture tends to focus on the positives, we know we still have the heaviness. This Good Friday makes us know that Jesus knows our pains and asks us to leave them at the foot of the cross, knowing that we are loved, so very loved.
It is Maundy Thursday. Rev. Erin Racine is preaching, and the reading is Luke’s version of the Last Supper. Erin first talks about nostalgia, especially related to the pandemic, and then about the whole concept of nostalgia, its positives and negatives. Jesus directs the disciples to “do this in remembrance of me,” and so Christians through the centuries do so in the act of communion. It is not only an act of remembering Jesus and that event, but an act of re-membering, of gathering as a community of Christians together, of accepting each other across lines of diverse backgrounds and even conflicts, an act of unity under Christ.
It is Palm Sunday. Carol Cavin-Dillion gives the Children's Moment. Our guest preacher is Rev. Dr. Autura Eason-Williams, District Superintendent of the Metro District in Memphis. She explores the question, how do we live into the image and likeness of Christ? Growing up in the church we learned to act as Jesus acted. Twenty years ago there was that movement, “What Would Jesus Do?” The difference between those who do such things to check them off and those who do them out of love is relationship. Sometimes we like to serve, but it’s hard for us to hear their voices, to be changed by them. Dr. Eason-Williams uses the example of Saul of Tarsus who was approached by Jesus on the road to Damascus and was changed completely. Paul was, of course, perhaps the most significant and influential early Christian, and in the letter to the Philippians (2.5-11) described the way Jesus emptied himself as our example. She gives a real-life example of that kind of change.
This is the fifth Sunday in Lent, and our theme for Lent is “I Will: Living Our Baptismal Vows.” Today’s reading is from the Gospel of John, the scene where Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and teaches them to love one another. Baptisms are moments of great joy in the congregation as we welcome a new child, but it is also a commitment during which the congregation makes a vow to nurture one another in the Christian faith and life and include this person in our care. We’re called to welcome and include the new, to open our hearts and minds to the new ones. It is a radical inclusion, demonstrated by Jesus’ washing the feet of those disciples. What happened when Jesus got to Judas Iscariot in that foot washing?
This is the fourth Sunday in Lent, and our theme for Lent is “I Will: Living Our Baptismal Vows.” Today we’re looking at the fourth baptismal vow, “Do you promise to serve him as your Lord in union with the church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?” The focus is on the question of “union,” knowing that historically Christians have differed on matters of policy, belief, understanding of the Bible, and have, through history, split into widely varying denominations. Given that reality, how can we be in union? Today’s reading from John 17 gives us clues when Jesus prays to God that his followers will be one, just as he and God are one, resulting in their knowing that God loves them, just as God loves Jesus. Perhaps we can understand that Christians can differ but be in union with that love.
This is the third Sunday in Lent, and our theme for Lent is “I Will: Living Our Baptismal Vows.” Today’s reading is Luke’s account of Zacchaeus, the short tax collector who, as a tax collector, had gotten rich off the backs of his fellow Jews. He wanted to catch a glimpse of this Jesus and climbed a tree to be able to see. But Jesus called him down and befriended him, and, as a result, Zacchaeus changed his outlook and direction. It is an illustration of what it is to be befriended by Jesus and, in response, to confess Jesus as Lord, put our trust in him, and serve him, which is the third of our baptismal vows.
This is the second Sunday in Lent, and our theme for Lent is “I Will: Living Our Baptismal Vows.” Today’s reading is Luke’s account of Jesus throwing the money lenders out of the temple, and then, later, the authorities questioning his authority to do such things as teaching and preaching. Rev. Stacey Harwell-Dye, preaching today, says that Jesus was not against Judaism or temple worship at all, or against selling animals for sacrifices because many people who came to the temple had travelled very long distances and could not have brought the proper unblemished animals for sacrificing. What he was against were the sellers who took advantage and charged exorbitant prices. To critique something properly you must love it dearly, and that is what Jesus was doing. We, too, are called by our baptismal vows to accept the freedom God gives us to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.
This is the first Sunday in Lent, and our theme for Lent is “I Will: Living Our Baptismal Vows.” Today’s reading is Luke’s account of the time Jesus spent in the wilderness being tempted, immediately following his baptism. Although this can be a shocking first step in a baptismal ceremony, to cite what we are turning away from lays groundwork for our faith. Jesus, himself, as soon as he was baptized, was reported to have gone into the wilderness for 40 days of fasting and temptation. The temptations Jesus faced can be interpreted as our own temptations: first, to trust ourselves rather than God; second, to rely on worldly power instead of on God; and third, to put on a show. It is a fitting beginning to this season of Lent.
(NOTE: This edition is from the evening service where Katie also used a Children's Moment) This is our annual Ash Wednesday Service of the Imposition of Ashes as we begin the season of Lent. Katie Minnis delivers the homily, beginning with how angry she had recently become at someone she doesn’t know who posted something she disagreed with on social media. She cites Paul’s directions to the Corinthians writing that things that have the potential to divide us also can unite us. Paul’s list of hardships are reminiscent of things we have endured in the recent pandemic. Ash Wednesday is a day for recognizing our human frailty through ashes. Seeing our own ashes is a way to realize our deep need for grace as well as an aid to identify the needs of others.
– This is our annual Ash Wednesday Service of the Imposition of Ashes as we begin the season of Lent. Katie Minnis delivers the homily, beginning with how angry she had recently become at someone she doesn’t know who posted something she disagreed with on social media. She cites Paul’s directions to the Corinthians writing that things that have the potential to divide us also can unite us. Paul’s list of hardships are reminiscent of things we have endured in the recent pandemic. Ash Wednesday is a day for recognizing our human frailty through ashes. Seeing our own ashes is a way to identify the needs of others.
This is our annual Shrove Tuesday celebration before Lent begins tomorrow. The text is the story from the Gospel of John where Jesus turns water into wine at a wedding when the wine has run out. In his sermon, Brandon Baxter leads us to remember our own parties, and how and why we love those kinds of celebrations. He identifies several hints in this story that while Jesus is a party person, he is also a serious person who has come to turn things around. But it begins with a party, and Brandon encourages us to keep the party going through Lent to celebrate our relationship with God and with each other.
This is the seventh and final sermon in a series based on 1 Corinthians 13’s treatise on love and titled, “Love, Always.” Today’s reading is from Romans wherein Paul describes the bond of God’s love in no uncertain terms. Current events we are witnessing in Ukraine press us to wonder if there are times when love doesn’t work. How do we reconcile that with Paul’s insistence that nothing can separate us from God’s love and love never fails? Perhaps we need to examine the example of Jesus and what that might call us to do. Is love involved when he enters the Temple and turns over the tables of the moneychangers?
This is the sixth in a sermon series based on 1 Corinthians 13’s treatise on love and titled, “Love, Always.” Today’s reading is the familiar story of the Prodigal Son, and the Rev. Brandon Baxter reviews a number of perspectives on the story but directs us to treat it ultimately as a human story, one that is instructive for us. We make mistakes in judgment, misdirections in our lives, and we often find ourselves depressed and/or grieving. But this story reminds us of the all-embracing love of people close to us, as well as God’s unconditional love. From 1 Corinthians 13, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things,” all of which are demonstrated in this story.
This is the fifth in a sermon series based on 1 Corinthians 13’s treatise on love and titled, “Love, Always.” In today’s reading from Galatians, Paul links love and truth, but we know that truth is often difficult to discern. In Galatians Paul writes about the truth of the gospel, saying that we are all one and criticizing Peter for refusing to sit with the Gentiles, which thus rebuilds walls that Jesus had torn down. It was a moment of confrontation between the two, and we don’t know how or whether their relationship continued from there, but it was an example of Paul’s attempt to re-focus Peter on the basic message of Jesus, founded in love.
This is the fourth in a sermon series based on 1 Corinthians 13’s treatise on love and titled, “Love, Always.” Today’s reading from 1 Corinthians 8 is a bit confusing, in part because it is addressed to a church in a multi-layered society where it was okay to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Although Paul says it is fine to eat that meat and explains why, he also says that it might be harmful to those believers who firmly believe it is not right to do so. In essence, to consider others puts love first.
This is the third in a sermon series based on 1 Corinthians 13’s treatise on love and titled, “Love, Always.” Today’s reading is the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, describing how each prayed in the temple, the Pharisee saying he’s glad he’s not like others. The focus today is on love not being envious, boastful, or arrogant, all of which would be comparing ourselves to others. At times when we compare ourselves to others we experience envy, and at other times we experience pride, and in these cases it is hard to love. Is there a way that comparing can invoke love?
This is the second in a sermon series based on 1 Corinthians 13’s treatise on love and titled, “Love, Always.” Today’s reading is from 1 Cor. 12, Paul’s familiar comparison of the church to the member of the human body. The word, “kindness,” originated from the way one would treat others in one’s family, kin, and thus the sermon title, “KINdness.” Rev. Nancy gives an example of Fr. Greg Boyle whose work in Los Angeles through a number of decades draws in those society often views as dispensable and treats them as valued, as part of the body. Nancy gives other examples of people who extend kindness not just to other people, but to the environment and to things around us, living out a KINdness with people and things around us, reminding us that our health and well-being are connected to the health and well-being of people and things around us.
Is Love Always Patient? – This is the first in a sermon series based on 1 Corinthians 13’s treatise on love and titled, “Love, Always.” Today’s focus from that chapter is “love is Patient.” Just in the last two days at West End, 1 Cor. 13 was read in a memorial service and in a wedding. Originally, it was addressed to a congregation in Corinth that was widely divergent in its membership, Paul emphasizing that love is the foundation upon which a congregation is built. In the Greek of this section the descriptions of love are verbs. But there are times when action is called for rather than patience, and how do we reconcile that? Even Jesus got impatient with the disciples. Maybe our focus should be on the example of God’s patience with us.
This is our annual service to remember our baptism. The reading is Luke’s story of the baptism of Jesus, through which we hear God’s blessing on the freshly baptized Jesus applied to us, “You are my Child, the Beloved: with you I am well pleased.” We are very familiar with the role of water in baptism, but John the Baptist speaks of one who will baptize with spirit/wind and with fire. What would being baptized by spirit and fire mean for us? What would it mean if we were, through baptism, empowered with the Holy Spirit and fire? (NOTE: The video begins with the Children’s Moment, but once it starts you can scroll back to the beginning of the service if you want. The entire service is videoed.)
This is Epiphany Sunday when we remember the journey of the magi following the star to Bethlehem to pay homage to the newborn Jesus. There are two sides of this story: one is the joy of the birth, the star, the visitors, the gifts; the other is the dark side with fear, violence, and hatred, in the face of which Joseph takes the family to Egypt. Where do we see ourselves in this story? The magi, having educated themselves, opened their eyes to see this king born in poverty and displacement, and, out of their joy at meeting the Christ child, they opened their hearts and treasure chests to offer support. Given this example, what is our own role in helping the refugees, the vulnerable?
This is West End’s traditional Christmas Eve service, held late to celebrate the joy of the birth as close to Christmas Day as possible. It is a service of holy communion. The Gospel reading is, of course, the story of that birth, and it is read, as is traditional, from the midst of the people. Although we are grateful to be together, much moreso than this time last year, the world is still not the way it should be. We long to hear the good news and hope that the story of the birth of this baby gives us. We can do that by joining the shepherds on a deep, dark night, a people who were not free but under the rule of Rome. Those shepherds, poor and without any power, were faithfully doing their jobs when a messenger from God came to make an announcement about this birth. We get to be part of the transformation of the world, announced to the shepherds on that night long ago.
This is a service acknowledging the longest night of the year, December 21, and designed to comfort and heal those who are experiencing darkness. The service includes communion, prayer, anointing with oil, and the lighting of candles. Rev. Frances Merritt delivers the message and begins with examples from the Bible of people in repentant and humble postures, contrasting that with our own attitudes that we can handle any situation. Yet, we often find ourselves living with hopelessness. She then cites various scriptures to say that in spite of our hopelessness God is there and is our hope. That hope in the darkness is what we await in this season – the birth of Jesus, our savior and hope, Emmanuel, God with us.
This is the fourth Sunday in Advent. The reading is Luke’s account of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. There are many details of that story that we’d like to know but simply aren’t there, so many things we wonder about Mary’s thoughts and why and how she went to visit Elizabeth. Perhaps God knew that the two women needed time and each other to process the impending births of their sons and the significance of those births. Both women are blessed by the visit. It is the work of the Holy Spirit and is, in many ways, the first church. What went on in this visit is what goes on in the church.
This is the third Sunday in Advent. The reading is Luke’s account of John the Baptist’s words to the people that sound very harsh and not what we like to hear as we await the birth of the Christ child. But that preaching must have been compelling as evidenced by the crowds that gathered to be baptized by John. He calls the people to change, to turn, to repent, and he gives specific examples of how a repentant person behaves, taking care of the poor and avoiding such things as extortion. It is an indication that our own liberation is integrally tied to the liberation of others, and it offers guidance for how we need to live.
This is the second Sunday in Advent. The reading is Zechariah’s prophecy at the presentation of his and Elizabeth’s newborn son (John the Baptist) at the Temple, the first time Zechariah had been able to speak since the angel came to tell him that they would bear a son, and he would turn many people to God. The prophecy speaks of what the child will grow up to do, but it also talks of “the tender mercy of God.” God’s mercy shows through the passage at several levels, and it is worth recalling in Advent as we look toward the arrival of the Christ child. We are all, collectively and individually, recipients of that tender mercy, bestowed on us by God, whether we’re deserving, whether our lives are in order. The question is whether we’re open, and, as recipients of God’s tender mercy, how does that direct our lives and our relationships with others?
This is the first Sunday in Advent. The reading is from the late chapters of Luke in which Jesus offers some warnings about things to come. With recent happenings – the pandemic, fires and floods – it has sometimes felt like the world is coming to an end. Jesus tells the disciples to be alert, but also to be sure their hearts are not burdened with concerns. We do need times for rest, but we also need to be sure we’re not checking out. Jesus warns them and us to be alert, to notice the signs. Advent is not only preparation for the birth of Jesus, but for the return of Jesus into our world and lives. Maybe we should take on an advent spiritual practice of taking time each week to write down a place or way or instance when we’ve seen God that week.
This is the last in a sermon series using selections from chapters 9 through 14 in the Gospel of Mark, and today’s reading has Jesus in the home of Simon the leper in Bethany when a woman, unannounced and defying all custom and convention, comes in and anoints his head with some very expensive ointment. Some of the guests complain that this was a waste and that the ointment could have been sold for money to help the poor. Today is “Christ the King Sunday” or “Reign of Christ Sunday,” and this could be viewed as a coronation, the coronation of a different king, one who, rather than establishing a “kingdom,” establishes a “kindom.” What are the implications for how we are to live in this kindom?
Nancy Parker was scheduled to preach today, but she was taken ill, and Carol Cavin-Dillon is preaching. We are in the midst of a sermon series using selections from chapters 9 through 14 in the Gospel of Mark, and today’s reading has Jesus and the disciples coming out of the temple, and the disciples are admiring the temple’s structure. Jesus, however, gives them warning that at some point the temple will be completely demolished. We, too, know the awe of experiencing certain things, and, especially since the COVID pandemic, we know that a lot of those things can be taken away suddenly. Jesus warns his disciples (and us) to keep watch and to rely on God rather than on those things that might impress us, as Herod’s temple did to the disciples.
Today is All Saints Sunday when we remember those members of our church who have died in the last year. We are in the midst of a sermon series using selections from chapters 9 through 14 in the Gospel of Mark, and today’s reading is the familiar story of “The Widow’s Mite.” Although we often hear the story as an affirmation and example of this poor woman’s offering of her gift of everything she had, it could also, in its context of the criticism of the scribes by Jesus, be considered a condemnation of the system wherein this poor widow was giving everything rather than was being cared for by the congregation and the community. If we can see both views of this story, both are lessons for us in our own time and situation.
This is the sixth in a sermon series on selections from chapters 9 through 14 in the Gospel of Mark. In today’s reading, a scribe, hearing Jesus debating with other scribes and appreciating his knowledge, quizzes him as to the greatest commandment. The familiar response from Jesus, who quotes two commandments and says there are no other commandments besides those two, is recognized by the questioner as exactly on point. In the midst of our own conflicted and polarized era, for us to focus on loving God and loving our neighbor as Jesus directed the scribe so long ago is an essential lesson for us. To love like this isn’t easy – it is the work of a lifetime.
This is our annual gathering to hear reports on the state of our church. Leaders of various groups in the church give updates, and those include specific areas of ministry and financial reports: the current status and the upcoming budget. It also includes a report from last week’s meeting in Kansas City about the issues surrounding the United Methodist denomination and what to do about maintaining unification. Senior Minister Carol Cavin-Dillon moderates the session and gives some of the reports. The Town Hall Meeting was held in the Fourth Floor Theatre during the Sunday school hour on October 31, 2021, and a number of people attended in person with others joining the Livestream.
This is the fifth in a sermon series on selections from chapters 9 through 14 in the Gospel of Mark, and today’s reading is about Jesus encountering a blind man, Bartimaeus, who is asking for healing. This man was off to the side, disabled, poor, unseen by most of the crowd, but the gospel writer wants to bring him forward as an example of discipleship. That the end the account says he “regained his sight” means that he had lost it at some point, and although his father is identified, he has clearly lost touch with family. Bartimaeus has been rejected and marginalized, but he is persistent in his appeal to Jesus. He shouts out to Jesus, and although the crowd tries to quiet him, he shouts louder. And when he is called, he springs up and runs to Jesus.
This is the fourth in a sermon series on selections from chapters 9 through 14 in the Gospel of Mark, and today’s reading has two disciples, James and John, asking to be on Jesus’s right and left in the kingdom. Rev. Brandon Baxter says posture matters and has a lot to do with our positions in the world. These two “Sons of Thunder,” clearly having some status, make a move posturing toward their places in the future. Jesus responds with a counterintuitive practice – to be first, one must be last, a servant. How good is our posture? Maybe we’re being invited to practice a different posture.
This is the third of a sermon series on selections from chapters 9 through 14 in the Gospel of Mark, and today’s reading is the familiar story of the rich man asking Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus’ response to the rich man can be a tough message for us: how hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God. What do we do with this difficult message from Jesus? The rich man seems to be a good, upright person. Does this have to do with our wanting to be right rather than being in good relationship? What if we were to understand that all we have, not just the tithe we hear about, belongs to God?
This is the second of a sermon series on chapters 9 through 14 in the Gospel of Mark, and today’s reading is the familiar passage wherein Jesus rebukes the disciples who have just told some children to leave him alone. In Mark, especially, the disciples just don’t seem to get it, and this is one of those times when they don’t. Here Jesus invites the most vulnerable to himself, a model not only for the disciples but a model of God’s invitation to us when we are vulnerable and also an example for us to be invitational to the vulnerable around us.
This is the first of a sermon series on texts from the Gospel of Mark. The conversation Jesus has with the disciples in Mark 9 is a reorientation of values as he puts before them a child, the lowest of the low in society at that time, and tells them that to welcome a child is to welcome him. But then one of the disciples, John, complains that there’s someone doing good deeds in Jesus’ name without being one of Jesus’ followers and says they tried to stop him. In response, Jesus, in surprisingly stern language, condemns that distinction about belonging and not belonging. How does his intensity about this inform our own behavior?
This is the third of a three-week sermon series on homecoming. The Bible often gives us the good and the bad of its characters, and that is certainly true with David, one of the greatest figures in Israel’s history. In today’s reading, David brings the ark, believed to be the very presence of God, to Jerusalem. David is dressed in a linen ephod and dancing, and Michal, his wife, is horrified. It is reminiscent of the story of Jesus, reclining and eating with friends, when a woman comes in and anoints his feet with costly ointment and uses her hair. Is it embarrassing and contemptible, or is it celebration in the extreme? John Wesley, too, broke the rules when he broke away and preached in the outer reaches. How do these examples challenge us?
This is the second of a three-week sermon series on homecoming. The reading for today is as the Hebrews have crossed the Red Sea and are celebrating. It is a time of rejoicing, but in the background the Egyptian army is being drowned in the sea. How do we deal with that? Is it a celebration of the defeat and death of enemies? Does it teach us to celebrate such victories?
This is the first of a three-week sermon series on homecoming. The reading for today is Psalm 126, which remembers a time of great joy after decades of exile and looks forward to another time of joy with the memorable line, “May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!” We find ourselves in a similar situation with the return of COVID. But this psalm encourages us to remember those times of God’s faithfulness and to practice gratitude for the ways God is present with us. The Israelites continue to sow seeds in spite of the drought, and that, too, is a lesson for us.
This is the second of a two-week sermon series on the letter of James, a letter that is, in many instances, clear about what it means to be faithful. But in today’s reading there is the verse that says the prayer of faith will heal the sick – does that mean that people who are ill do not have enough faith? Does that mean that if we pray faithfully over someone who is ill, they will be cured? How do we make sense of this? What is the role of the community of faith for prayer in healing?
This is the first of a two-week sermon series on the letter of James. In the depths of all the theology that’s been written in antiquity, through the centuries, and recently, there are some ways to understand the roots of faith simply, and the writer of James does just that: “Be doers of the word and not merely hearers.” The letter puts it in clear and direct terms, giving examples. We are often overwhelmed by needs, so we must pray to find what we as individuals should do and pursue that, trusting that God will direct others to do the rest. One guide to ministry is for us to listen to those who have needs and then to respond.
Today’s text from Joshua is about the people crossing the Jordan on dry land following the ark of the covenant into the Promised Land. The story began 40 years before the crossing as the people were doubtful about going into that land, which doubt led to a generation of wandering. Finally, when they did stand on the edge of that river and God told the priests to carry the ark into the flowing water, their trust in God led them through safely. We find ourselves in our own time faced with the same issue – shall we doubt, or shall we put our trust in God?
This is the third and final in a series of sermons using the sixth chapter of John to explore parts of our own communion service – the blessing, breaking, and the giving of bread – to explore the bread of life. Maggie Jarrell, preaching today, confesses that she has always loved bread and has recently learned to make it. That Jesus says he is the “bread of life” means so much more than simply something to fill our stomachs. It is an amazing gift to us, not something to be earned, but something that changes our lives dramatically. The communion prayer we use tells it all: “You have given yourself to us, Lord. Now we give ourselves to others.” We respond by loving others as God first loved us. What will we do in response to the bread of life we’ve been given?
In a series of sermons we are using the sixth chapter of John to explore parts of our own communion service – the blessing, breaking, and the giving of bread – to explore the bread of life, and in today’s reading, Jesus tells his audience that he is “the bread of life.” In last week’s text, Jesus feeds the 5,000, giving them what they need and want. But in today’s text, he basically declines to give them bread and instead redirects their thinking about sustenance and who he is and who is the source of their lives. It is much like when a parent says “No,” to a child out of love. Jesus invites the people into a deep relationship.
The reading for today is the feeding of the five thousand from the Gospel of John, the only one of the miracle stories that appears in all four Gospels. We are using this sixth chapter of John for a sermon series to explore parts of our own communion service – the blessing, breaking, and the giving of bread – to explore the bread of life. Today we’re considering the blessing of the people. In John, the throngs have come seeking healing, and Jesus, although he knows the answer, asks the disciples how they’re going to feed all these people. The answer is that a little boy has a small lunch, and Jesus blesses the lunch before having the disciples distribute it until all the people are filled, and there is much left over. It testifies to God being a God of abundance and God’s desire for everyone to have enough.
Today is the seventh and final Sunday for our summer sermon series, “Rise and Shine,” examining a number of passages that offer light as an image of God’s presence and grace. Today’s reading is from Revelation 21 and 22, a glimpse into a vision for the new Jerusalem. Why would a vision of Paradise be a city rather than a beach setting, for example? God is a God of community, and the vision is one of Jerusalem made new – God dwelling with the people, with all of the people, with all nations coming into the city, a city characterized by abundance, safety, and healing. God calls us to live out the values of the New Jerusalem in the here and now, and therein lies our calling as a church.
Today is the sixth Sunday for our summer sermon series, “Rise and Shine,” examining a number of passages that offer light as an image of God’s presence and grace. Today’s reading is the first part of the letter to the Ephesians where the writer addresses an early congregation, telling them they are known for their faith and love. The writer goes on to offer prayer for the congregation that they may be given a spirit and revelation through the eyes of their hearts. What does this mean for our cleaning off our glasses and mirrors that we can love others and love ourselves as God loves us?
Today is the fifth Sunday for our summer sermon series, “Rise and Shine,” examining a number of passages that offer light as an image of God’s presence and grace. Today’s reading is the familiar “You are the light of the world” section from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. The question for us is how we shine the loving light of Christ in the world. In context, Jesus is speaking to common folks, people who aren’t leaders, and it is astonishing that those are the people Jesus is challenging to be the light of the world. No person is ungifted, unqualified to be the light. In Greek, the “you” in “You are the light of the world” is plural, implying that we can do much together as a unified community of faith. As a fireworks display is made up of a variety of colors and displays, as a community of different people we can be the light together.
Today is the fourth Sunday for our summer sermon series, “Rise and Shine,” examining a number of passages that offer light as an image of God’s presence and grace. Preaching today is Thomas Kim, a UM elder in the Northern Illinois Conference and Director of Korean and Asian News at United Methodist Communications. The reading is the familiar parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke, wherein the root question is, “Who is my neighbor?” Rev. Kim gives modern examples of situations when loving one’s neighbor did not happen. Love is a verb. What matters is action: “Go and do likewise.”
Today is the third Sunday for our summer sermon series, “Rise and Shine,” examining a number of passages that offer light as an image of God’s presence and grace. The reading for today is from Isaiah’s word of hope and good news to the people in exile. It is a very appropriate reading for Juneteenth, a remembrance of the day in 1865 when the last of the slaves got the good news that they had been freed. These moments when God breaks through are important for our faith. We have much work to do, though, as demonstrated by so much racial strife since, but the celebration and the journey toward liberation are critical as we know God is with us in the struggle, too.
Today is the second Sunday for our summer sermon series, “Rise and Shine,” examining a number of passages that offer light as an image of God’s presence and grace. In today’s reading, as Moses returns to the people from being with God on Mt. Sinai, his face is shining so that it frightened the people and he had to cover his face to be near them. In a sense, Moses becomes a lightning rod for God’s communication to the people, very much illustrated in today’s bulletin cover. Rev. Brandon recites the birth and life of Moses, leading to this point in the life and calling of Moses. The shining face of Moses can remind us of certain people we’ve met in our lives who have shone the light of God to others. Maybe each of us has an immortal diamond, originating from God, longing to shine forth.
Today is the first Sunday for our summer sermon series, “Rise and Shine,” examining a number of passages that offer light as an image of God’s presence and grace. We are thrilled to be coming out of the pandemic, people in the pews again, and in this emerging the first few verses of the Genesis 1 creation story, when out of the darkness God creates light, is something we can understand. But the story also shows the spirit of God brooding over the darkness even before creating light, telling us that even in the darkness, the creating God is present. What does the phrase, “Let there be light,” say to us about God? How do we become partners in this creation?
Today is Trinity Sunday and today’s reading is the first part of John 3, including that most-memorized verse, John 3:16, “God so loved the world . . .” The context of the verse is a conversation between Jesus and the Pharisee, Nicodemus, who has come under the cover of darkness to speak with Jesus. It’s a confusing talk about being born again. We are often, like Nicodemus, confused about the concept of being born again, but maybe it is a description of one’s faith journey, of putting aside certain things and embracing a newer understanding, and of this happening again and again. God continues to stretch us and challenge us, and we are always becoming someone new.
Today is Pentecost when we celebrate the Holy Spirit descending on the believers in Jerusalem and the birth of the church. The text lists a number of different people gathered in Rome that day, all of whom were telling the same story of God’s work in the world, but in many languages. The church was born among a wide variety of cultures. During the pandemic we have tried to reflect that variety through our bulletin covers that have expressed a variety of cultures, skin tones, settings. Our own individual faith experiences are also experienced by Christians in many lands, cultures, and languages. Today we celebrate the multiple cultures and settings around the world for this birthday party for the church.
Today is Ascension Day when we celebrate the post-resurrection ascension of Jesus into heaven, which is, in a sense, the final act of Easter. It’s a day of celebration, but perhaps the disciples felt like they were lost again – perhaps they were angry, confused, lost, and afraid. The reading for today is a scene that was actually before the crucifixion, but here Jesus is passing his peace to his disciples. In a sense, it’s their inheritance. What does inheriting peace mean for us? It comes with the promise of a relationship with an advocate, the Spirit, so Jesus is not leaving them (and us) alone. The gift of peace also opens us up for relationship with each other.
This is the final of a series of three sermons on texts from 1 John, all titled “Love Letter,” which is the focus of that ancient letter. In worship are we talking to God or about God? Of course, the design of the service, beginning with the Prayer of Confession, is that we join together to focus on God. Perhaps we think of the sermon as talking about God rather than to God, but the hope is that the sermon draws us into conversation with God. The author of 1 John reminds us that our response to God’s love for us is to love one another – it isn’t just a one-on-one relationship between a person and God, but it draws us into love of all of God’s people and God’s creation.
This is the second of a series of three sermons on texts from 1 John, all titled “Love Letter,” which is the focus of that ancient letter. In today’s reading the author emphasizes that Jesus came not only through water but through blood. This may have been an argument against early gnostics who believed that Jesus was not fully human. The writer emphasizes that Jesus was, indeed, fully human and in this way Jesus, and thus God, truly understands the human condition. This is also demonstrated in the act of communion, and also in the act of donating blood – giving life and sharing that life with others.
This is the first of a series of three sermons on texts from 1 John, all titled “Love Letter,” which is the focus of that ancient letter that seems to have been written to a faith community that has begun to be confused with various teachers teaching “truths” that draw them in different directions. The author reminds them that at the center of faith is love – love God, love your neighbor – and that is at the heart of truth. Love is not a saying but action, exemplified by Jesus who laid down his life, his power, his innocence. With that as an example, how do we love others? What does love ask of me in this moment?
This is our annual Youth Sunday when the church’s youth serve in every capacity for the worship service. The Children’s Moment is led by R.J. Gilliland, and the speakers for the sermon are Mary Frances Harrell and Riley Verner. There has been much in the last year that has been confusing, much as our post-resurrection story from Luke shows how confused the disciples were at seeing Jesus after he was crucified and buried. Experiences at West End through the years of growing up have dealt a foundation for faith. What steps of sharing love have helped through this year? What happens when one’s faith fails? Mary Frances and Riley share their insights.
After this year we can more easily identify with the fear of the disciples as they gathered behind locked doors. And we can identify with Thomas, who simply won’t believe unless he can experience the risen Jesus himself. Beyond this, why would a risen Jesus still bear the wounds? Why is he not completely healed? However, this can tell us that not only do we live with our own wounds, but God knows our wounds, too. In the joy of Easter’s resurrection, we still remember Good Friday. Sometimes we lock ourselves in the room in an attempt to stay away from our fears, but no locked door can keep Jesus out. As a result we are sent out into the world.
The gospel of John has Mary Magdalene as the first to see the empty tomb. This woman who initially had been fully healed by Jesus is now in deep grief after the realization that her hope and salvation, Jesus, has died and is now gone. In the depth of her grief, she hears the man she assumes to be the gardener say her name, and she suddenly experiences the resurrection. We, too, have experienced grief, and when we are asked whom we are seeking, we can hear our name being called by the risen Christ. Jesus tells her not to hold on, implying that things are not the same and asking her, and us, to follow. The last thing Jesus tells her, and us, is to go and tell.
This Good Friday we know it has been a season of losses and grief for a year with the pandemic, weather, racism. In many ways we wonder if we can’t just get over this day and get on with Easter. But we actually need to acknowledge and make space for grief. On this day we are called to walk toward the cross with all of our sorrow, guilt, shame, and human emotions, the day when we lay it all bare. God meets us in deep, complicated, messy places. In John’s telling, the women are at the foot of the cross, experiencing all the anguish, demonstrating the power of bearing witness. Out of this comes love, even hung on a cross.
In this Maundy Thursday service we remember the washing of the feet and the last supper as told through the Gospel of John. One of the primary characters is Peter. Often in the gospel stories Peter jumps in with acts and words without thinking things through. In her Meditation Katie explores what Peter might have thought through that foot washing scene. Jesus was teaching vulnerability, and Peter’s pride was standing in the way. What if we let ourselves be vulnerable before we really need to be vulnerable?
On Maundy Thursday we hear the story of Jesus’ last meal with his disciples. In this Pause for Prayer with Pastor Carol, enter into this moment as Jesus washes the feet of his disciples. May you feel the loving presence of Christ with you today.
Following our Lenten theme, Re:set, today’s particular focus is Re:member, and the text for this Palm Sunday is the story of the trial of Jesus and the choice presented to the people of setting Jesus or Barabbas free. It is a painful story because it is at this moment that Jesus, an innocent man, is condemned to death. Power is vested in Pilate, the religious leaders, and, in this case, the crowd. Jesus actually has the real power, but he says nothing and thus chooses Barabbas, just as Pilate, the chief priests, and the crowd have all chosen Barabbas. In that instance, Jesus chose to be with us in our vulnerabilities.
You're invited to take a few moments and hear, ponder, reflect on, and pray through the account of Jesus and Barabbas standing before Pilate. As we prepare to hear this story in worship on Sunday, place yourself in the crowd and listen for God's guidance in the Pause for Prayer.
Following our Lenten theme, Re:set, today’s particular focus is Re:vive, and the text for the day is the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead, the seventh and final sign/miracle in John. Although it is clear that Jesus knows from the beginning that he will raise Lazarus from the dead, nevertheless, he is moved to grieve with the family and friends of the deceased. That Jesus tells the people to unbind Lazarus from the burial cloths when he emerges tells us that we, too, are bidden to unbind people. It is liberating work, the work of the Gospel, and the work of our congregation. It also means that whatever binds us, God is working to set us free.
In our Pause for Prayer today, we will be walking through the story of Jesus’ raising of Lazarus. Exploring the story through the character of Lazarus, we will hear Jesus invitation to new life.
Following our Lenten theme, Re:set, today’s particular focus is Re:store, and the text is the story of the woman caught in adultery and brought to Jesus by scribes and Pharisees to challenge his judgment. Words can build up or tear down. The accusers are using the law as a measuring stick, both to condemn the woman and to trap Jesus, and they cite the law’s given punishment, which is stoning, thus the sticks and stones. When Jesus stoops down and writes with his fingers it pauses the action and gives time for the accusers to reflect before they press him further. The final words of Jesus invite the people gathered to reflect, too, and for everyone to move forward.
Join Pastor Carol in this Pause for Prayer as we explore John 8:2-11. Enter into the scene with Jesus, the religious leaders, and a woman caught in adultery and allow this text to lead you into contemplation of Christ’s love, mercy, and grace.
Following our Lenten theme, Re:set, today’s particular focus is Re:construct, and the text is the story of Nehemiah and the ceremony of the reading of the Torah to all the people on the occasion of the celebration of the rededication of the Temple after the Babylonian exile. It is a time filled with emotion, and the people weep, likely with deep grief and sorrow mixed with extreme joy and gratitude. It is a powerful moment for us in our own moment as we have experienced the pandemic and have begun to come to terms with some of our history of discrimination and injustice. How does this ancient event inform our grief and sorrow?
You are invited to pause for prayer with Pastor Carol today. We will engage in a brief practice of Sacred Imagination as we hear from the book of Nehemiah. Enter into the crowd of Israelites as they gathered to hear God’s law read aloud for the first time in decades. Take a moment to pray through this story and experience God’s presence with you today.
Following our Lenten theme, Re:set, today’s particular focus is Re:name, and the text is the story of God’s changing the names of Abram to Abraham and Sarai to Sarah. With the change of names comes a new relationship with God, and they now have a new purpose. It happens when they are very old, indicating we are never too old to come into a new relationship. Here, too, God gets a new name, El Shaddai. Jesus uses Abba, a term more like “Dad” or “Daddy,” again indicating a special relationship. What names do we use for God? Are we willing to be renamed by God?
We invite you to find some time today to pause for prayer with Pastor Carol. This audio recording is a guided practice of sacred reading (lectio divina) of our scripture text for Sunday. Find a comfortable spot, put in your earbuds or turn up your computer, and let this brief podcast guide you into prayer.
The reading for today is the post-flood story of God’s covenant with Noah and the earth. Believing that God is love, how do we wrestle with the dark side of this story that describes the destruction of the earth? This vow of God to hang the bow in the clouds might mean that this is a giving up of the bow as a weapon. The flood came with human failures, and perhaps that broke God’s heart, and on this end, God intends that all will be included in God’s declaration for the protection of creation. Perhaps when we see the rainbow we realize that the earth has been cleansed by a storm. It is a sign of hope, of new creation, of renewal.
Isaiah 43:19 talks about doing new things. When was the last time we allowed ourselves to do something new? In some ways the difficulties of the past year have forced us to turn to new things. How do we re-imagine ourselves and build on hope, even when we’re at our lowest moments? Verse 18, in a sense, challenges us to let go as a way to move on. Hope can’t stay stagnant in a place where there is no future. The last part of the verse assures that God will create a new path. That is hope.
The early chapters of Mark explore who Jesus is through the eyes of Peter. For Peter this identification culminates in the Transfiguration where he is both awed and not quite understanding of what is happening. Sometimes we, too, lose sight of the mystery that cannot be put into words. The overwhelming experience of mystery can happen in our own church sanctuary. How does God call us to offer our sanctuary for people to share the mystery?
The text for the day is from Mark’s account of that very busy first day of Jesus’s ministry with the potential for a second day of healing even more people. But on the morning of the second day, Jesus is missing because he has withdrawn to pray. It’s a pattern in his life, and, if Jesus needs time to abide in God’s love, how much more do we need it? John Wesley, too, talked about acts of piety and acts of mercy. Oddly, even after his time of renewal, when the disciples call him to return to Capernaum, Jesus declines, saying he was called to move on to other places. Sometimes God calls us to move on, too.
Much as a “cold open” draws a viewer in to a TV episode, the beginning of each Gospel is meant to make a statement and draw in the reader. In Mark, Jesus’s first public act of ministry is this shocking scene of a disturbed man confronting Jesus in the synagogue. Already, Mark shows us that Jesus not only heals the sick, but he can vanquish evil. It might have been that the disturbed man was not someone off the street, but someone who worshipped regularly at the synagogue, demonstrating that Jesus can heal the bad and difficult parts of our own lives, the evil that enslaves us.
Today’s reading is the Markan account of Jesus calling the first four disciples, all of whom are fishing at the time. Calling these first four disciples began a community of disciples. Recent events have pointed out our divisions and disconnection – a community problem, made moreso by the pandemic. How can we have conversations with each other when we really disagree? Perhaps the church is the place for those conversations. The disciples, too, had disagreements. Jesus calls us to follow him in community that reaches out to each other and to others in love.
Today’s reading takes place in the context of the Egyptian pharaoh who doesn’t remember the close relationship between Joseph and a former pharaoh and the contribution of the Hebrew people to the Egyptians. The new pharaoh fears the growth of “those people” and demonizes them, even to the point of genocide. It causes us to look at our own time and into our own hearts and calls us to be held accountable, and to live and share the love we know God to be and offer. The midwives heroically act in civil disobedience, and if we find ourselves in a similar situation, we must answer the midwives’ call.
This is our annual Remembering our Baptism Sunday. Usually on this Sunday the message is a reflection of baptism wherein God assures of God’s love, but this week we have experienced the shock of the assault on the Capitol building, and it is fresh in our minds. In Mark, the very next verse after the account of Jesus’s baptism says the spirit “drove” Jesus into the wilderness to temptation. It, too, is a shock, but Jesus responds in each case of temptation. Given our own baptism, our response to the world needs to be like his – stepping out into this world with the waters of baptism shaping our relationship and response to others and to the world.
This is Epiphany Sunday. Rev. Carlos Uroza, pastor at Woodbine UMC and a graduate of Vanderbilt Divinity School, who is preaching today, grew up in one of the many places in the world where Epiphany is a special time, with children waking up early and getting gifts. Grace requires a response, as in the Epiphany story where grace comes in the form of the star in the sky, but those magi then made a long journey in response. We can also be messengers/angels, which can seem like a tall order, but we can respond to grace by making ourselves available so God can be revealed in our lives.
In today’s scripture, Joseph and Mary have brought Jesus to the temple for an infant ritual, and two significant people, Simeon and Anna, are there to recognize and proclaim the significance of this child. Celebrating the New Year is a ritual of hope, but last New Year’s Day who could have predicted this year? Similarly, the celebration of Simeon and Anna at this ritual for the Savior was full of hope, but who could have predicted how all of that would eventually turn out? We experience intense lows as well as highs in our lives, and through ritual we know that Jesus is with us in both extremes. The end of Simeon’s story is not marked by his death, but by his life alongside that of Jesus. Through the ritual, Simeon and Anna were no longer waiting but welcoming. It reminds us of the gift of community.
This is West End’s traditional Christmas Eve service with communion, a special reading of the birth story from Luke, and the lighting of the Christ candle at the end of the service. In a usual year, all of the hustle and bustle of the season comes to a moment of calm in the Christmas Eve service. This year we cannot help but hold the grief of the whole earth in our hearts. None of us could have anticipated what has happened this year, and yet here we all gather around this ancient and familiar story of hope, comfort, and peace, and even joy.
Waiting is hard, and it is always hard to wait for Christmas, but it has been especially hard this year. Our scripture reading, Psalm 13, hits home with this – “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?” The tension between grief and “the most wonderful time of the year” can be great. One of the echoes we can hear during such times is from the affirmation of faith we often use where we affirm that “God is with us. We are not alone.”
Through Advent we are looking at Psalms. There’s something about singing that lifts our spirits, and we often experience that with Christmas carols. There’s something about singing that connects us with our hearts, and, for people of faith, singing connects us with God. Psalms are songs that people of God have been singing for thousands of years. Today’s scripture, Psalm 96, is a song of praise to God, inviting not only all people but all of nature to sing. The scripture from Luke read this morning for the lighting of the Advent candle was Mary’s song of praise when she was pregnant with the holy baby. As Methodists, we have a heritage of hymns, including many written by Charles Wesley, including “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing!” And in our age we are living a new hymn.
Through Advent we are looking at Psalms, today at Psalm 126. Much like Charles Dickens’ "A Christmas Carol" that moves Scrooge through visions of the past, present, and future, this psalm reviews the past, present, and future of God’s people. The memory of who we have been can inform our present. As we see others in the present who suffer we can cultivate joy through acts of compassion. Unlike in Scrooge’s story where the future is threatening, the future in the psalm is truly hopeful and can have a lot to say to us about the meaning of Christmas.
Through Advent we are looking at Psalms, today at Psalm 85. Sometimes in the midst of trouble, someone’s word of comfort can lift a person’s spirit. In this psalm it is clear that the people are in a period of trouble, but the psalmist expresses God’s faithful presence and comfort and God’s word of peace – shalom. We, too, have been in a difficult period, and although we can now see some hope with the promise of vaccines against COVID-19, this psalm reminds us that our reliance on God is essential. This longing for shalom and God’s promise is the essence of Advent – waiting on the coming of Christ.
Through Advent we are looking at Psalms, today at parts of Psalm 80. There’s something about restoring a house or a car that is satisfying, and restoration is what this psalm is about – the people cry out for God to restore them from a time of great suffering and devastation. Out of anger and confusion and fear, the psalm expresses a deep faith and trust in God and in God’s ability to restore. It can speak to us now in this period of loss, worry, and grief. It may mean that the specific type of restoration we seek is not the restoration God will deliver. It may mean that restoration will come in the birth of a child in an unknown place, something new to save us in a way we never expected or imagined.
Carol Cavin-Dillon delivers the Chidren's Moment. Dr. Paula Smith, Senior Pastor at Gordon Memorial UMC, delivers the sermon. We continue our sermon series from Matthew with the description of the judgment wherein the sheep and goats are being separated. One lesson from this is that what we do every day matters. The question posed here is ours: When have we done these things for the least of these? We all have a little bit of sheep and a little bit of goat in us. And who are “the least of these,” those who are in need? Do we settle for charity, or do we move for justice? Do we need a Biblical plumb line to help us to look deep within ourselves to see the light and the places of darkness?
We continue our sermon series from Matthew with the Parable of the Talents. There are some troubling things about this parable, as, for example, the setting of the servant and the master. Then there’s the ending with the third servant being tossed out into the darkness. What did this servant do or not do that relegates him to this end? The master is actually quite generous with what he trusts to the servants. The third servant accuses the master of cruelty and selfishness. But the third servant’s greater mistake may be that he took no risks. This parable calls out for Christ’s followers not to take the gifts we have received from God and sit on them, but to step out and take a risk for the sake of love.
We continue our sermon series from Matthew. The parable of the bridesmaids was the first of three parables in Matthew 25 meant by the gospel writer to teach what faith should be for those who were waiting on the return of Jesus. With the Presidential election this week we have experienced what it means to wait. The bridesmaids were supposed to wait on the bridegroom, and in this case when the bridegroom was long delayed, some bridesmaids were prepared while others were not. The wise bridesmaids, however, seem selfish in not sharing their oil. Perhaps the oil represents something that can’t be shared, something in one’s own spiritual life that simply can’t be shared with others. What does that mean for us and our own waiting?
Today is All Saints Sunday when we name and remember those who have died in the past year. This year the grief is particularly acute because of the effects of the pandemic. However, we are in the presence of a loving and compassionate God, a God of life and resurrection and hope. The reading today Psalm 34 is a message of hope. It is an acrostic poem, the beginning of each verse being a letter of the Hebrew alphabet in order, as a teaching tool. It teaches about the nature of God, and it uses a personal example to witness to the goodness and love of God.
In the context of this week’s Presidential debate, we know that debate is an ancient form that often produces new insight, and that is the setting for today’s reading where Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees – a lawyer asked Jesus which commandment is the most important. We don’t know the lawyer’s intent in asking the question, but Jesus responded in a way that was new, connecting love of God with love of neighbor and love of self, and proclaiming these to be the greatest commandments.
Continuing with our sermon series from Matthew, today’s reading is the familiar story of the Pharisees and Herodians trying to entrap Jesus by asking him whether to pay taxes to Caesar. Beneath the obvious question is the issue of where one’s loyalties lie. The Pharisees and the Herodians each had different perspectives and interests where Rome and Jesus were concerned. Neither group thought Jews ought to pay the tax. Does this story have something to say about our own view of our own righteousness? Perhaps the important part of the answer of Jesus comes after the “and.”
Continuing with our sermon series from Matthew, today’s reading is the parable of the wedding feast wherein a guest is thrown out because he is not dressed appropriately. It is an odd teaching in that the host seems to be judgmental, and Matthew’s version is more violent and seems more unfair than Luke’s version. What has this guest done or not done that evokes such a response from the king? What does this mean for us?
Continuing with our sermon series from Matthew, today’s reading has to do with questions of Jesus’s authority. In context, Jesus has come into Jerusalem from his several years of Galilean ministry, and one of his first acts is to throw over the tables of the money-changers. And then he begins to teach in the temple area. No wonder the chief priests and elders question his authority. Jesus doesn’t answer directly, but asks a question of his own – what about the authority of John the Baptist? Then Jesus tells a parable to challenge their idea of authority.
Continuing with our sermon series from Matthew, today’s passage is a difficult parable wherein, from one perspective, a farmer is imminently fair, but from another, some laborers feel cheated. Perhaps this parable shows us that the human idea of fairness is not God’s idea of fairness. And perhaps we are to understand that our tendency to compare ourselves to others is also not Godly. So what is Godly?
Dr. Townes recounts her childhood vision of heaven, then moves to today when we're in an age of technical wonders, a time when we have to much to entertain us that it leaves us with no room for a concept of a heaven. But where are the marrows of deep joy? Is it fatal to love a god that doesn't love us? Shouldn't we be turning to a God who does so much? Shouldn't we answer life with our own lives?
Continuing our series of sermons from Matthew, today’s reading is a wrenching parable with a servant who is forgiven but then refuses to forgive someone else for the same thing. But is this behavior just like ours? We have received God’s grace and love, and yet do we pass that grace and love on to others? Do we not keep track of others’ wrongs against us? Do we not hold others responsible? And yet Jesus keeps telling us about forgiveness. How do we move toward forgiveness?
Continuing our series of sermons from Matthew, today’s reading is that familiar parable of the shepherd leaving the 99 to find the one lost sheep. This search itself – to leave the 99 – may not seem sensible. Then Jesus says the shepherd rejoices more at finding the one lost sheep than over the 99 who weren’t lost. Does God not notice those sheep who do not stray? Yet, each of us has, at one time or another, been lost, and we can remember what it feels like to be found. How wonderful it is to be part of a flock whose shepherd notices when one is lost and will go find that lost one. Perhaps this tells us that we, too, are called to find the lost and to rejoice in the finding.
Continuing our series of sermons from Matthew, in today’s passage Jesus rebukes Peter and tells him that to follow Jesus one must take up one’s cross. In our current time, we can easily feel exhausted with everything. And yet, Jesus calls us to follow rather than to give up, to set our minds on divine things and not on human things. It isn’t a matter of God telling us there is a better day to come, but Jesus, God incarnate, who is suffering with us, calling us. To see the vision of Jesus, Peter needs to follow Jesus, to walk closely, and so we must, too. It will not be an easy path, but Jesus will be with us on that path, and we will see God’s kingdom being built.
Continuing our series of sermons from Matthew, in this story Jesus is reluctant to listen to the pleas of a Canaanite woman that Jesus heal her daughter, who is possessed by a demon. In some ways, this is a challenging story because Jesus initially rejects the woman, citing his call to the Jews, not to others. Although historically there have been various interpretations of the scene and Jesus’s attitude, the one thing that is very clear is that the woman is persistent, and her persistence eventually pays off when Jesus heals the woman’s daughter.
Continuing our series of sermons from Matthew, today’s scene is of the disciples in a fishing boat at night in a terrible storm. Although it is a miracle story, at its root is the question of faith. First, seeing Jesus walking toward them on the water, Peter isn’t sure it really is Jesus. Then when Peter himself walks on the water, the doubt begins to creep in, he sinks, and Jesus challenges Peter’s lack of faith. In our current situations we are very much like Peter, our faith vacillating – is God still there? In response, Jesus invites us to have greater faith.
We know the story well of the feeding of the five thousand, but one piece of background we don’t always remember or acknowledge is that John the Baptist has just been beheaded. Jesus, his disciples, and a huge crowd all gather with the shock and grief and doubt associated with the death of John, and what we might have suspected to transpire at this gathering is not what happened at all.
Continuing our sermon series from Genesis titled, “Family Matters,” today’s reading is the familiar story of Jacob’s wrestling. His life to this point has been filled with strife, and when he goes to sleep this particular night, we can recall times when we, too, have been awake at night with so many issues running through our minds. He prays before trying to sleep. Knowing Jacob’s faults, God still chooses Jacob as the ancestor of Israel. Even if it upsets us that God would choose such a bad person, this story shows God’s acceptance of those who wrestle, and our wrestling with this story and with issues in our own time will not separate us from God.
The passage today is from Paul’s letter to the Romans, and the words are very familiar. Paul assures us that God already loves us, and our task is to live into that love, to believe it. We are always beloved of God. Part of our calling in life is to remind ourselves and each other that God loves us, that God has already accepted us, unconditionally, and believes in us. We can be, in effect, letters to the world, announcing God’s love.
In our sermon series using texts from Genesis with the theme “Family Matters,” today’s story is the familiar dream of Jacob of the ladder reaching to heaven with messengers moving up and down. In the stories of Jacob so far, he has been climbing his own ladder, but at this point he is fleeing for his life and is thus sliding down a chute. At this low point, God appears. God works with people as they are, not with just people who are good or perfect. We live in a time when we are facing the past – not just the good but the bad. And we have a God who comes down to have us dream dreams that are bigger than we are.
In our sermon series using texts from Genesis with the theme “Family Matters,” today’s story is about the births of Esau and Jacob and the selling of the birthright. This family is clearly dysfunctional, with each parent favoring one or the other of the twins, and the twins in conflict. It is a conflict so deep that Rebekah eventually sends Jacob away for his own safety. Yet, in the midst of that, God is clearly working through that family, carrying on the promise to Abraham made a generation earlier to another dysfunctional family. God is never going to give up and is working within us, even if we, too, are in the midst of dysfunction, whether it is in our own families or in our nation and our world. And we are invited to join God’s work, to embrace each other.
In our sermon series using texts from Genesis with the theme “Family Matters,” today’s story is of Abraham’s servant, making a trip to find Isaac a wife. Much as Abraham had done a generation before, Rebekah trusts the direction of God and leaves her land to go somewhere she has never been to become the bride of someone she doesn’t know and bear a nation. When she arrives, never having seen Isaac and he never having seen her, the text says that Isaac took her as his wife, “and he loved her,” a simple and most powerful statement for us in our moment.
In our sermon series using texts from Genesis with the theme “Family Matters,” today’s story is that very uncomfortable one of Abraham being asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac, the one he and Sarah had awaited for decades. Is this, after all, a story of divine child abuse? It does end well, but there are so many questions about the story leading up to the end. Is that the purpose of the story – to stir up questions and make us examine our faith? Does this have something to say about our needing to wrestle with questions? Should we be viewing all that’s going on in the world right now as an opportunity to question and listen?
In our sermon series using texts from Genesis with the theme “Family Matters,” today’s story is, perhaps, “the other story,” of Hagar and Ishmael and a somewhat shameful aside to the more familiar story of Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac. This is analogous to stories in our own histories, and in the present, where certain types of people are relegated to another place or another level of humanity. In the story of Hagar, though, in the end God claims Hagar and Ishmael, and that should say something significant to us in our own time.
In our sermon series using texts from Genesis with the theme “Family Matters,” today’s story is of the announcement to Abraham and Sarah that in their very old age they would have a baby. Sarah, overhearing this announcement, laughs in disbelief and despair, having given up hope in God’s earlier promise of offspring. In our time of COVID-19 and distress over the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, we, too, may find ourselves in disbelief and despair, not relying on God. But this story asks, is there anything too wonderful for God?
Today we begin a sermon series using texts from Genesis with the theme “Family Matters,” this one from the creation story in Genesis 1. It is clear from the very first pages of the Bible that God called on the earth to “bring forth,” to be co-creator, and that humans were created in God’s own image. God pronounces creation “very good.” This has much to say for our current unrest resulting from injustice and from some humans viewed as less than human, because it is clear that all humans were created in God’s own image. The creation story also has much to say about our responsibility in and for creation.
Today is Pentecost Sunday, a celebration of the descent of the Holy Spirit as chronicled in Acts 2. In the story there is some mystery in the telling because the disciples were gathered in a house, then as the Holy Spirit descended, somewhat magically there are no more walls. Here, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the death of George Floyd and its aftermath, we realize that the Holy Spirit can knock down walls we haven’t even realized were there.
This is Ascension Sunday. The writer of Luke shows us an instance of uncertainty for the disciples as Jesus rises to heaven. They had been waiting for Jesus to restore the kingdom to Israel, but it appeared he was leaving them. In our current time we can identify with a deep desire for certainty because there is so much we don’t know. Jesus tells the disciples it is not for them to know times or periods, but they are to be his witnesses. What does that mean for us?
In the text for today, part of Jesus’s farewell discourse to the disciples, Jesus reassures them that although he will be leaving, they will not be alone. He says he will not leave them “orphaned.” The promise is that the Holy Spirit will be with them. It is reflected in the creed we most often use in our worship services – “In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us. We are not alone.” Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic with its social distancing we see abundant examples of people giving presence to others.
We are in a period when so many things are upsetting our lives -- the COVID-19 pandemic, and, for many of us, storms that knocked out our power for the week. The text for today puts the disciples in a situation where the central part of their lives is falling apart -- Jesus is leaving them and will be crucified. But Jesus tells them not to let their hearts be troubled. What does that mean?
The very familiar 23rd Psalm, containing some of the most comforting words in our scriptures, is the psalm reading in the lectionary today, and it couldn’t come at a better time. It does not pledge that there will not be hard times – the valley of the shadow of death – but assures that God is with us, even in those times, even if we feel alone. And what if the table prepared for us in the presence of our enemies actually means that at God’s table there’s a place for everyone, including those we might have thought of as our enemies?
The text for today is the Emmaus Road story, with two friends walking along, talking about their grief for the loss of Jesus, then Jesus, whom they do not recognize, joins them. We can identify with these friends in our own time of loss. Among the most poignant of words is their confession, “We had hoped . . .” But in this experience, the risen Christ invites them to tell about their sorrows, and then he turns their loss into new and ultimate hope. The story is a metaphor for discipleship.
The three youth, Jillian Horton, Hudson Gilliland, and Aasha Zinke, delivering the sermon today are high school seniors, whose senior year has been derailed in so many ways by the CORVID-19 pandemic and resultant schools cancellations. How can we reconcile all this loss with the passage from Romans 8:14-17?
This is, of course, the most glorious day of the Christian year, the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. We are doing so without a congregation, which can make us anxious, as our whole situation has. Following Matthew’s account of Easter morning we note that the women are astonished by the sudden appearance of an angel who tells them Jesus has been raised from the dead, and they are to go back to Galilee to meet him there. Does this mean they’re to act as if things are back to normal? Are things back to normal?
Although usual attendance at Good Friday worship services is only a fraction of attendance on Easter, this year we are all Good Friday people. We can see ourselves like the disciples who, in that day, feared abandonment, wondered whether God was present, and fled for their own safety. Even Jesus cried out his own abandonment from the cross. When Jesus breathed his last breath, it must have seemed like the disciples, too, had been forsaken by God. But we remember the witness of the women who remained present in every way they could.
For Maundy Thursday we read John’s version of the Last Supper in which Peter is confused because his expectations of Jesus have been turned upside down. Jesus took a posture of servitude to wash the feet of the disciples, and Peter could not understand why Jesus would lower himself to do such a thing. In this period of pandemic, we, too, find that our world has been turned upside down. But Jesus’ lowering himself to the role of a servant was an act of love, and it was a great example for us to follow, especially in the midst of our current pandemic.
Today we celebrate Palm Sunday and with it the beginning of Passion Week, with its deep lows after the high celebration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. In fact, at our current time with social distancing and restrictions on gathering, the threat and reality of grave illness, and the effect on individuals and the economy, the scene of Jesus in agony in the garden after the Last Supper seems closer to us than it ever has. And maybe that is cause for us to hope and to have faith rather than to despair.
We end our series on the Sermon on the Mount with the Matthean passage that ends the sermon in chapter 7. It is the familiar story of two houses, one built on sand and the other on rock. It is easy to understand the difference, but what does it mean for Jesus to caution us to build our house on rock? And how, in our current situation of needing to keep our distance from others during the COVID-19 threat, do we hear the words and act on them?
We continue our series on the Sermon on the Mount with a familiar passage in which Jesus bids the people not to worry about what to eat or drink or wear. This comes at a time when we have experienced devastating tornados, a virus that is causing us to modify our lives radically, economic fallout from those things, and a potential split in the United Methodist Church. And we’re being told not to worry? What if the examples of the lilies of the field and the sparrows are meant to reorient our focus instead?
We continue our series on the Sermon on the Mount with a passage in which Jesus is instructing his disciples in the practice of fasting. (Jesus talks about how not to fast as well.) Although fasting was a common practice in those days, it is less common among us. But self-denial, one type of which is fasting, is often a part of Lent. Why is that, and what is accomplished by fasting?
We continue our series on the Sermon on the Mount with the familiar passage where Jesus teaches his disciples to pray. After giving some do’s and don’t’s about praying, as an example of proper prayer Jesus gives what we now know as “The Lord’s Prayer.” As many times as we have all used this prayer, there is much to glean from re-examining it, both what it includes and what it does not include, and then modeling our own prayers after what we learn.
We continue our series on the Sermon on the Mount with a look at disturbing words when Jesus says that if our right eye causes us to sin, we need to pluck it out, or if our right hand causes us to sin, we should cut it off. And he has just defined lust as the same as committing adultery. Is being a follower of Christ so strict? Isn’t anger, for example, just part of being human? What is Jesus really saying?
We continue our series on the Sermon on the Mount with a look at two very familiar sayings where Jesus tells the people, “You are the salt of the earth,” and “You are the light of the world.” In fact, these are so familiar that we may not have stopped to consider some aspects of the declarations, like who Jesus might mean by “you,” and that he says “are” rather than “should be” or “could be.” How are we to view ourselves and our roles through the metaphors salt and light?
Today we begin a sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount with a look at the Beatitudes, specifically the first ones. If we were to ask people what being blessed means, we could guess most of the responses – enough money, happiness, a family around us. But Jesus completely throws us off guard by calling such people as “the poor in spirit” and “those that mourn” blessed. What could this mean, and what are we called to be and do in light of such blessings?
According to Matthew, after calling Peter and Andrew to be disciples, Jesus calls James and John, and they leave their fishing immediately and follow him. Zebedee, their father, is left in the fishing boat. Although the Gospel of Mathew does not tell us what happens with Zebedee at that point, we can imagine a number of possibilities. What if one of them is that Zebedee, too, is called, not to be one of the twelve, but to play a vitally important support role? What if we, too, who have long looked in on this scene, are actually called by Jesus?
Last week the scripture was about Jesus’s baptism. Today’s reading follows that one with the Spirit immediately leading Jesus into the wilderness where he fasts for forty days. At the end of the fasting Jesus is tempted three times, and each temptation is something he ought to be able to do with ease, or at least he should be able to beat the tempter and defeat his foe. Yet each time he refuses. Why is that?
Today’s reading is Matthew’s account of the baptism of Jesus. In this scene, John questions Jesus, wondering why Jesus wants to be baptized by John, and shouldn’t it be Jesus baptizing John instead? What if baptism, though, is the beginning of the journey rather than the culmination of one’s journey? Today, we also remember our own baptism through repeating the ritual.
This is Epiphany Sunday, the day we recall the story of the birth from the gospel of Matthew, the one where the magi see the signs and follow the star to find the baby. In some ways it is a magical story, an essential part of our modern manger scenes. But it is also ominous with Herod’s paranoia a cloud over everything. Although we recoil at the thought of such a figure, do we have a bit of Herod inside ourselves?
The first verses of the Letter to the Hebrews are a feast for “theology nerds” because the author expresses a variety of ways in which Jesus, the Christ, is not only prophet, priest, and king, but is also one and the same with God. How are we to understand these radical and lofty claims in someone whose birth as a poor, vulnerable human infant we have just celebrated?
The Lukan story of the appearance of the angels to the shepherds is a centerpiece of Christmas Eve. It may be difficult for us to imagine what those shepherds might have been thinking and desiring when, suddenly, the heavenly host showed up that night, but we can guess that appearance was not anything they might have imagined. The result was that they left their post and went to see “this thing that had happened.” This service traditionally ends with the lighting of the Christ candle and the changing of the paraments.
On this fourth Sunday of Advent, we turn our attention to Joseph, who is barely mentioned in Luke. He receives more attention in Matthew’s story, but even there he is not quoted. It is Joseph’s actions and decisions that are important, and they are significant in hoe the story of the birth of Jesus plays out.
On this third Sunday of Advent, we remember “The Magnificat,” the song that Mary sang after finding out that she was carrying a special child. It is a song of reversals, emphasizing the joy of the poor and marginalized. Given Mary’s own status, such an outlook might seem strange – she was a young, unmarried teenager, pregnant, and from a poor situation. What could inspire such joy?
On this second Sunday of Advent, we await the birth of the child, and we’re heavily into the Christmas season all around us. So what is our lectionary reading of John the Baptist doing interrupting this wonderful period with his challenges and rude language? Isn’t this a season of love? But John is yelling, “You brood of vipers!” How are we to understand this?
On this first Sunday of Advent, we consider the possibility of world peace. Seriously? When we look around, how can we possibly imagine world peace? What do Isaiah and Frederick the mouse have to say about that?
It may feel a bit odd just before Advent to be reading a passage with Jesus hanging on the cross between the two thieves, but this is Christ the King Sunday, the final Sunday in the church year, the culmination of the cycle that begins with the expectation of the birth and ends with the crowning of the King. But how can we understand Jesus as King when he was hung on a cross between two thieves?
Our series of sermons, “Lessons from the Road,” based on Luke 14-19, has followed Jesus as he moved from Galilee to Jerusalem. In today’s scripture, Jesus is in Jerusalem and is already in conflict with the religious leaders. The disciples, in Jerusalem for the first time, are stunned by the magnificence of the Temple, but Jesus warns them that at some point not one stone will be left upon another. He further challenges them to be faithful witnesses, even under the threat of death. What does this mean for us in the US today?
Continuing our series of sermons, “Lessons from the Road,” based on Luke 14-19, today’s scripture is the encounter between Jesus and the rich ruler in which the latter asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. In the end, Jesus tells him that he must sell everything and give the proceeds to the poor. Seriously? Does Jesus expect us to do that, too?
Continuing our series of sermons, “Lessons from the Road,” based on Luke 14-19, today’s scripture is the familiar story of the tax collector, Zaccheus, whose life is completely changed in response to the grace and hospitality of Jesus. Today is All Saints Sunday, and we especially remember those whose lives reflected that grace.
Continuing our series of sermons, “Lessons from the Road,” based on Luke 14-19, in today’s scripture Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in which the Pharisee is proud of his adherence to the rituals of his religion. We experience that as we interview for a job or apply for college – we put our best foot forward and tout our experience and qualifications. The tax collector, on the other hand, throws himself at God’s mercy. What is the role of humility in our lives?
Today is Laity Sunday, and West End member, Jeff Howerton is preaching. Continuing our series of sermons, “Lessons from the Road,” based on Luke 14-19, in today’s scripture Jesus tells the parable of “the persistent widow.” Jeff explains what’s going on in the parable as far as the roles of the widow and the judge’s, but he sees himself as neither of those and suspects most of us, too, do not identify with either. If we see ourselves as bystanders in this scene, what does the parable challenge us to do?
Continuing our series of sermons, “Lessons from the Road,” based on Luke 14-19, in today’s scripture Jesus heals ten lepers. Nine of them, freed from both their disease and its stigma, follow his command to see the priest to complete their healing. The tenth one, however, the lone Samaritan, turns back to thank Jesus. This act prompts Jesus to declare to him, “Your faith has made you whole.” What is this distinction between the curing of the ten and the making whole of the one?
Psalm 137 reminds us of the deep tragedies of the Babylonian exile when Jews found themselves ripped from their homes and taken to a place completely foreign to them. Many people in our own day experience exile: not only people who are torn from their land, but people in our midst who are alone, or ill, or unable to cope. To remember God is there, even in exile, is to know the power of Holy Communion, the suffering Christ shares, the invitation to all.
Continuing our series of sermons, “Lessons from the Road,” based on Luke 14-19, in today’s scripture Jesus tells the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. It is a dramatic example of what any of us can easily do, which is to ignore someone who needs at the very least to be noticed as a person and treated as such.
Continuing our series of sermons, “Lessons from the Road,” based on Luke 14-19, in today’s scripture Jesus tells his followers that unless they hate their own family members and even life itself, they can’t be his followers. Seriously? This is the Jesus who tells people to love God, love neighbors, and even love enemies? What is going on here, and why is this an Amelia Bedelia moment?
Continuing our series of sermons, “Lessons from the Road,” based on Luke 14-19, in today’s scripture Jesus tells a parable about the manager for a rich man. This manager had been “squandering his property,” so the rich man called him in to fire him. The manager, in a move to save himself, made quick deals with the rich man’s debtors. As a result, the rich man praised the manager for being shrewd. Is Jesus telling his followers that being shrewd is a good thing?
Today begins a new series of sermons, “Lessons from the Road,” based on Luke 14-19 as Jesus travels toward Jerusalem. In today’s familiar passage, as Jesus is eating with “sinners” and scribes and Pharisees are grumbling about it, Jesus tells parables about the lost sheep and the lost coin. What do these parables say to those grumblers, and what might they teach us?
The first eighteen verses of Psalm 139 are not only an amazing glimpse into the wonderful creator God, but they are also an affirmation that God is with us from before our birth and that the Almighty Presence continues through our death. Despite our frequent self-assessments that see only our weaknesses and shortcomings, in God’s eyes we are enough.
God called Jeremiah to the difficult task of speaking God’s words to the people in a time of imminent danger with the threat of Babylonian conquest looming. Even more puzzling, Jeremiah was a mere boy when he was summoned. Why would God call a boy for this task? Would God call us for such a seemingly impossible task?
The words of God via the great prophet Isaiah begin with God’s clear anger, rejecting Judah’s worship and sacrifices, those very things the people deem as tributes to God. Why would God be angry about that, and could God also be angry with us?
Many people think the God of the Old Testament is very different from the God of Jesus Christ. People often describe the Old Testament God as angry and full of wrath. Jesus, however, does not present a new God, and in today’s scripture passage the prophet Hosea speaks the word of a God who has every reason to be angry with Israel but longs for them to return and promises not to forsake them. This is an Old Testament God of grace.
Both Matthew and Luke have Jesus teaching how to pray, using words we know today as “The Lord’s Prayer.” But in those two gospels, the context is different. Today we read the account in Luke where Jesus encourages persistence in prayer, insisting on God’s abundant response. But many of us, even as older adults, as life-long believers, find prayer to be mysterious – how do we pray?
The familiar story from Luke has Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary, where Mary is working hard to prepare a meal while Mary simply sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to him. Martha is upset because Mary isn’t helping, and she tells Jesus so. Jesus takes Mary’s side, telling Martha that Mary is doing a good thing. But doesn’t Jesus call us to serve? How are we to understand that Jesus calls us to serve but is critical of Martha’s service?
The Old Testament text for today is a great story, quite amusing in some ways. It pokes some fun at Naaman, an army commander and hero in Aram who is ultimately healed of leprosy. If we are honest, however, and look closely enough at ourselves, we might see that we have done some of the very things Naaman is being criticized for doing in this story.
Paul is angry with what has gone on in the Galatian churches, which is that some have said that converted Christians must be subject to Jewish law. Arguing against that, Paul insists that Christians are “called to freedom.” We as US citizens know something about freedom, but are the two freedoms – the one we experience as Americans and the one Paul says we as Christians are called to – alike?
Elijah has been faithful to God, but in this story he finds himself fleeing for his own life, fleeing so determinedly that he feels all is lost, and he is ready to die. God, however, calls him yet again, and this time in a way Elijah never suspects.
Today is Trinity Sunday, and the scripture reading is, perhaps oddly, from Proverbs. What it has to say to us is fundamental about the nature of God, and it teaches us something about how we are to live.
Through the season of Easter we have been looking at passages from Acts where the Holy Spirit is acting. Today is Pentecost, and we’re reading the story of the Holy Spirit’s descent upon the disciples, as Jesus had promised in his last appearances to them. The result was essentially the formation of the church.
Through the season of Easter we are looking at passages from Acts where the Holy Spirit is acting. In today’s story, Paul and Silas encounter a slave girl who is inhabited by a spirit of divination and is being used by her owners to make money. When Paul rids her of that spirit, the owners have Paul and Silas arrested, beaten, and imprisoned. It is a difficult story, but through its course, several people become believers.
Through the season of Easter we are looking at passages from Acts where the Holy Spirit is acting. Today’s story is about Lydia, “a dealer in purple cloth,” who, having heard this stranger, Paul, speak, and after being baptized, offered Paul and his companions room and board at her house. It was an act of radical hospitality. What does it mean to offer radical hospitality?
Through the season of Easter we are looking at passages from Acts where the Holy Spirit is acting. Today’s story involves one of the biggest surprises of the New Testament. Peter is questioned by the disciples in Jerusalem about reports of his having dined with gentiles. His response to them not only completely changes the playing field, erasing some things they had held as rules for believers, but causes them to praise God for this new thing.
Through the season of Easter we are looking at passages from Acts where the Holy Spirit is acting. Today’s story is about Peter, the former fisherman, whose behavior as one of Jesus’s closest disciples ranged from declaring Jesus as the Christ to denying him three times. Now Peter raises Tabitha from the dead. But not only is this a story of Peter as disciple, but of Tabitha and others around her as disciples, illuminating what it means for us to be disciples.
The scripture for today is the familiar story of Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. Saul/Paul who had been very much opposed to Christians, became perhaps the most influential of the early Christians and remains so today. But a key to Saul’s conversion might well have been Ananias, whom we often overlook.
This is West End’s Youth Sunday when youth design and are in charge of both worship services. The text for the day has Peter and other apostles disobeying the orders of the high priest and council and saying they must obey God rather than any human. Lauren Pickens and Richard Ferrara preach on this text.
In the conversation between Pilate and Jesus it seems like Pilate completely misunderstands -- they aren't on the same page at all. And that conversation begs us to probe the meaning of the death of Jesus and the meaning and nature of truth, itself.
The title of Stacy's Communion Meditation, "Return," has been West End UMC's Lenten season theme this year. It comes from the same Hebrew word that is sometimes translated, "repent."
In this familiar story from the Gospel of John, when Mary pours out a very expensive bottle of nard onto Jesus’ feet, Judas, clearly disparaged by the Gospel writer, asks what seems to be a legitimate question. Jesus responds by quoting scripture, and that quotation is often used to absolve our responsibility where “the poor” are concerned. But is that really what’s going on here?
This is the final sermon of a three-part (i.e., 3-D) study of the Prodigal Son story in Luke, with guest preacher, Bishop Will Willimon, preaching this Sunday with a focus on the father in the story. The sons are often the foci of interpretations of the parable, but perhaps Jesus told it to reveal much about the father.
This is the second of a three-part (i.e., 3-D) study of the Prodigal Son story in Luke, with Carol Cavin-Dillon preaching this Sunday on the older son. This parable of Jesus has much to say about the nature of God’s love and our responses to that love.
This begins a three-part (i.e., 3-D) study of the Prodigal Son story in Luke, with Brandon Baxter preaching this Sunday on the younger son. This focus corresponds to our theme for Lent of “Return.”
Today’s reading is the very familiar story of Jesus’ being led into the wilderness immediately following his baptism. Some aspects of this are difficult to imagine, such as having nothing to eat for forty days, after which he is tempted to use his powers to turn stones into bread. The three temptations are all attempts to get Jesus to put his trust somewhere other than in God. What happens to us when we are tempted to trust something or someone other than God?
This is Transfiguration Sunday, and the reading is the Lukan account of that amazing and mystical revelation of the nature of Jesus. The reading goes on to detail several encounters as the four descend from that mountain, events that bring them back to reality, But the take-away is in the words coming from the cloud, saying that Jesus is God’s son, and advising them to listen to him. In times of intense difficulty and struggle, we must focus on those words.
That Jesus told us to love our enemies is surely one of the most difficult demands he could have placed on us. How can we possibly repay someone’s malicious acts against us with love? And when we are angry because someone has acted against us, what does love even mean?
The author of Luke has Jesus delivering what have come to be known as “The Beatitudes” to the disciples on a “level playing field,” rather than from a mountain. And in this case, Jesus de. After all, when we examine our own lives, it seems we fit much better into the parameters of the unblessed livers them directly in second person: “Blessed are you . . .” Further, without stopping after the blessings, Jesus delivers a series of woes: “Woe to you . . .” that may well make us uncomfortable. What is Jesus trying to tell us?
When Jesus calls disciples, the people he calls seem to be an odd lot. Peter, for example, was a fisherman with no education or experience in scriptures or preaching. Couldn’t Jesus have picked someone better? But God’s chosen were often the weakest, lowest, off-the-radar picks, too. Like Moses, Peter protests that he is not well suited. Like God, Jesus tells his chosen to get over it because there’s work to be done.
In his early ministry, things seemed to be going really well for Jesus back at his home synagogue. Then he began to talk about acts of Elijah and Elisha that favored foreigners over needs in Israel, and the crowd became very angry with Jesus. This makes us aware that Jesus often angered those around him, particularly those in positions of importance in the religious establishment. What does this say to us in our own day and time?
Most often in this gospel story we focus on Jesus’ pointing to himself as the subject of the Isaiah passage, as the messiah. But perhaps at least as important is the indicator, “today.” Its immediacy is rattling and brings to mind a number of other situations in which people have waited and waited, and today is the day that the awaited comes to pass: Martin Luther King’s letter from prison was such a call; and perhaps United Methodism’s upcoming conference on the inclusion of LGBTQ people is also such a call.
Today’s gospel reading is the story of the wedding in Cana. We often recall this as Jesus miraculously turning water into wine. But it is also an expression of the nearness of the Kingdom and the abundance that Kingdom brings. It is also high drama from the writer of the gospel.
This is Epiphany Sunday, the time when we remember the story of the Magi following the star to find the infant king. The scripture lesson is the first verses of Isaiah 60 when, in one of the darkest times in Israel’s history, the prophet calls on the people to “Arise! Shine!” because “The light has come!” Like Israel, we can go through times when the darkness seems never-ending, but those prophetic words reclaim us and offer us hope.
Today’s scripture is the very familiar story in Luke of the parents of Jesus (who is 12 at the time) being unable to locate him as they head home from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Many of us have been in similar situations, when, at finding a lost child there is great relief, but also a boiling of frustration and anger at having been placed in such a situation. Mary’s questions at finding Jesus express that frustration. But the boy’s reply is, in essence, “Where else would I be?” Perhaps this made his parents, and makes us, understand a bit more clearly that at age 12 Jesus was already doing God’s work.
Most of us have, at some point, had negative feelings about the innkeeper in the story of the birth of Jesus – what kind of person would turn down a young, pregnant girl and her fiancé when she is clearly close to giving birth? There are some translations of the story that may have misled us a bit. And perhaps we, ourselves, act like the innkeeper where God is concerned more than we realize. How do we fit into the story, and how do we receive God’s knocking at our hearts?
The writer of Luke is highly sensitive to God’s preference for the downtrodden, and that shows in the prominence of the story of Mary and Elizabeth – why was Mary, a poor, teenage, unwed woman, chosen to bear the Messiah rather than Elizabeth, who is married to a priest? It is emphasized in the song Mary sings, reported only in Luke, praising God for raising the lowly and bringing down those on high. What does this story say to those of us who are relatively wealthy?
As we’ve seen in previous weeks, Advent is a time of great anticipation. Yet, today we read about John the Baptist in the wilderness, addressing the people with, “You brood of vipers!” a jarring warning and call to repent. How do we understand such confrontation in the context of waiting for the arrival of the Christ child?
In today’s scripture, the priest, Zechariah, sings with joy at the naming of his and Elizabeth’s new son, John. These are the first words he has been able to utter since he was silenced, nine months earlier, when the angel told him they would bear this child, and Zechariah seemed to express disbelief. Was his silence punishment, or is there another side to such silence?
Today’s scripture passage has the prophet, Joel, speaking about the end of a terrible period of famine in Israel, admonishing the people to repent, but also addressing the soil of the earth and the animals of the fields, assuring them that God is doing great, restorative things for them. When the prophet considers the earth as one of God’s creatures, what does that say to us about our relationship with the earth?
In today’s passage from Mark, as Jesus and some of his disciples leave the temple, one of them remarks in awe at the large stones in the magnificent temple structure. Jesus’ responses, however, leave us wondering whether he’s being completely dismissive – nothing really matters. His closest disciples later take him aside to ask him for further explanation, and some of what Jesus says can be quite disturbing. But it is clear that his focus is on faith.
In today’s selection from Mark’s gospel, Jesus and his disciples are “people watching” at the temple. Jesus comments on the scribes, warning his disciples to beware of them because they have lost their way where their service is concerned. Then Jesus points out the widow who goes unnoticed by anyone else because she is, in modern parlance, nobody. Her gift is by far the least of anyone’s, but, as we all know from the story, she has given all. It convicts us – when and where have we given all?
This is All Saints Sunday when we remember those who have gone before us. As we continue our study of Mark’s gospel, in today’s passage Jesus is asked by a scribe, a scholar of the scriptures, which commandment is first. Jesus replies with a first and second commandment, the familiar ones taken from Deuteronomy and Leviticus, to love God and to love one’s neighbor. The scribe, realizing that Jesus has answered well, begins to understand the depth of Jesus’ grasp of faith. When we think about those saints today, we can recite how each has lived out those commandments to love God and one’s neighbor, and we stand next in line.
We continue our look at scenes from Mark’s gospel with this story of blind Bartimaeus. It is the last story in Mark before Jesus enters Jerusalem, and the disciples and large group with him are focused on what’s ahead. A poor blind man crying out for Jesus is hardly worth a second glance, but Jesus stops, asks him what he wants, and, at his request and with his faith, heals him. Although we can easily see ourselves as members of that crowd of followers marching with Jesus, perhaps we should consider whether we might also see ourselves as the one needing help.
This is Laity Sunday. Tom Lee is delivering the sermon, and Anna Bigelow does the Children’s Moment. We continue our journey through Mark’s gospel as James and John ask a favor of Jesus, which is to be given places of status in the coming kingdom. In a sense, they’re cutting in line ahead of everyone else. Jesus explains to them the harsh realities of the Kingdom to come – that to be part of it they must be servants and slaves to all. These are hard words for us, too.
Continuing our study of Mark, this is the familiar story of the rich man asking Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds that the rich man must sell everything he has and give to the poor, then follow Jesus. For us, the problem is that by any standard all of us are rich. Does this mean Jesus demands that we sell everything we have and give to the poor? Is that a requirement if we seek to follow Jesus?
This familiar scene from Mark again underscores the disciples’ misunderstanding. At a time when Jesus was pressed by the crowds, parents also brought children, and the disciples “spoke sternly to them.” Jesus, in response, “was indignant” and brought the children to himself, proclaiming that the Kingdom of God belongs to children. What does it mean for us to be child-like? How would that play out in the context of our current divisiveness in this country?
We continue our look at passages from the gospel of Mark with this disturbing scene in which Jesus calls his disciples to task with some graphic images. How are we to understand these harsh words from someone we know to be truly compassionate?
We continue our look at passages from the gospel of Mark with this familiar story in which Jesus calls his disciples to task for arguing amongst themselves about status within the group. As an example, Jesus grabs up a child, holds it in front of them, and uses the child as a lesson in first/lastness. What aspects of our own behavior does this act call into question?
This is one of a series of Sundays focused on the Gospel of Mark. Today’s text from Mark 8 is initially about who Jesus is, and there are several answers. But when Peter correctly identifies Jesus as “the Messiah,” Jesus firmly rebukes him and warns them all not to reveal that to anyone. It is an astonishing response to those who have supported Jesus and look forward to the coming kingdom of God. What does this say about us as disciples?
This is the first in a series of Sundays focused on the Gospel of Mark. This story from Mark 7 Exposes the humanity of Jesus as he tries to get away from all the pressure he has been under. Yet, even as he attempts to find refuge in an out-of-the-way region, he is approached by a woman who asks that he cast an unclean spirit out of her daughter. His initial reaction is to decline, but she calls him, even Jesus, to task. In the face of Jesus’ humanity, how can we, as fallible humans, ever hope for perfection?
This is the fourth Sunday in our series on the Letter to the Ephesians. In our time we experience anger all around us. We might get the sense that anger is a bad thing, but there are times when we know Jesus got angry at injustice, for example, and times when God is angry with the people. The writer of Ephesians acknowledges that but cautions us to take care not to let anger rule our lives.
We continue our study of the Letter to the Ephesians. As we travel through our city we find churches of a multitude of denominations and types, each with its own characteristics and beliefs. Even the history of the Methodist Church is “messy.” The writer of Ephesians also lived in time when there were disagreements and conflicts within the early church, but here the writer assures them, and us, of “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.”
This Sunday we continue a study of the Letter to the Ephesians. In today’s passage the writer of Ephesians uses gushing, almost excessive language to describe the power of God within. Maybe it is an attempt to bolster the early churches who, for a number of reasons, were struggling. Or maybe it is simply meant to illustrate the complex and often invisible root system of faith of those “being rooted and grounded in love.”
This Sunday we begin a study of the Letter to the Ephesians. All around us today are walls, some physical, some societal. Some of them are erected by governments or social groups, but we also build a few of them ourselves. This letter to the Ephesians highlights a wall that has developed between Jewish and Gentile Christians in the early church, and the message is that the grace of God completely negates that wall and all others.
We continue examining the story of David with this familiar story of the confrontation of the King by Nathan – God’s calling David out for the horrible sin he has committed. Sometimes we are in David’s position, confronted by God for sins we have committed. Other times we are Nathan, called by God to confront sin. But perhaps the most important lesson of the story for us is the unimaginable power of God’s mercy.
Continuing the series on King David, this week’s scripture begins the familiar story of David’s attraction to Bathsheba, and his plot to do in Uriah, her husband, so he could have her for himself. This sordid story involves abuse and murder. What good news can there possibly be for us through this example of Israel’s king?
In today’s passage, King David has attained the kingship, has fought off all invaders, and is at the pinnacle of his years as king. At this point he realizes that although he now lives in a marvelous palace, God’s dwelling is still the tabernacle, a tent. So he proposes to build God a house, a temple. Nathan, the prophet, thinks it’s a great idea. But God comes to Nathan in a night vision, telling Nathan to tell David no – David is not to build a temple. How are we to respond when God tells us no?
We continue our series on David with this story of his moving the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. In the process, not only is there great excitement among the crowds at such a significant event, but David, the king, dances with clear exuberance and abandonment, rejoicing before the Ark. Although much of the story reflects that excitement, it also reveals that his wife, Michal, seeing him dance like that, “despised him in her heart.” We, too, are often hesitant about rejoicing with abandon before God. Why are we hesitant?
We continue our series on David with this story of his coronation as king, a time that should be the culmination of all of the stories of David we have read in past weeks. In some ways it is. But in other ways, it isn’t as clean as we might have imagined. There are rough edges around this man who was God’s chosen. This can tell us something about leadership and kingship, especially when we consider Jesus, whom God offered as a model of kingship.
We continue our series of lessons and sermons on David with this story of David’s reaction to the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. David’s is a clear, deep, and public grieving for the loss, a demonstration that assures us the church is a place to grieve. Our church family surrounds us to hear our sorrows and be present with us in those difficult times. Moreover, God is with us – God who knows the heights of our joys, but also the depths of our grief. The communion table is an open place to gather to embrace God and each other.
We continue our series of lessons and sermons on David with this story that is well known from children to adults, even among people who have never read the Bible. Although we can see this as the story of a superhero, if we look deeply enough we can see that in God’s world, power comes through vulnerability and trust rather than through armor and traditional strength.
This is the third in the summer series looking at the figure of King David. In today’s passage, God sends Samuel to Jesse to anoint a new king to succeed Saul. In this familiar story, Jesse parades all but one of his sons before Samuel. Although all would seem to be of kingly stature, they are all rejected, and Jesse finally brings in his youngest son, whom he had never even considered presentable to Samuel. What does that say about how God views us?
This is the second in a summer series looking at passages in 1 and 2 Samuel. In this passage, the people come to Samuel to ask that he step aside and give them a king, like all the other people. God tells Samuel it is not a rejection of Samuel, but of God, and God is going to let the people have their king, but not without Samuel’s warnings of the downside of having a king. In our own lives as individuals, but also in our collective lives as a church, we are sometimes attracted to some leader or source that is not God. God will grant us leave to follow that attraction, but those diversions are never wise.
This is the first in a summer series looking at passages in 1 and 2 Samuel. Today we consider the familiar story of the young Samuel, under the tutelage of Eli, the priest, hearing God call in the night. What does it mean for us to listen for God’s voice?
Today is Trinity Sunday. In our attempts to envision this God we worship, the Trinity is, historically, one of the prominent images, but it is also not easy to grasp. How can God be three distinct entities? But perhaps, rather than trying to grasp the specifics of the three entities, one perspective that may have deep meaning for us is to realize that the three are in community.
Today is Pentecost Sunday, the day we celebrate the birth of the Church, a time when we read about the coming of the Spirit that resulted in those present speaking in every language and converting hundreds. And yet, there are events around us that can make us feel there is no celebration in us. How are we to understand the working of the Spirit in those dark times in our lives?
The Acts of the Apostles begins after the resurrection with Jesus instructing the disciples over a period of 40 days, at the end of which Jesus ascends into heaven, leaving them yet again. But as the disciples see Jesus ascending, two white-robed men appear and challenge them not to stand, peering into the heavens, the implication being that although this seems like an end, it is a beginning, and they had better set about doing God’s work on earth.
As we continue with readings from Acts, we see the Holy Spirit in action again. This time it is Peter, the close disciple of Jesus, who is speaking in Caesarea and encounters Cornelius and other Gentiles, with whom he is not supposed to associate. But as Peter speaks, those gathered, including the Gentiles, are filled with the Holy Spirit, and Peter realizes that God has opened his eyes to the inclusion of all humanity in the good news of the gospel, and he ordered them to be baptized.
Today’s reading from Acts is about two characters: Philip, whose enthusiasm for his faith is overflowing, and an unnamed Ethiopian eunuch, a person of means and status, who has come to Jerusalem to worship, only to be rejected because of his origin and the fact that he is a eunuch. An angel of the Lord sends Philip to the eunuch, and out of that encounter the eunuch is baptized. It is an example of the broad reach of God to everyone and anyone.
Under the direction of Youth Minister Emily Robbins West End youth planned and led this service with youth filling all leadership roles. The theme, "How We Know," was adopted from the reference passage in 1 John. The early and late services are posted separately because many of the youth who served as liturgists and in other roles were different for the two services. This sermon is from the Late Service.
Under the direction of Youth Minister Emily Robbins West End youth planned and led this service with youth filling all leadership roles. The theme, "How We Know," was adopted from the reference passage in 1 John. The early and late services are posted separately because many of the youth who served as liturgists and in other roles were different for the two services. This sermon is from the early service.
Peter and John, who during Jesus’ life sometimes wavered in their faith, in this story heal a man who had been lame from birth. Then when the people are amazed at the healing, Peter boldly challenges their faith. It is a story of what the Spirit can do to transform believers like Peter and John, and like us, to do God’s work.
This passage in Acts gives us a glimpse of the early church that can seem ideal and perhaps unrealistic. But maybe it can serve as a foundation of hope for our living into the post-resurrection community of believers who share the same heart and whose care for one another is unlimited.
Just as Lent ends with Easter, our Lenten sermon series, “Why?” ends on Easter Sunday with a reading from Mark’s gospel of the women at the empty tomb and the instruction by the young man dressed in white for them to tell the others that Jesus has risen from the dead.
Continuing our Lenten sermon series, "Why?" this noon Good Friday service commemorates the darkest day in Christian history even as we anticipate the glorious resurrection of Easter.
Continuing the Lenten sermon series, "Why?" this Maundy Thursday communion service commemorates the events surrounding the Last Supper by reading the account in the gospel of John.
This is the sixth in our Lenten series, "Why?" This story of the woman pouring the expensive nard from the alabaster jar over the head of Jesus is in some form in all four gospels, but in Mark the woman is unnamed and unknown. The focus, then is on her act, which is an act of pure worship.
This is the fifth in our Lenten series, “Why?” The writer of James, in encouraging us to “be doers of the word and not merely hearers,” uses a metaphor of looking at oneself in the mirror then forgetting the image. We often put forth reasons not to serve, but we are God’s bits of light in the world and part of God’s kingdom whose role it is, with God and others, to bring light.
This is the fourth in our Lenten series, “Why?” Zacchaeus, in the familiar story from Luke, may not be a bad person. Rather, he may simply find himself in a position of power and wealth that sets him apart from people who are needy. Many of us, too, find ourselves wealthy, simply because of who we are. Zacchaeus clearly seeks something else, and Jesus is there to deliver.
This is the third in our Lenten series, “Why?” Although it is important not to dwell in the past, in Deuteronomy 6 we are directed to remember what God has done for us. It is a way of grounding us and of always being aware of God, writing it on our foreheads and door posts and in our hearts and teaching it to our children.
This is the second in our Lenten series, “Why?” Sometimes we feel prayer is an obligation. Other times we offer our support to someone in need by telling them we’ll pray for them. But what is prayer for us, really?
There may be periods in our lives when we do not attend church, confident that our faith can stand on its own and we can be faithful alone. But the writer of Hebrews sees the faithful as existing with and for one another, and for God’s work, “provoking one another to love and good deeds.”
There are countless ways each of us can "rejoice in the Lord," and Shrove Tuesday is all about rejoicing.
The Transfiguration of Jesus in Mark seems difficult to understand, and clearly it was so for the disciples who witnessed it. Occasionally, when we, too, glimpse eternity, we are puzzled and it takes time to process. At the time they happen, we often fail to recognize them for what they are. What are we to make of such experiences?
We often find ourselves too busy for prayer and meditation. And much of our busy-ness is occupied not only by the demands of daily life, but by doing good works – God’s work. Jesus, too, was besieged by doing good works. But now and then the gospels tell us he went aside to pray. Those times provided divine guidance and renewal and a balancing rhythm in his life.
This first story in Mark of Jesus’ ministry can be disturbing to us because it involves casting out an unclean spirit. Today, we interpret the situation as a problem that might be solved by a doctor or a psychiatrist using medication or therapy. So how does this “unclean spirit” relate to us? Can an individual or a congregation be inhabited by such a spirit that desperately calls for Jesus’ curing hands?
We are often awed by the story of Jesus’ call of the first four disciples, who had been fishing, were called by Jesus to fish for people instead, and “immediately” left to follow him. How could they leave their work and families, just like that? The writer of Mark’s gospel uses the term, “immediately,” over and over again, and perhaps it indicates proximity as well as time – that God’s presence and action are right there, right then. As a result, those called by Jesus, including us, are in the presence of God and in God’s time and charged with God’s call.
This is Baptism of the Lord Sunday. Mark’s gospel is bare-bones narrative and begins with Jesus’ baptism where, immediately as he is coming up out of the water, the heavens are “torn apart” and God declares Jesus to be “my Son, the Beloved.” It is God’s unconditional love, bestowed on the baptized, and today we remember our own baptisms and are in awe of that love bestowed upon us.
The birth narrative in Luke is lengthy and detailed until the birth itself, and then things begin to move quickly. In today’s reading, Joseph and Mary take the infant to Jerusalem for the rite of purification. Their encounters with Simeon and Anna both certify who this baby is to be and caution that there will be dark times ahead. The focus, however, is always on the presence and light of God.
It is the morning of Christmas Eve, and the birth has not yet occurred. Today we focus on the announcement to Mary by the angel and her reaction, which is to break into song, and not just any song, but one that speaks to God’s intervention into history, much as the prophets do. Singing has always been a fundamental act of the faithful, and Luke’s story around the birth of Jesus makes full use of song.
As we have done throughout Advent, we turn to Isaiah, this time to a passage of good news, a passage that Jesus cites and applies to himself as one appointed by God to bring good news. Significantly, the good news is not for those in power, the Persian Empire in Isaiah’s time, but specifically for the downtrodden and oppressed, the “invisible ones.” It is a challenge to us, too, to be the bearers of good news to those who most need to hear it.
On this second Sunday of Advent we turn again to a word from the prophet. This time, though, the historical setting has changed, and the people are in exile, in a very dark time. God’s message through Isaiah is one of comfort, assuring the people that God is with them always, no matter where they find themselves.
All around there are decorations, people shopping, and a joyous feeling in the air. But within the church it is the first Sunday in Advent, and we are reading a lament from the prophet Isaiah. A lament? Seriously? What a downer! How do we reconcile that?
In this familiar passage, Jesus separates sheep from goats, saying to the sheep that they have treated him well by treating those in need well, but that the goats, on the other hand, have not. The passage ends with the salvation of the sheep and the condemnation of the goats. Is this a condemnation of us, or, at the very least, a guilt trip?
This parable, while familiar, is puzzling in the end, particularly as the master reacts to the third slave’s handling of the entrusted talent. Is Jesus really saying that to those who have more will be given, and from those who have not, what they have will be taken away? Isn’t this the Jesus who always pays attention to the poor and downtrodden, who frequently reverses the status quo?
Once, again, Jesus is confronted by a group of people – this time, Pharisees – trying to trap him in some matter of rule. In this instance it is a lawyer, one who knows the full extent and details of Jewish law, who is asking the question. The response from Jesus is not only something with which even the lawyer cannot argue, but it is instructive and a completely new revelation about God’s law.
In this passage, a group of Herodians and Pharisees, who are normally opposed to each other, tries to trap Jesus by asking him a simple yes-or-no question. The problem is, whether he answers yes or no, his position will make him vulnerable to arrest. Jesus, though, turns the answer around and gives them, and us, one of the fundamental tenets of faith in God.
This may be the most difficult of the parables of Jesus to hear. The version of this same parable in Luke is a bit easier to take because it doesn’t have the violence we find in Matthew’s telling. What are we to make of it? How are we to discern God’s invitation in its midst?
The chief priests and elders come to Jesus as he is teaching and question his authority – “By what authority are you doing these things . . ?” Instead of answering directly, Jesus asks them a similar question about John the Baptist. Feeling a trap any way they might have answered, the officials decline to answer. Sometimes, declining to answer is an answer in itself. By whose authority do we minister?
This may be among the most difficult of Jesus’ parables for us to accept because in our minds those who do more work should receive more pay. It’s only fair. That the laborers who have worked all day complain about compensation is not at all surprising to us. But Jesus frequently seeks to shock his listeners to a new way of thinking. What does this new idea of “fairness” say about our own relationship to God?
This parable seems straightforward, but what is puzzling is why the slave, whose immense debt was forgiven by the king, did not, in turn, forgive the debt of another slave. It is a truly loving God who forgives each of us and fully anticipates that we, too, will forgive everyone else.
At one point in this familiar burning bush account of his call, Moses asks God for more information, specifically for God’s name. God’s response is something rabbis and scholars have struggled with through the centuries. Truly, the “name” God gives is beyond human comprehension. It indicates that Moses doesn’t need to know the details, but simply to follow God’s call.
We all have experience with family, and we remember times when things were difficult. But in the end, we know how crucial family is for us. Paul’s message to the church at Rome is about that – there will be different perspectives and opinions, but they must remember that they are family. It is what we are called to be as a church, and as people of God, and as God’s creation. We are family.
In many ways the situation in this ancient and familiar narrative has repeated itself time and time again through history: A ruler fears “those people” and promotes that fear among his own, then oppresses “those people.” In this case, though, it is clear that God favors the oppressed and overcomes all odds through the unlikeliest of agents. God finds a way when there is no way.
Joseph's brothers hated him enough to want to kill him and ended up selling him into slavery. He had every reason to be bitter and to hate them in return. But in the end, after agonizing through weeping and wailing, he forgave them. It couldn't have been easy, but it is an example of what we, too, are called to do when faced with hate from our brothers and sisters.
When Peter gets out of the boat to walk on the water toward Jesus, it's risky business. His faith fails, and he begins to sink, finally rescued by Jesus. We are called to move outside our comfort zones, and that is risky business. Sometimes when we do venture out, our lack of faith makes us falter. But Jesus is there to hold out a hand and steady us. Can we take that next step?
From the womb, Jacob was a grabber, a grappler, a wrestler, and in today's reading Jacob wrestles with God. What does that tell us about our own relationship with God? How does God respond when we have doubts and anger?
Hearing another of the very familiar parables in Matthew 13, we remember how the tiny mustard seed is said to grow into a . . . shrub? Really, a shrub? How unimpressive is that?! What does that mean?
In the familiar Parable of the Sower, God appears to be either a bad farmer, or at least an unusual one, for letting the weeds grow up among the wheat. Won't those weeds take nutrients the wheat could have used? Won't they shade and choke out the wheat? But the explanation Jesus gives offers us some relief from things we might otherwise be doing and frees us up to concentrate on loving our neighbors.
This is the first in a series of sermons on parables in Matthew’s gospel, of which this Parable of the Sower may be among the most familiar. Indeed it is so familiar we may hear it again and again without fully appreciating its significance for us. One way we might get at that is by exploring its impact on Jesus’ listeners.
From the beginnings of the scriptural history, God calls on people to rest. In our day, taking time to rest is often overlooked as we are constantly in motion and connected to each other, our work, our social media. But Jesus, too, bids us, "Come to me, . . . and I will give you rest." How can we address that invitation in our busy lives?
In Genesis 18, Abraham is approached by three strangers. He doesn't know them, even whether they might do him harm, but his hospitality is enthusiastic as he invites them into his tent, then invites them to eat. His is a fine example of how we should be toward others. Gathering around the communion table, as we do today, is a primary place for us to practice such hospitality. In the story it turned out that the three strangers were really the Lord, having come to make an amazing announcement to Abraham and Sarah.
For St. Paul, love is not one of the spiritual gifts -- it is the eternal presence that undergirds all spiritual gifts. Love never ends because God never ends. Love never fails because God never fails.
Paul has heard that some in the church in Corinth are lording it over others, so he writes to tell them that each person has a particular gift, given by the Spirit, so that it takes all of them to make the whole. His analogy is that it takes quite different parts of a human body to make a whole person. It is the reason we value the gifts of any and every person who wants to be a part of our church body.
Jesus taught his disciples to love God and their neighbors as themselves. Is that it? Is there something more that disciples do?
Jesus' disciples are waiting, but they really don't know what they're waiting for. Jesus had said something about fire and waiting for the Holy Spirit, but what is that supposed to mean?
Whether you find waiting relaxing or excruciating, we all spend a lot of our lives waiting. How do you think Jesus' disciples felt when he told them that their first task after he leaves them is to wait? How would you feel?
In today's scripture lesson Jeremiah delivers the word of God to the people in exile. Because of their behavior, the people are in what most of us know as "time-out." But Jeremiah offers a word of hope because God has plans -- not necessarily for individuals, but for God's people.
Some wise person once told Michael that ministry is all about relationships. When Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd, he is confirming that the most important things in our life are our relationship to God and to those whom God places in our life.
In the familiar Emmaus Road story from Luke's Gospel, Jesus spends quite a while with two men who should have known him well. But they only recognize him when he blesses the bread as they eat at the end of the day. How many times to we, ourselves, run across Jesus as a stranger? And what does that mean for how we interact with strangers?
This is Youth Sunday, the service designed and led by the youth of the church around the scripture lesson in which Jesus appears to the disciples the evening of the first day of the week, after Mary Magdalene had discovered the open tomb and had seen Jesus in the garden. In this service six high school seniors are the speakers: Turner Johnson, Janet Ann Horner, Jack Hornsby, Jack Ferrara, Jackson Bryant, and Leo Spadafino.
The women came to the tomb on the first day of the week, not to do anything, but just to see the tomb. While others had abandoned him, they had seen him die, and everything they had hoped for had died with him. Although as they approach there is much to frighten them, including an earthquake that rolls away the stone from the tomb’s entrance, some stranger tells them not to be afraid. This stranger tells them what to do, and these two unlikely women end up being the first preachers of the Gospel.
Jesus enters Jerusalem with one message -- that the overflowing love of God has come among us, lives among us, teaches among us, rides a donkey among us, is one of us. So how are we to respond? Cheer like the crowds along the way? Shout, "Crucify him!" when we don't get our way? Or simply let God's love overflow through us just as he did?
Psalm 84 is a jubilant longing for a return to the temple of the Lord. In some sense it is a longing to return home. What does it mean to us to long for home, and how does being a doorkeeper satisfy that need?
Today, after a lengthy process of renovation, we reconsecrate our building. We certainly consider it a sacred space, but what makes it sacred? Is it because God is here? But God is everywhere! Does that make every place sacred?
In taking the Gospel to the Gentiles, Paul had to deal with Jews who thought they were better because they were the chosen of God, and Gentiles who thought they were better because they were the new generation of believers. Paul's message is that all of us are broken, and all of us receive God's grace, not because we are deserving, but because God gives it without reservation.
Lent is a time of self examination, which can be a pretty discouraging process. If we can't help ourselves, then who will help us?
Through much of Paul's writing we get a sense of his self-confidence. But in this passage, he confesses his shortcomings, and Paul's description of them is very much applicable to each of us. It's a very appropriate perspective for Lent.
To conclude our series on The Art of Neighboring, we turn to the closing words of the Gospel of Matthew, "The Great Commission," where Jesus is sending his disciples out with one important task, which is still our task today.
In these stories of Elijah, the prophet receives help from some unexpected people and places that would have startled Israelites who heard the stories. What does this kind of receiving say about how God expects us to give, and about who our neighbors are?
In this familiar passage from The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out our role in the Kingdom using the metaphors of salt and light. Interestingly, Jesus does not tell his listeners (and us) how to become the salt and light: rather, he assumes we are the salt and light and tells us how to proceed.
"Good fences make good neighbors" is an oft-quoted phrase from a poem by Robert Frost. But what many don't realize is that Frost is actually arguing against that, holding that neighbors are good neighbors when fences are no barriers. What are the barriers that prevent us from being good neighbors?
Often we find ourselves interrupted when we're in the middle of something. Sometimes those interruptions can be irritating. But in this story, Jesus is interrupted several times, and every interruption causes him to be attentive, and each interruption actually turns out to be a very good thing. This is the second of our series on The Art of Neighboring and discovering who is our neighbor.
This is the first of a six-weeks series on "The Art of Neighboring," exploring how we can be good neighbors to people we know, people we don't know, and even to strangers, according to the commandment of Jesus that we love one another.