Intersections

  I know we just went through a bunch of scripture for you this morning. I know it could have been saved for later this week, as the events were unfolding, but I know that sometimes we just need to hear the whole story. It's important, because this is central to our faith. We need to know what happens before next Sunday and the resurrection.   Today, we started with Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. We hear this story every year, and I'm hoping I can put some fresh eyes into it.  This year, we listened to the Gospel of Luke - and there are some important differences in this one than the others. First, he doesn't actually talk about palm branches, not on the road, not in people's hands waving... a little strange for what we are used to. There are no Hosannas shouted from the crowd. The King, much like the one who was celebrated a few months ago at Christmas, is still that same Emmanuel - "God with us" - and a symbol of peace on Earth.  God needs ...

  April is here, and I am ready for it! I don’t care how many showers there will be, I’m just ready for those May flowers. We are witnesses to the changing of the seasons, and how faithful God is in bringing those to us. It may not happen on our schedule, or even when the calendar tells us it’s going to happen, but regardless, our world will SPRING FORTH and bear all the life that it is given for the lively warm months ahead.  Our sermon series this month beginning after Easter will be called “We Are Witnesses”, and it’s a reminder that we witness all the glory that God provides us in our lives, whether we actually see it or not. Our scripture will come from the book of Acts, starting in chapter five. We skip through the book, according to the lectionary, and end on the last Sunday of May in chapter sixteen. The Book of Acts is an extension of the Gospel of Luke, who we have been studying this Lenten season, and is an important book for the fact that it details where the churc...

Last week, we ended our last series with the glorification of the Transfiguration of Jesus. But then, the disciples and the Christ came down from the mountain and found the struggling in the valley and where the people are. There were bright lights, and costume changes, and although it didn't say - I bet there may have been a show-stopping song and dance that got lost in the translation over the millennia.  But this week, not only have we gone through the valley and the people who are in need of Jesus, but he followed the Spirit - which is always with him - to the wilderness. Now, you think of wilderness, what comes to mind? I imagine it's like the middle of South Dakota near the Badlands, where there is just a void of humanity. My sister used to live in Saltillo, Mexico, about five hours by car from the Texas border. We flew in through Monterrey, and then it was another two hour drive through the Mexican desert. It was interesting scenery - mainly because it didn't loo...

      I know we’ve been in dealing with the Corinthian church for the last month or so, and there was a possibility of continuing that through Paul’s second letter, but… given that we are pushing into Lent later this week, maybe it’s time to get back to the gospels. I set the theme of “Love Never Ends” and this is the last week for that series, and it may seem that this is a strange scripture to end on, but hopefully I can tie it up nicely. The theme throughout our scriptures in the series has been about how community matters - people matter - and that we individuals are part of a whole. Even last week with Willie preaching, his focus was on how the scouts (Boy, Girl & Cub) were another venue, like church, for teaching our young ones how to live in a community, and what kind of rules we should follow. It might even be fitting that the last sermon in our series would be something about how love is consistent and unchanging; that God’s love is the same yesterday, t...

  Good morning again - last week, we talked through the first chapter of the Book of John, how the light of Christmas was lit and that lighthouses can help guide those in danger away from it.  This week, we’ve looped back around a couple of weeks because we are back talking about John the Baptist, continuing the story from… three weeks ago, I think? Hopefully, you’re not sick of John yet, although this is the last week we will be in the gospels for a while. Anyway - as you can see outside, the seasons are changing. Winter is here! Oh… no … not those seasons. Our season of Christmas has finished, and now we are in the season after Epiphany. We are back to those so-called “ordinary weeks” or numbered weeks because since we’ve celebrated Christmas and Epiphany, these are kind of the meat and bones weeks for Jesus’ actual ministry. Today we’ll be starting with his baptism, and over the next couple of months, we’ll be discovering being the body of Christ: how we can show that LOVE...

  Welcome all from near and far! Now, I know you really want to get back to the singing, and we'll do that, but I need to say a few words tonight. The story as you know, kind of sells itself, it's not like I have to get that deep into it. Everyone knows it, and we'll get back to the singing in just a few minutes.  But let me challenge that expectation of the story that is so often repeated. The story begins, like many in our series, with a world not that different from ours: times for censuses, taxes, royal orders and decrees. The power structure is in place as it has been for generations. Even the beginning is kind of tired..."In THOSE days"... like days that are not like ours?  Something happens and the angels declare that "on THIS day" good news has arrived. It is a division of time and space, when the holy and secular have collided. It is not in our chronological time, per se, but more - this time that God has declared. Angels have infiltrated ou...

  The blessing of home. We've been looking at home through different lenses the last four weeks, and Christmas is so close, I think most of us can even taste it now. What are your favorite flavors of the Christmas season? Mine are of pie - my grandma was a world-class baker. Every holiday - not just Christmas - there would always be four or five pies made, with the flavors rotating, depending on the time of year. Christmas would be apple, pecan (my grandpa's favorite), pumpkin, and mincemeat. As a kid, you hear mincemeat, and you kind of turn up your nose. I don't think I ever tried it while I had it available. It just... doesn't sound appealing. But your nose knows when there is a blessing of home.  The scripture today turns back the clock a little bit - we are reading now out of Luke, chapter 1. Our last couple of weeks we've been focusing on John the Baptist, and this week is no exception, but he's only a side character in our narrative today, since he...

How should we live? You don't ask yourself that question, right? Oh, you don't? I guess I'm the weirdo here then. There are so many shoulds in our lives, especially now during Advent. Should we send Christmas cards, should we visit our estranged extended families? We should be living with joy. The candle that was lit this morning is a representation of that joy. Although it doesn’t come across as such, this scripture is about joy. Last week, we began this set of scripture with John the Baptist, and he was brought to focus on the Messiah - whose time has not come yet. He was sent to prepare the world for the arrival. Screaming at the crowds who come to you, doesn’t seem like the right vibe? Let’s go through the text slowly to set the scene…  Luke sets up John like this… the crowds came to him to be baptized. Again - still in the wilderness, so these are wanderers, sojourners, disconnected people who wanted to belong. They were looking for something, even something that co...

 From the Pastor’s Desk:  Happy New Year! Well - that does sound kind of weird, but it’s the beginning of the church year, starting at Advent. I follow the Revised Common Lectionary - which is simply a rotating list of bible verses to preach on that covers about 75% of the Bible over three years (A, B & C). We are beginning year C, which means that it focuses the Gospel readings from the book of Luke. Now, Luke loves people, not only those who were in his community, but many in the margins of “acceptable” society. Luke highlights that no matter who we are or what we have done, there is a place for us in the Kingdom of God.  The focus this month is on “Coming Home for Christmas”. That can mean so many things to each of you. We all have our favorite places we consider to be home. I hope you feel as though Bethany is a place you can call home.  But, maybe we are lucky enough to have more than one place that feels as comforting as home.  When I was growing up, m...