Intersections

Have you ever met a polar bear? I don’t mean one of those giant furry things that you can see at the zoo in Columbus or other places. I mean - a person who willingly flings themselves into a body of water on the 1st day of January, regardless of the temperature? I have to admit, I’ve thought about doing it - to engage all my senses; momentarily feel a little more alive. Let’s be honest, frostbite doesn’t look good on anyone!   But when those crazies are in the water, what might they tell their onlookers? “Come on in, join me - the water’s fine!” Just because they’re freezing doesn’t mean they’re not having a good time. It’s all a matter of perspective. And maybe that’s how it looks on the outside to non-churchgoers. Ask someone to join you for church, and if you don’t know that person particularly well they may raise an eyebrow at you and wonder if they should call someone to take you home. It’s not the standard that it used to be - I’m gonna say something you might disagree with...

  There was this giant tree in my parents’ backyard when I was growing up. It was probably the height of the two-story house we lived in, and I climbed that tree so much, although - not really ever very high. After I moved out for college, it was dying, and so they had to have it chopped down. When I came back, it was weird having this empty space where the mighty trunk with long branches stood. Then, after a couple of years, I saw a little shoot popping up out of the middle of it. I thought that was amazing! From this mighty tree, in its weakened state, there can be life coming out of it once again.   This is kind of what Isaiah is talking about in the scripture today. God promises that there will be new life given to a stump, representing the kingdom of Israel through Jesse, who is the father of King David. There are kind of two parts to this scripture today, verses one through five, and then six through ten make the other. The first part is about the reign of God and h...

  What a wonderful September it was, and here we are in October! How fast was that - those festivals really make the month fly by.  October is kind of this weird space in the church calendar, we could focus on stewardship, but typically that’s saved for November, it’s not Advent yet, and our time within summer is slowly fading away. I’d like to fill this space then with a series I’m calling “Not Ashamed”, based on the Second Letter to Timothy. The New Testament letter, written by Paul, is a short one yet very powerful. Let’s walk further into our faith and our discipleship by proclaiming that we are not afraid of the power the Gospel has over us, and how that makes us unique.  This act of boldness and enthusiasm can be mistaken for arrogance and false teaching, though, so we may need to be careful of how we share the power of the Gospel. It is about looking inward and outward at the same time, that we may grow upward to be closer to the divine, and also outward to be clos...

  Let’s start this text with maybe something a little lighter: There once was a rich man near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money, and he wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him. An angel hears his plea and appears to him. “Sorry, but you can’t take your wealth with you.” The man implores the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules. The man continues to pray that his wealth can follow him. The angel reappears and informs the man that God has decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathers his biggest bag, fills it with pure gold bars, and places it beside his bed. Soon afterward, the man dies and appears at the Gates of Heaven to greet St. Peter. St. Peter seeing the suitcase, says, “Hold on, you can’t bring that in here!” But, the man explains to St. Peter that he has permission and asks him to verify his st...

  I was a little lost while I was writing this sermon this week... couldn't seem to put together the right words. Maybe that's why it seemed so easy to put off... out of sight, out of mind. Anyway - so here we are in the second week in our series of "Having Words with Jesus", taking difficult parables and maybe looking at them with fresh eyes to see how they can help us understand what Jesus is talking about. The second we have here in Luke 15 is actually a series of three parables, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. The lectionary breaks it up to put the last story at a different time in the rotation, and I suppose it deserves its own commentary. We are left with finding the lost.  It's interesting how Luke begins the chapter, pitting two groups kind of against each other. He starts with the tax collectors and sinners were gathering to hear Jesus speak. The pharisees and the other teachers of the law were somewhere close as well, but they are...