September 5, 2010
In the Epistle to Philemon, written by the Apostle Paul, we have an
artful letter that reveals not only his own personality, but the spirit
of Christ and of equality within the Christian community. This letter
is the record of Paul’s appeal to Philemon, a first-century Christian,
who is urged to forgive his slave, Onesimus, and regard him as an equal.
The basis of all this is love—love for one another and God’s love for us.
It reminds us that we all are rebellious slaves, at some time or another,
yet we have a loving God, who forgives and welcomes us into the kingdom.
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August 29, 2010
It’s the end of summer. For many of us, it’s come too soon. Labor
Day is next week, and then it all begins—schools, church programs,
football, traffic, busyness. While we still have it, let’s take
time to celebrate summer. Today in our series of messages following
the lectionary we move to the 13th chapter of Hebrews. It’s a change
of pace and topic from the twelve chapters that precede it. Tom Long
calls it “the announcements.” But if it is the announcements, the
preacher (the author of the New Testament book of Hebrews) doesn’t
just say the announcements; he preaches them. Call it “Last Minute
Instructions” or “End of Summer Reminders.” Whatever you call them,
we need to hear them, especially when the journey gets long, and we
begin to lose our way.
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August 22, 2010
A common cliché is the mountaintop God. Where do we find God? Ancient people and modern people alike think, “Up.” If not on the mountain, then in the air above the mountain. Ancient people built temples on mountains and temples that resembled mountains, trying to get closer to God. How do we come to God? Our scripture today points us in a different direction. Not to the mountain but to the city.
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August 15, 2010
We were at a reunion event celebrating the 100th anniversary of
the school that Adria and I attended and from which we graduated
long ago. I ran into a classmate of mine—Denny, the guy who ran
the hundred for the high school back when it was a hundred yards
and not a hundred meters. I recalled the story of a race that we
once ran, he and I. A 220. I had been running some and thought I
should test myself against someone like Denny. We walked out to
the track and got down in the start position. Someone said, “Go,”
and we went. All I saw were the bottoms of Denny’s running shoes.
When he crossed the finish line, I had barely made it to the curve
half way through the course. Our passage this morning describes a
race something like that. The one who is way ahead is Jesus. The
writer of Hebrews says, “Watch him. You will learn how to run.”
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August 8, 2010
We welcome Rev. John Medendorp to our pulpit this morning. John is a
member of River Terrace Church and a graduate student at MSU’s Global Institute for Higher Education.
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