"TELL ME SOMETHING GOOD GROUNDING OURSELVES IN THE GOOD NEWS THIS LENT" Tagged Sermons
Revealed Through Nonviolence
Lent was originally a season for new converts to learn and prepare for their baptism on Easter. During that time, they would study what was central to Christianity. As we enter this new series, we study what is central to Jesus’ life and ministry: radical welcome, love for neighbor, care for the vulnerable, nourishment for the hungry, nonviolence in the face of injustice. At the heart of Jesus’ teachings, we find liberation, love, mercy, and grace—all of which are meant…
Inspiring Us To Act
This Sunday we will observe Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the final week of Jesus’ life, a span of time that Christian tradition has come to refer to as Holy Week. While the week culminates in the events of Good Friday and Easter, the movement through the entire week tells us of significant interactions with followers as well as definitive confrontations with adversaries, each of which brings greater clarity about how Jesus understood his mission, to incarnate…
Protection and Care for the Vulnerable
Jesus was a first-century Jew, and our scripture reading this week comes from the Hebrew scriptures that would have shaped Jesus’ own theology and ethics. Our friends at “A Sanctified Art”, who developed our theme for this season, say: “Throughout his ministry, Jesus emphasized the last, the least, and the lost, building upon the mandates of the Hebrew Scriptures to care for the immigrant, widow, and orphan among you.” Retired religious studies professor Heather Anne Thiessen has pulled together some…
Together, The Impossible is Possible
As Jesus and his disciples head to a deserted place, perhaps seeking peace and quiet, many from the surrounding towns follow them. Instead of turning them away, Jesus expresses compassion and begins an impromptu teaching session. As the day goes on, the disciples have logistics in mind and urge Jesus to send the people back into the villages so they can feed themselves. Instead, Jesus presents them with an impossible task: “You give them something to eat.” Dumbfounded, the disciples…
So Good, It Catches Us By Surprise
John’s Gospel doesn’t begin with a temptation story but instead opens Jesus’ ministry with a wedding miracle, a miracle Jesus enacted seemingly for the sole purpose of expanding joy by keeping the good vibes flowing (literally). It may feel a bit lavish to start the season of Lent with a wedding banquet, but the good news begins with joy. This week we focus on the subversive and playful nature of the good news. The kin-dom of heaven is so good…
