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Podcast: The Transfiguration

transfigurationThis week’s sermon is in between two series.  We finished our discipleship series and next week we are launching into Lent with a series called “reNEW.”  This time in the Protestant Christian Calendar is traditionally the Sunday when we remember the Transfiguration of Jesus.  This year’s lectionary reading comes from Mark 9:2-9. The secondary reading that we heard was 2 Corinthians 4:3-6,

“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

I’ll link the NT Wright book I mention in the sermon below. If you’re looking for something fairly profound to read I’d recommend this book. Anyway, I have come to love the story of the Transfiguration for reasons you’ll hear in the sermon. At the end of the day, I think Bev had it right all along – there’s something special going on with Jesus.

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New short sermon series

The lectionary readings for the next three weeks include Gospel readings that cover all of Matthew 25, so we are going to go through Matthew 25. The continuity should be good. The problem is that the first two readings are challenging passages to preach from. Also, they deal with the return of Christ, which is something that is either misunderstood or not covered that much.

So, I’ve decided to come at the readings with the uplifting question, “Are you ready?”  Because who doesn’t like thinking about the end of the world? Continue reading “New short sermon series”

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Today we remember

Today I spoke a few words at the Dimondale Parade about Memorial Day. I thought I’d post what I said.

I think you can know something important about a people by what they choose to remember. Remembering is an important part of living. I recently read the statement that, “remembering is the opposite of forgetting,” which seems kind of obvious, but then when you think about it, those are our two options: remember or forget. The things we remember are the things that we choose to bring forward with us. The things we forget are gone. Things forgotten lie dead in the past, whereas the act of remembering brings to life things from the past into the present. The things we remember from yesterday have an impact upon us today and shape our tomorrow. Remembering is an active thing. It is not passive. Good remembering is the activity of bringing to your mind, intentionally, those things of the past. In the Christian Church, when we are at our best, we are remembering well. We remember the sacrifice of Christ on Good Friday. We remember the resurrection on Easter Sunday. And to do these things we have activities, songs, prayers, traditions. We do stuff in our community of believers to remember, because remembering is an active activity. I think you can know something important about a people by what they choose to remember.

Continue reading “Today we remember”