Sermons from June 2021

Sermons from June 2021

The Wounds That Make Us Open to Grace

Mark 5:21-43 Last Sunday, our journey through the Gospel of Mark gave us a lesson about believing in God’s grace when we feel powerless over some chaotic circumstance in life. Mark delivered that message through the story of Jesus calming a sudden storm that threatened to sink the boat that he and the disciples were using to cross the Sea of Galilee. Even though the details of that perilous journey were graphically presented in the story, most of never have—and…

SOS

2 Corinthians 6:1-13 and Mark 4:35-41 When I was young—about third grade, or so—my father often worked multiple jobs and irregular hours. It seemed to me that he was always either away at work or getting some much-needed sleep before heading out to another job. Looking back, it was totally logical that the household rule was never to wake him up when he was sleeping. But, to an eight-year-old who had recently received his first ever fishing pole for a…

Like Watching Grass Grow

Mark 4:26-34 and 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 14-17 Today is Children’s Sunday, which is typically a day for celebrating the young people of the congregation and the church’s ministry of planting the seeds of Christian discipleship in their young hearts and minds. Of course, there was nothing typical about this past year. The pandemic erased any chance for holding Church School classes or group activities. Appropriate to how the year unfolded, the theme for the Church School year was “We Walk…

Call Me Crazy

Mark 3:20-27, 31-35 In the factory where I once worked, someone had a sign over their workspace that said, “You don’t have to be crazy to work here… but it helps.” Sometimes, I think we should hang a sign like that over the entrance to the church. Or… print it on our worship bulletins. You don’t have to be crazy to fit in here…but it helps. After all, Jesus himself was labeled crazy. In the story I just read, Jesus…