Text: Luke 12:1-9
Sermon “Fillet of Soul”
Jesus teaches the disciples not to fear those who can kill the body only, but he who can kill the soul. Living in fear rather than by faith when life breaks bad is the genesis of the death of the soul. 
When Walter White’s life broke bad, he broke in fear and began filleting his soul.
Sermon: Luke 10:38-42. “The Gambler” AKA “Jesus and Kenny Rogers walk into Martha’s Home….” Presented next directly after the Good Samaritan story where Jesus tells the lawyer to go and do, the Mary and Martha story offers another teaching, sometimes you must not do but be. Both stories radically challenge customs of the time and ways of the world and show how there must be a bit of a gambler if one is to be a disciple.
http://www.christ4u.org/christ4u/sermon_7_28_2013____11_30am_
A clergy friend of mine posted on Facebook that she wished she was like the Space Shuttle, gently reentering the atmosphere and landing on a runway rather than old Apollo Capsule that plunged through the atmosphere and splashed into the ocean. Being a space nerd I responded that the Apollo capsules were safer and actually under the control of the laws of physics, the same laws that applied to the Shuttle in the initial reentry process.
The Theology nerd then took over and added a theological spin. The capsule was the more “faith oriented” of the space crafts as it, after positioning itself in the narrow reentry corridor, followed the physics of gravity and the calculus of reentry trajectory. The space shuttle on the other hand after positioning itself for the same reentry corridor then teased the physics more after it reentered the atmosphere by needing to glide and land on a runway rather than a general area of an ocean. It was in this teasing of physics and the resulting need for vulnerable wings that made the shuttles, as Columbia tragically proved, more susceptible to damage and, in the iconic understatement speak of NASA, “major malfunctions” and “bad days.”
This was not the first time I have viewed space missions, especially Apollo missions in faith terms. I once preached a faith and film series using “Apollo 13” and how much of that mission rested on faith. The crew had to use their faith in relying on the Mission Control teams to work out all of the hurdles that they had to clear in getting home after an explosion severely damaged the Odyssey Command Module.
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here was a line in the film when, after burning their engines and using the gravity of the moon to sling them to earth, Tom Hank’s character, Commander Jim Lovell commented that they “had just put Sir Issac Newton in the driver’s seat” as they had to power down the guidance computer for most of the trip back to earth. In essence they were using a Newtonian theory of physics that using the proper thrust at the proper time, in coordination with the gravity of the moon, they would be sent on a course that would allow them to intersect with the earth again in 2 or so days. Prior to this mission this was mathematical theory. Afterward, it became proven fact.
What once was an excuse to show off my Space Nerd colors, responding to my friend’s post had become a reflection on the Odyssey that is the Christian faith. For both the shuttle or capsule, or any vehicle that needs to survive the reentry into the earth’s atmosphere, positioning is the key as the safe reentry corridor is extremely narrow. If the reentry is too steep, the craft burns up. If it is too shallow it skips off the atmosphere back into space.
As with vehicles attempting a safe reentry, in our relationship with God, positioning is key, and God leaves it up to us to position ourselves so as to accept and live in God’s grace. This positioning is called faith. Like the gravity of the earth, or any planet or moon acting on a spacecraft, God’s grace is always around and acting on us, trying to pull us towards God and into a relationship with God. In order to receive that grace we position ourselves by faith to enter fully this relationship with God. Faith puts us in the entry corridor with God and once we are positioned by faith to receive this grace and be received by God, God takes over our lives.
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s with a capsule that is positioned correctly, we need not worry about trying to control direction or even speed. God will guide us, and God will be our parachute that lowers us to a gentle splashdown in a relationship and life with God. As with the Shuttle, the more we attempt to control this descent, the more we try to take control and go where we want, or think we need to go, the more fragile we and our faith are, and the more we endanger our relationship with God, and our living the faithful lives God intends.
Obviously metaphors have their limitations and fall apart at some point. But, the essence of faith and relationship with God is akin to the Apollo capsule. The more hands off and spirit in we are, the more we trust God to love, guide, and be faithful in God’s promises, the more faithful we live and the closer to God we become.
Great blog that addresses a Christian’s true citiizenship.
“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, …” Ephesians 2:19
I have never been around more Dutch people than in the Church of my youth. It was generally know as the “Dutch Church” while there was actually only one family from the Netherlands. The vast majority of the other members had been born and raised in the United States. However, many could claim a Dutch ancestry but their motherland dead-ended in Minnesota. They knew very little of the actual Netherlands much beyond windmills, tulips, and canals.
However, that did not prevent a very real ethnic identity within that Church.
There was distinct passion and pride for all things Dutch. Most members’ homes contained some knick-knack, trinket, or lawn ornament paying homage to Holland. I remember one family friend who wore a baseball cap…
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Matthew 20:1-16
Sermon: “LIFO, FIFO, EIEI-O”
AKA “Good News and Bad News: Life’s Not Fair
The is the Independence Weekend Sermon. The Text is James 1:22-29.
But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are
hearers of the word and not doers,they are like those who look at themselves[a] in a
mirror; for they look at themselves and,on going away, immediately forget what they were
like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being
not hearers who forget but doers who act— they will be blessed in their doing. If any
think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their
religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is
this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained
by the world.
In both the Christian Faith and American freedom a new balance that is necessary. As Christians the balance of hearing and living out the Word of God. It is only through this new, in comparison to the ways of the world, balance that one experiences the freedom that comes through faith. As Americans it is in the new, in comparison to the history of governing, balance of power, receiving and offering freedom that one truly experiences freedom.
This is a wonderful look by film professor and author Mark Le Fanu into the ageless process of aging through the Ingmar Bergman film “Wild Strawberries.” “Wild Strawberries” is one of the films that is a part of the Criterion Films Collection.
http://www.criterion.com/current/posts/2795-wild-strawberries-where-is-the-friend-i-seek
I am not a fan of double standards. I realize most people would claim this, but I think I really, really don’t like them. I have problems with people or political groups who claim to love America because of the freedoms persons and groups have here, but then seek to limit or remove such freedoms prior to or following an election. I have problems with people who claim to be pro-life and oppose abortion in an effort to protect the sacred lives of unborn babies, but then vote, support and implement cuts in head start, school lunches, children’s healthcare, and general education. I have problems with people who sing “Oh how I love Jesus” on Sunday then throughout the week deny the teachings of Jesus, especially the Sermon on the Mount and break his commands to love others as they love themselves.
The double standard straw that broke my back this week was the action of WikiLeaks. I was listening to an interview with Kristinn Hrafnsson, chief spokesman of the organization regarding its actions in relations to Edward Snowden. Hrafnsson stated several times that the purpose of WikiLeaks was to hold nations, corporations, and other organizations accountable through transparency and complete openness through the leaking of secrets. This mission is also stated on WikiLeaks’ website:
Publishing improves transparency, and this transparency creates a better society for all people. Better scrutiny leads to reduced corruption and stronger democracies in all society’s institutions,including government, corporations and other organizations. A healthy, vibrant and inquisitive journalistic media plays a vital role in achieving these goals. We are part of that media.
The website goes on to say that “Scrutiny requires information.” When NPR sought to discover the information behind the relationship between Edward Snowden and WikiLeaks, specifically whether there was a relationship between Snowden and WikiLeaks or its founder Julian Assange, spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson refused to divulge that information saying it went against WikiLeaks policy to comment on such internal practices or its relationships with persons who supply information. The reasoning for such secrecy was to “protect sources” and keep the lines of communications open with anyone who has information on national or corporate abuse. WikiLeaks is using this time honored journalism tradition as a blanket rationale in much the same way nations and their intelligence organizations have historically relied on “national security” as the get out of sharing information free card.
While NPR reporter pushed Hrafnsson to discuss the state of the relationship between WikiLeaks and Snowden, he never brought up the double standard in WikiLeaks’ refusal to itself be transparent in its relationship with Snowden so people could judge the true motivation of Snowden’s divulging secrets. Was Snowden really put out with the abuses he encountered after he started working in the intelligence community or was he recruited or convinced to take the position for the express purpose of gathering and releasing the information?
Is WikiLeaks truly a source of last resort where individuals concerned with the actions of their organization can turn to , or does it serve as a de facto intelligence organization, actively recruiting individuals to gather and release classified or secret information? The people do not know because WikiLeaks is keeping the information secret and thus avoiding the secrutiny it claims is of utmost importance.
Sermon: “Great Balls of Fire” AKA Elijah vs. Ahab and Baal K
I Kings 18:22-39
http://www.christ4u.org/christ4u/service_6_16_2013_11_30am_christ_alive
Christ Alive Band Sings Great Balls of Fire at 16:15 Sermon at 29:00
Sermon on Psalm 96
“What’s My Line?” AKA The historic Ronald Reagan, Paul Newman, Frank Zappa and United Methodist Church Sermon
CrossRoads Faith and Film 