The Rev. Melanie Mudge reflects on fear and faith (Genesis 15:1-6; Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16; Luke 12:32-40): “Don’t be afraid to discover the difference we each can make in God’s world.”
Worship. Serve. Grow.
Worship. Serve. Grow.
Sermons (Page 28)
Luke 12:13-21
Have you ever bought new stuff to organize and hold your old stuff in order to make room for more stuff? Do you sometimes find and bring home good boxes knowing that someday you’ll probably have some stuff to put in those boxes? Have you ever been so envious of or wishful for another’s life that you were unable or unwilling to celebrate his or her successes, abilities, or good fortune? You look at them and say to yourself, “What about me?” ….
Luke 11:1-13
For years, I’ve been hooked on a TV show called “So You Think You Can Dance.” I’ve been watching that because what those dancers can do is absolutely mesmerizing. They have great choreography, and most years it’s young people who have spent years and years in discipline and training….
Luke 10:38-42
My mother had a curious habit when I first went off to college. My brother and sister lived at home during their first years of college and commuted to a nearby university, as is common practice in my country of origin, El Salvador. Far as I was—a 3-hour car ride, from Portland to Seattle; an impossible distance, from my mother’s point of view!—she was reasonably concerned for my well-being. And every time we spoke on the phone, I always knew that my mother’s first question would always be the same: “What did you have to eat today?” ….
Luke 10:25-37
Love your neighbor as yourself: a commandment of scriture that sometimes is difficult to interpret. How far does our obligation go? After all, who is our neighbor? Do you even know all your neighbors? If not, how can you love them? …
The Rev. Javier Almendárez-Bautista: “Can you imagine a love so grand that it would offend you, a grace so magnanimous that it would enrage you, a mercy so thorough that it would cause you to walk out these doors? That’s the kind of love with which Jesus loves you? That is the kind of love with which Jesus loves them, whomever they may be.”
Luke 9:51-62, Galatians 5:1,13-25
When I was in junior high school a long, long, time ago, I remember very clearly reading a book by Alan Paton called Cry, the Beloved Country. It’s written about South Africa during apartheid. The book follows a black pastor named Stephen Kumalo. He relates the challenges, the repurcussions, the human depravity that apartheid policy embraced….
St. Ambrose once asked a simple question: “What is the first commandment of the law?” One might naturally turn to the first law of the Ten Commandments. St. Ambrose, however, turned to the beginning of the Law of Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy 6:4: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord thy God, the Lord is one.” “Hear, O Israel,” is the first command, St. Ambrose says, not speak. A fitting word for clergy.
Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15
The Trinity is the central dogma of Christian theology, that the one God exists in three persons and one substance: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is one, yet self differentiated. The God who is revealed to humanity is one God equally and three distinct modes of existence yet remains one through all eternity. Got it? …
Acts 2:1-21, John 14:8-17, 25-27
I’m going to let you in on a little secret…. Every Pentecost Sunday, at least one person walks up to me just before church begins, brow furrowed with concern. This person is often one of the readers for today and are looking down at their bulletin, mouthing out words: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus, Phrygia, and Pamphilia. How am I supposed to say these words? The secret … is simple. If you say it with confidence, no one will know the difference…