Sermons

March 28, 2021

Palm Sunday

Today is Palm Sunday, and, as we just heard, today’s Gospel readings begin with Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, while all around him people are waving palm branches and shouting “”Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Holy One! Blessed is the coming reign of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Or something like that.

I was baptized at Seekers Church on Palm Sunday, 1990 — 31 years ago. Looking back on that day, I had no idea was I was getting into.

March 21, 2021

The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Our name, “Living Water,” is taken from the 4^th chapter of John,  from Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well, when he asks her for a drink of water.   [Reading selectively from Peterson’s The Message: ]

“How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman for a drink? (Jews in those days wouldn’t be caught dead talking to Samaritans.)   Jesus answered, If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking ME for a drink, and I would give you fresh, LIVING WATER.” …he goes on to describe LW as an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life. She asks him for some of that LW…and she finds Jesus telling her things about herself he’d have no way of knowing.  “Oh so you’re a prophet? Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?”   Jesus responds, “ …the time has, in fact, come when what you’re called [Jew/Samaritan] will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter. “It’s who you are and the way you live that count before God.  …That’s the kind of people God is out looking for:  those who are simply and honestly themselves before God in their worship.  God is sheer being itself – Spirit.  Those who worship God must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.” The woman says, “Well, I don’t know about that. …When the Messiah arrives, we’ll get the whole story.” “I am he,” said Jesus. “You don’t have to wait any longer or look any further.”

This story embodies for me something of our current Lenten theme about Grace. God’s grace shows up for this woman who hears Jesus’s offer of Living Water;  she asks to receive it, not knowing how it will turn out; and ultimately shares it with her entire village who become believers that Jesus is the Messiah.  Grace offered; grace received; grace shared.

March 14, 2021

The Fourth Sunday in Lent

Celebration Circle has invited mission groups to offer sermons about their life together. Today, Billy, Trish, and Ron spoke about their own prayer life and their group life as members of the Eyes to See, Ears to Hear Peace Prayer Mission Group. Billy spoke “On Prayer,” Trish focused on “On Engagement with What We Don’t Want to See or Hear,” and Ron titled his section “On the Mundanity of Self-Care and the Need for Community.”

March 7, 2021

The Third Sunday in Lent

In Lent, we have been invited to reflect on Grace.  As a child growing up within a conservative Calvinistic church, I memorized Grace as the acronym – God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense. It was a nice acronym, not really sure what is meant then and still not clear now.

Yet, at times, I think I know what grace is about, a little. I am invited to look for grace in these 40 days of Lent. In the natural world, this time is a time of darkness rescinding and coldness giving way to warm.  Yes, I love the delicacy of raspberries – not a fruit that occurs in this season – so while the definition of grace as a simple elegance applies to that – I find the cold clear quality of moonlight or the silence of a soft winter snow gives me grace. 

February 28, 2021

The Second Sunday in Lent

Last week Peter Bankson gave us several definitions of grace, including Webster’s, that grace is “unmerited divine assistance given to humans for their regeneration or sanctification.” The quotation from Frederick Buechner in our Lenten theme “Signs of Grace” reminds us that we must reach out and take the grace that is offered.