Andover | First UMC Sermons

The story of Easter is one of Redemption. A bringing back and a releasing from bondage and chains that was done at a tremendous cost. It was done not for some depressing memorial to rehash every year but to start a Revolution that ripples into today. This is Easter Redemption.

Our final wound is that of powerlessness and we explore it on a day when power was waved like a palm branch. On Palm Sunday a power grab was occurring that would lead to Jesus' passion. Power is a grab and powerlessness is a wound that commonly creates a recurring vice that is corrosive to us and those around us.

Rejection. It is a wound all face. But what happens when that wound isn't cared for? What happens when rejection lashes out? In this sermon, we explore the wound of rejection and the vice of malice.

The wound of fear may be one of most damaging of the soul wounds. It can incapaciate and freeze. It causes flight and fight. It can lock us away in a box of control that isolates. It creates a compulsion to protect and have things done "my way." There is an ancient vice for this way of being - it's called gluttony.

Disppointment left un spoken or uncared for creates problems that keep us from breakthrough. This week we look at the freedom that comes in hope.

Jesus said don't judge, but he also judged. He didn't condemn and it's in condemning that gives birth to shame. Jesus never gave time for shame - he pushed though it - -through guilt and into wholeness. This week we explore a woman who had a wound of shame and how Jesus brought healing.

Wounds that run deep cause more issues than we care to realize. We learn to compensate with the wounds and the traits or actions that appear become second nature. This week we explore a wound that produces a trait common and yet completely different.

Lent is often a time to give things up. But what if this Lent we sought something we deeply need? What if we approached Easter with an awareness that the wounds we carry deep in our roots are something God wants to heal? What if we looked at the patterns of behavior and sought out the "why" for them being there? This season we are searching 7 Wounds that lead to 7 Traits and choosing to seek the healing God longs for us.

3 Great Renewal efforts. 3 let downs. What do we learn from Ezra and Nehemiah other than that they worked hard for very little in return? Maybe we take time to remember that it is God's call for a renovation of the heart that matters far more than any building project or plan.

In the 3rd movement of the return of the exiles, we meet Nehemiah. Nehemiah had a the trust of a king, and he used that trust to help his people push through some walls.