As we re-gather for corporate worship back in our church building, we are going to break into our regular sermon series to reflect on our return. We met the Sons of Korah in Psalms 42-43, as they made their way into exile in Babylon, already feeling the pull of home as they were forced to leave it. This Psalm reflects a similar longing for being in God’s House ⸺ a longing many of us echoed in the past months of the pandemic. What have we learned in “exile” that we can better “be the church” outside these walls?
Scripture: Psalm 84

We are all subject to fears. What are the greatest fears for you? The phone rings at 1:00 in the morning and your heart skips a beat? You hear a noise downstairs and have visions of a burglar? As a child maybe you had fears that this argument between your parents might lead to divorce. Or as a parent you may be concerned about a rebellious child. And, of course, we’ve lived through the fear of a pandemic that virtually shuts down our country or life as we know it. David expresses his fears in this Psalm, which he also uses to give others the benefits of the insights he learned on how to handle fear.
Scripture: Psalm 27

External success and internal feelings; most people use these as a sort of cost-benefit analyses to shape their lives in selecting or changing a career, acting morally, hanging
friends, etc. External success and internal feelings. In both cases, “self” is the goal of life, the core of life’s meaning, the highest value. Each self becomes its own moral universe, guided by self-interest. What could be more alien to the first commandment, to have no other gods? Jesus speaks to this commandment and the idea of God vs. self.
Scripture: Matthew 6:19-24, 33

The book of Psalms begins by reminding us of two ways of life, holding up the “way” of the Bible-observing, righteous person as the lifestyle that is blessed by God. That is contrasted by the person who increasingly “feels at home” with the world and its ways. Join us next Sunday as we begin a summer-long look at some favorite and important Psalms.
Scripture: Psalm 1

We are free from the Law, we live by grace! We are New Testament Christians who live by love, not Old Testament believers who feared a wrathful God. How often haven’t you heard this from well-meaning Christians? Those who make such statements sometimes make an even greater leap: there is no place for the Ten Commandments! That’s why it surprises some people, if they read the Sermon on the Mount carefully and correctly, to hear Jesus
say: Yes, absolutely the Law still applies in the 21st century! Let’s look at how and why he says so, as we prepare to study the Ten Commandments this summer.
Scripture: Matthew 5:17-20; 22:34-40

Paul’s concerned about unity in the Ephesian church, which is mixed racially, culturally, socially. But now he focuses on what it means to be the church personally. Paul is writing to some who have a long-established habit of “being in the dark.” But he teaches them that their former lifestyle doesn’t match their now-professed faith What does it mean to live as part of the Body of Christ, the Church? What lifestyle is expected and how do they get there?
Scripture: Ephesians 4:17-5:20

While we talk about Pentecost as a Christian holiday, it was first a Jewish feast. It was one of three times a year God’s people were to appear before  Him at the Temple. Each feast was a ceremony deeply rooted in the past, but also gave hope for future. God chose those feast days for the great redemptive acts of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. On Passover, Jesus died as our Passover lamb. But on Pentecost, God revealed his presence in a whole new way.
Scripture: Acts 2:1-21, 37-47

While the disciples celebrate the ascension of Christ in Luke 24, they weren’t always that thrilled about his leaving them. In John 14:1-21, Jesus reminds them of some of the advantages of his ascension: He guarantees our personal home with the Father, our personal hotline to Christ, and our personal helper, the Holy Spirit.
Scripture: Luke 24:50-53; John 14

Have you ever really blown it and thought there was no way you could ever make up for it? Meet Peter. He blew it big time, denying his Lord, the Son of God, three times!  But on the other side of Easter is the restoring love of Jesus, a love which questions our love in order to confirm it, and which calls us toshow our love through actions.
Scripture: John 21:15-23

Preaching is important. In fact, the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us that it is one of the "keys of the kingdom." It opens the kingdom by proclaiming the Gospel message so people might accept by faith a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. It closes the kingdom by announcing God's wrath against the sin of those who remain unrepentant. It is, in a sense, the "backbone" of the body of Christ.
Scripture: Acts 2:14-47