Guerrilla Christianity

On February 24, 2022, Russian forces invaded Ukraine, despite weeks of Russian President Vladimir Putin assuring the world that invasion was not the intention of Russia.  To date (February 27, 2022), over 200 civilians have been killed in this military action.  Russian forces have captured Chernobyl, a nuclear waste facility was hit by Russian missiles, and Ukranian citizens, along with their President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, have taken up arms against the invasion force of Russia, in order to defend their homeland.

On January 24, prior to the invasion and as Russian troops amassed on the border, the Ukranian Orthodox Church of the USA issued an appeal for Christians to join in their prayer for Ukraine and an end to hostilities. On February 27, our voices joined theirs as we prayed the prayer that they shared with the world.  Please continue to pray for Ukraine, for an end to the violence and bloodshed, and for Russian forces to retreat.  

Recorded at Hudson UMC on February 27, 2022

Statement of Bishops of the Ukranian Orthodox Church of the USA

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February 27, 2022

Old Testament: Exodus 34:29-35

Psalter: Psalm 99

Epistle Lesson: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

Gospel Lesson: Luke 9:28-43a

Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Sermon #26

Human beings have a certain fascination with the concept of an afterlife.  Many cultures over the millenia have developed theologies of a world beyond this one.  Thousands of books have been written on the subject, many of which are written from the perspective of people who have supposedly gone to Heaven and returned.  But today, in this sermon delivered very early in my ministry, we meet a group of Jews who do not believe in life after death, and challenge Jesus on the matter using an elaborate story that they believe will destroy the notion of any kind of resurrection.  Of course, Jesus being God, He sees through their ruse and uses their own knowledge of scripture to demonstrate the error of their thinking and to show us today that there is indeed life after death.

Luke 20:27-40

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on November 10, 2013 (Previously unpublished)

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Sermon #323

Having established 1. that Jesus Christ has been resurrected, and 2. that there is a resurrection, Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 now turns to the topic of what our resurrected bodies will look like.  He uses the example of a seed to show that what is sown is not what grows.  In other words, we cannot know from the appearance of a seed what the tree that grows from it will look like.  In the same way, all of what our resurrection bodies will look like is contained in our bodies, but we can also look at Jesus' resurrected body to know what we will be on that last day.  

1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50

Recorded at Hudson UMC on February 24, 2019 (Originally published March 4, 2019)

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Sermon #484

Now we come to the question of what our resurrected bodies will look like.  Paul brings us methodically through the image of a seed which dies and is planted in the ground, but then grows into a plant that is different from the seed itself, yet identical in substance.  He goes on to say that we are the same.  We start as seeds bearing the image of our earthly father Adam, from whom we inherit sin and death.  But then we die to self and are raised in the glory of our spiritual father, Christ, and so inherit righeousness and everlasting life.  The church as a body of Christ is the same, taking on the attributes of Christ in our members and so bearing the fruit of Christ's Spirit living in us.

1 Corinthians 15:35-50

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on February 20, 2022

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February 20, 2022

Old Testament: Genesis 45:3-11,15

Psalter: Psalm 37:1-11,39-40

Epistle Lesson: 1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50

Gospel Lesson: Luke 6:27-38

Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

S.D.G.

Sermon #322

What does the resurrection of Jesus mean for Christians today?  For some, the idea of unexplained phenomena (ooften called "miracles") don't fit in with our 21st century scientific sendibility.  For others, it's just something to remember once a year at Easter (alongside eating the ears off chocolate bunnies).  But in the text from 1 Corinthians 15 we find Paul arguing that if we don't believe in the resurrection, our very faith is entirely hopeless.  In other words, the resurrection isn't just another thing to believe about Jesus, it is THE thing we MUST believe about Jesus, and we are going to look at the resurrection with a critical eye and determine if it is truly worth believing in.

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on February 17, 2019 (Originally published February 20, 2019)

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Sermon #483

In Paul's time, people in the church in Corinth had some confused ideas about the theology of Christ (Christology).  Some of these ideas may have been influenced by the predominant schools of Jewish thought of the day - particularly the Sadducees and the Pharisees (of which Paul was one).  The Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection of the dead, and so Paul countered this flawed theology by presenting an argument thusly: If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ was not resurrected; and if Christ was not resurrected, we are still in our sins.  This bad theology, which grew into outright heresy in the time of Arius and the Council of Nicaea, continues today even among some prominent church leaders, despite church doctrine to the contrary.  But is it really necessary to believe in the resurrection of Christ?  Paul argues emphatically yes - and I agree with him.

1 Corinthians 15:12-28

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on February 13, 2022

S.D.G.

February 13, 2022

Old Testament: Jeremiah 17:5-10

Psalter: Psalm 1

Epistle Lesson: 1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Gospel Lesson: Luke 6:17-26

Scripture quotations from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

S.D.G.

Sermon #321

In the 21st Century, the Christian church in America has completely lost touch with the holiness of God.  We feel comfortable with a God that we can pal around with but not with a God that demands strict purity.  Looking at this throne room vision by Isaiah, we examine the infinite holiness of God and what it means for us as children of God.  Rather than elevating ourselves, this message is meant to put us in proper relation to Almighty God.  

Isaiah 6:1-8

Recorded at Ebenezer UMC on February 10, 2019 (Originally published February 11, 2019)

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