Real Peace. Real People.

This sermon looks at a heartbreaking problem in the Jerusalem church. Widows were going hungry in the church because of partialism there. What would the apostles do? They compose an apostles’ creed. This sermon looks at that creed and contemplates what it teaches us about a life of service. It examines two specific problems that arise in connection with service and how the gospel of Jesus solves those problems.

Last week, we examined what we called the first miracle of the Church for what it had to say about the Church's life. This week we make the same move, but with a different story. We examine the first major sin of the church and God's response to it to see what they say about life in the Church of the Risen Jesus. We especially notice that God wants faith and love to be central.

There is always a risk when today’s Christians encounter stories about miracles. We tend to think they don’t apply because they don’t happen quite that way anymore or that we have done them proper honor once we have noticed God’s power in them. This miracle, though, has many applications and much to ponder. It is nothing less them a reason to say I believe in the Church.

This is the story of what happened immediately after the risen Lord ascended into heaven. It is the record of a church in crisis. This sermon seeks to make the dynamics of the crisis more apparent to the listener. It also moves into an application to today’s Church as it seeks to live in light of Easter.

Isaiah gives a vision of the resurrection that God will provide when Christ comes again. This sermon examines the images that Isaiah offers in the vision. It sees the striking, hope-filled prophetic pictures through the tears that Isaiah says God wipes away. Easter is God fulfilling this prophecy in Christ.

When Christians tell the story of their Lord, they always include the story of his burial. Look at the early Christian creed in 1 Corinthians 15. Look at the later creeds known at the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. The burial always get mentioned. Why? What is it about his burial that changes our lives so much that Christians cannot stop talking about it? This sermon gives a teaching on the burial of Jesus, applying it to the life of the Christian.

Mark takes us to the foot of the cross to experience and see the death of Jesus for us. The sermon takes us through the scene that Mark presents. In the end, we see that the darkness invites us into the light, that the agony calls us to peace, and that Christ's death teaches us to die in peace.

We are continuing to walk through Mark's account of Jesus' passion. Today we look at the story of Peter's denial of Jesus. As we do, we take the time to notice not merely what Peter gets so wrong, but, today especially, we notice what Peter really does get so right. He aspired to a supreme allegiance to Jesus. This sermon looks, in part, at how this kind of allegiance heals the world. It aims, though, to show how Jesus has a supreme allegiance to every Peter out there.

This sermon continues the series called The Passion of Jesus that moves through the account of Christ's passion in the Gospel of Mark. It looks at Jesus' trial. Should we see it as a mockery of justice? Should we view Jesus' refusal to engage in the proceeding as a rejection of its legitimacy? Why does Jesus stay silent and receive all the charges? There is another gospel view that changes every aspect of our lives.

Here in Lent, we are walking through Mark’s account of Jesus’ passion. This sermon looks deeply at exactly that: passion. First, we learn multiple passions are at work in us, and we need to align them with God’s passions. Second, we learn what happens when we don’t. Third, we learn of God’s passion for us in Christ.