Worship at First Presbyterian Church of Marion, Illinois

Acts 15:1-18                                           The Jerusalem conference is an important moment in the life of the Church. It is a defining moment. Do people have to join the church through Judaism, or is there another way? Is salvation through the circumcision of Moses alone or is there another way?            Fundamentally, the church and its leaders have to make a decision here.…

Acts 8:26-39            So often our assumption is that missionaries and evangelism and conversion work is just sent to people who have never heard the Gospel. Contained inside that assumption are several others. One is that the Gospel is do obvious, and so compelling, and so irresistible that one only needs to be introduced to it to be converted by it. Of…

Acts 6:1—7:2a, 44-60                       And it should look and sound familiar. When there’s lots of change, there’s lots of issues. There are problems between Jews and Greeks, and a perception of unfairness. There is calling of new leaders, and friction between Jews and Christians.  Stephen reprises the role of Jesus, as all Christians are called to do.            The world needs this…

Luke 24:13-35                 This is the 2nd Sunday of Easter. The items in the text take place on Easter, and spread out over a long day, with many miles on the road. Some of the followers of Jesus are on the road out of Jerusalem, having been informed of the resurrection, and yet sad. They are talking among themselves, processing the events…

Luke 24:1-12     Empty tomb, women perplexed, bring the message.            The story of Easter is one that we know fairly well. We know early on the first day of the week. We know the women. We know the cowered and hiding disciples. We know the disbelief.            The story all changes when the women remember. They remember who Jesus is, and…

Luke 19:29-44            Rocks are a theme in Scripture. Peter is the rock. Children of Abraham could be raised up from those stones. The church is made of living stone. And here, Jesus talks about stones that can cry out. We so often look at this passage at what the people cry out, moving from Hosanna to ‘crucify him!’ but what does…

Luke 18:31—19:10        There are three acts in this passage that all have a similar theme. The start of the passage has Jesus talking to the disciples about what will happen in Jerusalem. It isn’t great news, and the disciples don’t understand it. Luke even says that the meaning is hidden from them. They get that Jesus is special, but they don’t get…

Luke 15:1-32 What is an acceptable loss? Most of us make decisions and end up sometimes making the wrong decision or having to turn away from things. We make career decisions, we buy things, we invest time in people, all of which can vanish in a moment. We walk away from things that end up as losses all the time. We lose…

Luke 13:1-9, 31-35              These two passages sandwich around a passage about the Sabbath. At the beginning we get the setup for how ruthless Pilate is, and at the start of the second passage, we get warnings about Herod. Those are two of the local political powers that we heard about back at the baptism of Jesus (ch. 3).            It appears…

Luke 10:25-42                         Old story, 2 old stories. Familiar stories. Reimagine these stories for today. Veteran by the side of the road with cardboard sign instead of man in the ditch, those fleeing danger, and those who are in need. What about the Samaritan – who would be that person for us, for you?            What’s the real message in the…