Worship at First Presbyterian Church of Marion, Illinois

Worship at First Presbyterian Church of Marion, Illinois

By First Presbyterian Church of Marion, IllinoisReligion & SpiritualityChristianitySpirituality
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Worship at First Presbyterian Church of Marion, Illinois episodes

  • August 6, 2017 – the Ninth Sunday After Pentecost – Great Ends of the Church – the promotion of social righteousness
    Promotion of Righteousness (Social)
    Luke 3:10-14, Matthew 5:38-48 Give him one cloak if you have two
    Matthew 5:41 Walk a mile in his shoes
    John 15:12-25 Greater love has no one than this
    Acts 4 Stephen
    John 8:1-11 (12-20) Stopping the woman being stoned
    Matthew 6:1-6 Not as the hypocrites do
    Job 1 upright before God

    Social righteousness should not be confused with social media. Yet we may be able to learn something from social media. The social aspect is something we could learn something from – how is it that we exhibit righteousness around other people?

    Maybe before that we should tackle righteousness. Job is righteous. That’s how he’s introduced. What happens to Job isn’t something I’d like to sign up for. It seems that Job is known, at least in Heaven, for how he is. If we’re honest, that’s what Jesus is known for as well. Jesus confronts, contradicts, and contravenes the standards of society – all in upholding the standards of God. So, if we are the people who follow Jesus, who walk in his ways, who follow his path, then how are we to show to the world his righteousness?

    22 min
  • July 16, 2017 – the Sixth Sunday After Pentecost – Great Ends of the Church – the preservation of the truth
    Preservation and truth
    John 14:1-17 I am the way the truth…
    Matthew 5:13-16, Luke 14:25-35 (15:1-10) Salt and saltiness
    Revelation 21 New Jerusalem

    Oh, tricky words. Truth and preservation. Preservation – to keep things

    good, sound, whole, often to keep things the same. Truth – well, we really don’t
    have time for that discussion in one sermon, or maybe even in a year of sermons.
    What truth should the church be preserving to hand on, to hand out, to share, to
    dare I say it, proclaim? What is it that God has entrusted to us to preserve, and
    how is it true?
    Now, how do we preserve family stories? Do we preserve all family stories?
    Are there some we’d like to see vanish into the mists of time? And then salt. Salt
    preserves things, right? How much salt? What happens when salt loses its
    saltiness? What happens if the meal only tastes of salt? In other words, what
    happens if we only taste preservation, and not truth?
    So, what truth are we preserving, and how are we preserving it? And, what
    are we preserving it for?

    28 min
  • July 9, 2017 – The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost – Great Ends of the Church – maintenance of divine worship
    Maintenance, Divine, Worship
    I Chronicles 28, 2 Chronicles 2 Build the temple
    Haggai 1 Restore the Temple
    Psalm 8
    John 4:19-26 worship where ?
    Revelation 4:1-11 Holy, Holy, Holy

    Maintenance. I don’t know anyone who really likes maintenance. It’s hard to maintain our weight. It’s hard to maintain a home, and it always seems to need the money we had set aside for something else. Maintaining cares, or wells, or relationships takes time and energy, often with none of the excitement of the new.

    We get a push in these passages about building the temple, about what kind of space worship should happen in, and what kind of person should create a space for worship. Jesus speaks to the woman at the well, and challenges her to worship in truth and spirit. So let’s break it down. Maintenance – ongoing, persistent, in good working form. Divine – holy, sacred, eternal, awesome.
    Worship – Praise, thanksgiving, entreaty, offering, sacrifice.
    How do we do these things? How well do we do these things? Is worship more than an hour (an hour and a half) on Sunday morning? How do we make sure that we keep on keeping on in the direction of the divine?

    1 hr 9 min
  • July 2, 2017 – The Fourth Sunday After Pentecost – Great Ends of the Church – the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God;
    Shelter, Nurture, fellowship
    Acts 4 Deacons
    Joshua 2 Rahab
    Exodus 33:12-23 Cleft of the rock
    Genesis 17 Covenant with Abraham

    Shelter, Nurture, and Fellowship. Those are big, huge tasks. From what do we need shelter? How shall we be nurtured? What fellowship shall guide us? In my life, in my faith journey, I have received all of these from the church. I have been sheltered when what would be in front of me was too much. I have been sheltered from those who would do me harm. I have eaten a ton of meals from those who were taking care of me.

    And many of these happened a long time ago. These events, these past stories and encounters, have trained me, nurtured me, to be one who provides these things as well. I’m sure I’m not the only one with these stories, these experiences. You and I also probably have stories of times when the church has failed in this regard as well.

    So, with that said, in what ways do we do these things? I don’t just mean fellowship time. I mean the big words – Shelter – Nurture – Fellowship. How have you received them here? How have you provided them here? And how have we fallen short of them?

    23 min
  • June 25, 2017 – The Third Sunday After Pentecost – Great Ends of the Church – Proclamation of the Gospel for the Salvation of Humankind

    Proclamation

    John 3:1-22 Nicodemus in the middle of the night
    Ephesians 2:1-10 By grace you have been saved, and it is not your own doing
    I Timothy 1:12-17 Christ came into the world to save sinners
    We are to proclaim the Gospel, and not just to do so in general. We can’t just put a Scripture passage on the radio and put it on loop. We can’t just preach and proclaim so that we say we are preaching and proclaiming, and can check those tasks off the list. So what is behind our proclamation of the Gospel? How do we proclaim the Gospel?

    Historically, Presbyterians have proclaimed the Gospel for the Salvation of humankind in two ways – hospitals and schools. We have believed, and have lived out the belief, that God desires for us to help people save their lives, their health, their future, their education, and that in so doing, we are living out the Gospel. And, maybe, just maybe, the people we are working with and among will ask us why, and then we can speak the Gospel with our words. 

    How are we proclaiming the Gospel? Are we proclaiming it for our glory or for God’s? Are we proclaiming it for the salvation of creation or the diminishment of our neighbors?

    13 min

About Worship at First Presbyterian Church of Marion, Illinois

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As Christ's body we gather to worship throughout the year. These recordings include our Sunday worship, and worship on holy days. Our worship typically follows the PC(USA) Book of Common worship, and…