One More Thing...
Everything Jesus came to accomplish had to do with reuniting the Father with his children. So if access to the Father was Jesus' purpose on earth, then it logically follows that it angered Jesus the most when people created barriers to that access.
The covenant renewal service
is a practice that continues in churches and Christian communities today, often near the beginning of the new year. It has undergone many revisions and adaptations, but its purpose as an evocative ceremony of commitment to ongoing discipleship and Christ-like character has always remained intact.
Here is the text from the Covenant Renewal service that was held on the morning of New Year's Eve at Carme United Methodist Church:
Jesus, Savior
In Pastor Jessica’s excellent message yesterday, she made it clear that salvation has more than one meaning in the Bible. We 21st century Christians almost always use the word to describe spiritual salvation, by which we mean being saved from our sins and their consequences. But it is a much fuller, richer, and more complex idea than just that.
Let’s Hear It For the Lambs!
Sunday, I talked about two titles for Jesus that seem to point in opposite directions: Lion of Judah and Lamb of God. In fact, they are flip sides of the same coin, representing the hard as well as the soft sides of God’s love for each of us. I talked about how much we tend to prefer Lion-like leaders today, but that many of the key aspects of Jesus draw on his role as Lamb of God. Here’s a few paragraphs that I didn’t have time to include Sunday:
Archived Posts
One Final Scene About Scrooge
There was one more scene in Dickens’s novel that reveals something of what has happened to Scrooge over the years. I did not have time to share it on Sunday, but I believe it reveals a great deal about the regrets in Scrooge’s life....
What Jacob Marley Would Do,
If He Could Do It…
I thought about using the following for a benediction—since Jacob Marley was warning Scrooge about the danger of loving money and what it could buy. Ends up with the Cantata and everything else going on, I didn’t have the time. So here is what you might have heard if the sermon itself was 5 minutes shorter!
A Confirming Word on Old King Herod
I just want to echo what Rick said in his fine sermon yesterday (Nov. 23). Herod was a ruthless tyrant and skilled politician. When the Magi don’t report back to him, he decides to kill all the male children of Bethlehem under the age of 2. That’s one paranoid dude.
Power Without Conscience?
I ran out of room for this vignette in Sunday’s sermon. Remember the quote that could be the headline for Ahab and Naboth: “All that’s needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” The following reinforces that truth.
The Cars Are Looking for A King
I don’t have a thing to add to Pastor Jessica’s excellent sermon this last Sunday. The fable/parable she shared has been one of my favorites for all the lessons she pulled from it in her message. I was playing around with my friend Chat GPT and after several abortive attempts, we came up with the following modernized version of Judges 9:7-15.