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LENT - Journey to the cross
March 3 - April 14, 2019
April 7, 2019 - Lent 5C
"Faux Righteousness"
Scripture: Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8
Today, we meet up with Jesus and the disciples at Mary and Martha's house. They are gathered there because Lazarus is back from the dead and Mary and Martha are throwing a dinner in honor of Jesus. While at the dinner, things go very wrong for Judas. He is horrified at what he witnesses. His righteous anger is lit. But it is kind of a fake out, because the most unrighteous one of the bunch here...is Judas himself. This kind of redirection and false righteousness should be familiar to all of us in the age of 24 hour news and social media. Listen and find out why what happened 2000 years ago is similar to what happens today.
Peace and grace to all! Pastor Seth
Audio and PDF are linked.
"Faux Righteousness"
Scripture: Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8
Today, we meet up with Jesus and the disciples at Mary and Martha's house. They are gathered there because Lazarus is back from the dead and Mary and Martha are throwing a dinner in honor of Jesus. While at the dinner, things go very wrong for Judas. He is horrified at what he witnesses. His righteous anger is lit. But it is kind of a fake out, because the most unrighteous one of the bunch here...is Judas himself. This kind of redirection and false righteousness should be familiar to all of us in the age of 24 hour news and social media. Listen and find out why what happened 2000 years ago is similar to what happens today.
Peace and grace to all! Pastor Seth
Audio and PDF are linked.
March 31, 2019 - Lent 4C
"Never Measuring Up"
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 15-31
This is the ever popular and very well known Parable of the Prodigal Son today. It can be preached and spoken about in many different ways, but there are primarily two things going on, two things colliding, in this story - the offenses committed and taken, and the overwhelming grace given. Today, I hope we brought a little more light to the story and brought it up to our day and age in terms of how to hear and apply it.
The PDF and the audio are both linked.
Peace and grace! Pastor Seth
"Never Measuring Up"
Scripture: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Luke 15:1-3, 15-31
This is the ever popular and very well known Parable of the Prodigal Son today. It can be preached and spoken about in many different ways, but there are primarily two things going on, two things colliding, in this story - the offenses committed and taken, and the overwhelming grace given. Today, I hope we brought a little more light to the story and brought it up to our day and age in terms of how to hear and apply it.
The PDF and the audio are both linked.
Peace and grace! Pastor Seth
March 24, 2019 - Lent 3c
"The Tower Struck By Lightning"
Scripture: Isaiah 55:1-9; Luke 13:1-9
We build towers of meaning all the time. Then we develop ways to keep those towers standing. Then we defend why we built the tower in the first place. Then disaster strikes and the tower collapses under the weight of its falsity, illogic, self-referencing bias. How do we understand the nature of meaning and how we make it?
Jesus does it by looking at the negative example today - acts which DE-MEAN, events which are MEANINGLESS, and the LOSS OF MEANING OVER TIME.
The PDF is above, and the audio linked below.
Peace and grace to all! Pastor Seth
"The Tower Struck By Lightning"
Scripture: Isaiah 55:1-9; Luke 13:1-9
We build towers of meaning all the time. Then we develop ways to keep those towers standing. Then we defend why we built the tower in the first place. Then disaster strikes and the tower collapses under the weight of its falsity, illogic, self-referencing bias. How do we understand the nature of meaning and how we make it?
Jesus does it by looking at the negative example today - acts which DE-MEAN, events which are MEANINGLESS, and the LOSS OF MEANING OVER TIME.
The PDF is above, and the audio linked below.
Peace and grace to all! Pastor Seth
March 17, 2019 - Lent 2C
"Casting Out Demons and Performing Cures: St. Patrick and Jesus"
Scripture: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Luke 13:31-35
Today, we talked about the remarkable story of St. Patrick and his mission to Ireland. Patrick follows closely in the footsteps of Jesus. Both understood that there are forces in the world that seek to separate and break us down, and that our work is to learn to love one another and raise each other up. This morning, I tried to show how Patrick did this with the example of Jesus.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!
May the Lord Christ surround and protect you in all ways.
Pastor Seth
Just audio again this week. I did however link the mind-map I used above if you want to see how it looks and try to follow along.
"Casting Out Demons and Performing Cures: St. Patrick and Jesus"
Scripture: Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18; Luke 13:31-35
Today, we talked about the remarkable story of St. Patrick and his mission to Ireland. Patrick follows closely in the footsteps of Jesus. Both understood that there are forces in the world that seek to separate and break us down, and that our work is to learn to love one another and raise each other up. This morning, I tried to show how Patrick did this with the example of Jesus.
Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!
May the Lord Christ surround and protect you in all ways.
Pastor Seth
Just audio again this week. I did however link the mind-map I used above if you want to see how it looks and try to follow along.
March 3, 2019 - Transfiguration Sunday
"This Is The Day (Your Life Will Surely Change)"
Scripture: Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-36
Over the past few months, I have been naming sermons after my favorite rock and roll and pop songs. I don't expect you to know them, nor do I expect you to listen to them. But, many of the titles I have chosen have been transformative songs from my past. Music does strange things to us, and music transports us deeply into emotions, memories, new ways of thinking, and deep reflection - or at least it should. I love music, and I believe the things we love are like transport devices, engines of the soul, that are meant to take us to a place that is closer to God. All of that is to say, music for me has qualities that resemble what happens today on the mountain with Jesus.
What is a Transfiguration? Why does it happen? What does it mean?
Let's find out.
Just audio this week.
Peace and grace to all!
Pastor Seth
"This Is The Day (Your Life Will Surely Change)"
Scripture: Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-36
Over the past few months, I have been naming sermons after my favorite rock and roll and pop songs. I don't expect you to know them, nor do I expect you to listen to them. But, many of the titles I have chosen have been transformative songs from my past. Music does strange things to us, and music transports us deeply into emotions, memories, new ways of thinking, and deep reflection - or at least it should. I love music, and I believe the things we love are like transport devices, engines of the soul, that are meant to take us to a place that is closer to God. All of that is to say, music for me has qualities that resemble what happens today on the mountain with Jesus.
What is a Transfiguration? Why does it happen? What does it mean?
Let's find out.
Just audio this week.
Peace and grace to all!
Pastor Seth