Waxing Theological

FPC Vandalia 6-28-15 (Ordinary 13/Proper 8 B) 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27; Mark 5:21-43 The Audacity of Grace     This week, as I was preparing for worship, the lectionary texts provided me with a perplexing juxtaposition of themes.  The Samuel passage is filled with words of lament, of desperation, of grief; the people in the reading from Mark are desperate, as well - Jairus’ daughter is on the verge of death, while the woman in the crowd has nowhere else, no one else to turn to in the midst of her own affliction. As we find ourselves in the midst of history these last few weeks - history as it appears to repeat itself in sad and shameful ways, history being made as landmark decisions are passed, and even the uncertainty of what the history may show for us as a people in future generations in the midst of all these events… perhaps these passages and their sentiments of desperation, grief, lamenting, and, yes… even hope… have something powerful to say for all of us today....

6-21-15 (Proper 7/Ordinary 12 B, Semi-Continuous) 1 Samuel 17:1-49; Mark 4:35-41 Facing Giants and Calming Storms     I had a whole different sermon planned for today.  I was thinking about the storms we’ve been dealing with, the nearly incessant rain, the dark gray clouds that dampen our moods even as they dampen our fields and yards.  And then another storm hit - a different storm.  A man walked into a church, into a group of people praying together, a community of our own brothers and sisters gathered in the name of Christ.  He sat there with them and participated in their prayer meeting, then stood up and opened fire on them.  By now, you’ve likely heard the story and you’ve likely heard the analysis from so many people over the last four days that you don’t even know what to make of any of it anymore.  It’s become a storm of its own kind as we work through the aftermath of yet another tragedy - the pain, the outrage, the confusion, ...

6-14-15 (Proper 6/Ordinary 11B Semi-Continous) 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13; Mark 4:26-34 Deceptive Appearances     There’s a trend that’s been running in our media for many years and it drives me absolutely crazy.  I’m sure you’ve had the same experience one or two times; it happens on news stations all the time - they put up a flashy graphic behind the anchor, who says “And tonight in a special exclusive report, we’ll tell you the number one way that you’re hurting your family without even knowing it.  Tune in tonight at 6 to find out what you need to know to keep your family safer.”     It’s been cropping up online lately, too - and maybe it’s just the prevalence of such things cluttering up social media and news sites anymore, but it’s even more annoying when they do it online than when it’s on a news channel.  These “click-bait” articles are all formatted the same way - instead of a headline that gives you an idea of what the article is abou...

A friend of mine recently posted a video that's pretty interesting - thought I'd share it to give context before getting deeper into this exploration.  It comes from www.fallingplates.com - it's an interesting evangelism website and the video itself uses some pretty compelling visuals and metaphors to explore the relationship we are invited into with Christ and the way in which Christ brings us back into relationship with God:     As I said - my friend shared this with me and she asked my thoughts.  Naturally, my seminary brain kicked in.  I said it's a good video, but commented on its use of penal atonement theology in talking about the crucifixion.  In my conversation with this friend, I realized that this is one of those things we talk about in seminary, but don't really talk about much in the "outside" world, so I decided that rather than try to handle this in a small post on Facebook, I'd do a larger exploration of "atonement t...

6-7-15 (Pentecost 2, Ordinary10/Proper 5B Semi-Continuous) 1 Samuel 8:4-20, 11:14-15; Mark 3:20-35 Under Pressure     It’s really difficult when you spend your life seeing all the things that other people have.  You start to think, “It must be nice, having as much as they do.”  There’s always something that we think we’d be just that much happier if we had, isn’t there?  We see the neighbors who just bought the newest model truck - you know, the one that has all the bells and whistles, the GPS system in the dashboard, the satellite radio, the back up cameras, the self-parking feature… heck it almost drives itself now.  And we start to wonder if maybe it isn’t time for us to take the old family wagon in and see how much we can get for it.  Or we hear about the latest release of a new phone or a new computer, and then suddenly whatever one we have starts to look a little worn around the edges.  It runs a little slower than it used to, doesn’...