I’ve been thinking about the presidential inauguration on Tuesday. It was a historic event at any rate, one that may have been joyous or tragic, depending on your political views. Specifically, it depends (for some of us) on the ways we would prefer to care for people in poverty. Some see government programs as the way to do economic justice, while others resist this approach. We don’t want to be forced – taxed – into sharing with others, we’d prefer to do it voluntarily. There’s a reasonable mistrust of government in that position: the federal government is far too big for us to believe that it’s doing what it should be. There’s something deeper there, too: we need to feel like we’re a part of solving the world’s problems, not like we’ve given our duty over to the government. (more…)
January 2009
January 25, 2009
Can We Change God’s Mind?
Posted by Nathan under Sermons | Tags: Call, Church signs, Disciples, Economics, Fast, Fishing, Gardening, Jesus, John Calvin, John Kennedy, Jonah, Justice, Mark, Martin Luther King Jr., Nineveh, Old Testament, Poverty, Predestination, Presidency, Repentance, Sackcloth, Smokey Bear, Victory Gardens |Leave a Comment
January 18, 2009
Called to Nothing False
Posted by Nathan under Sermons | Tags: 1 Samuel, Annual meeting, Call, Dennis Miller, Ego, Eli, Honesty, Jesus, John, Messiah, Nathanael, Prophets, Samuel, Tower, Tyler Cowen |Leave a Comment
The lectionary doesn’t require us to read that whole passage from 1 Samuel, just the “call” story itself. It’s the story of a young boy in the temple hearing from God for the first time. When we read on, we saw that Samuel wasn’t hearing anything good. He was called to carry a word of destruction to Eli’s priestly house, as punishment for their misbehavior. That’s a hard call for Samuel to hear: he’s called to prophesy against his mentor, because the religious establishment was misbehaving. (more…)
January 11, 2009
The Spirit Over the Void
Posted by Nathan under Sermons | Tags: Acts, Baptism, Creation, Ephesus, Genesis, Holy Spirit, Jesus, John the Baptist, Mark, Paul, Repentance, Sin, Spiritual gifts |Leave a Comment
Jesus’ baptism by John was a new beginning from an old religious form. Clearly, Jesus – at least as we’ve come to think of him – didn’t need this baptism of repentance. But he did what was proper, because this baptism was part of the world Jesus came from. Jesus follows John even though he is greater than John. (more…)
January 1, 2009
January pastor’s letter
Posted by Nathan under Nathan's musings, Upcoming Events | Tags: Adoption, Calendar, Christmas, Elders, Planning retreat |Leave a Comment
Merry Christmas! I pray that this newsletter finds you well and hearing echoes of a joyous Christmas season. Through much careful planning (and in spite of the Julian and Gregorian calendars), the new calendar year begins right around the time that we celebrate the birth of Jesus and the “return” of daylight to this part of the world. So, as the echoes of an old year still surround us, I wish you the best of the new. (more…)
