Hope Community Presbyterian Church

Psalm 27

Luke 13:31-35

For the children’s time, we read a story about being scared: Mercer Mayer’s There’s a Nightmare In My Closet.

Grown-ups know about fears worse than nightmares, and many kids do, too. There are monsters in the world, not just in closets. Some fears have names and faces, some have diagnoses, and some live in a general worry about the future (for yourself or another). The worst fears are those we can’t stop, or when our loved ones put themselves in danger and we can’t bear the risk for them. We feel the sorrow Jesus had for Jerusalem, when we want to gather people under our wings, and we feel the Pharisees’ alarm, when we want our loved ones to avoid danger.

I do sympathize with the Pharisees here. Contrast this with their usual treatment as Jesus’ persecutors, but some of them recognized Jesus’ truth, as these apparently did. They knew that Jesus’ truth was trouble. Herod had already killed John the Baptizer, and now Jesus was walking into his trap. The prophetic message of uncompromising righteousness and justice doesn’t play well with the Roman leaders. Just imagine if someone you respect and love were doing this – wouldn’t you want to protect them from trouble? (more…)

Tonight’s Ash Wednesday Service is at 6:00 p.m. at the Virginia United Methodist Church. This is a correction to the time publicized in the newsletter – our apologies.

Please pass the word along to other church members. Thanks!

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

Luke 9:28-36

We’ve focused for the last six weeks on baptism – Christ’s baptism and our callings, our fundamental identities, in unity with Christ. I asked the Worship Committee how we could make the baptismal font more prominent, rather than shoving it off to the side when it’s not in use. I offered some thoughts about where it should go, and they said, “sure. Do all of those.” And so I did. The font has been in the back row, in the South Room, by the doors, and up here on the chancel as it is today. These different placements invited us to think about the meanings of baptism – it’s a symbol of unity, rebirth, and consecration. As part of that, we’ve been exploring our Christian identities: we are a people called to be God’s children; called to love, unity, service, worship; we are called to reflect Christ’s glory.

Today is about consecration. The font is up here on the chancel, symbolically in “God’s space,” to remind us that we enter God’s realm through baptism. The word for ‘church’ in many languages (French, Spanish, etc) comes from the Greek ekklesia, which means ‘called out,’ separated from the world. Baptism invites us to live in a new reality, to belong to God more than to the world, even as we live within the world. We practice for life in this new reality by separating from the world weekly to remember who we are as the church. (more…)

Isaiah 6:1-8

Luke 5:1-11

They say, “It’s better to be out fishing on Sunday morning and thinking about church, than to be sitting in church and thinking about fishing.” But today I want you to think about fishing, those of you who fish. Think about being out there on the lake. The sun is low over the horizon. You can hear the waves lapping at the side of the boat. You’re holding your fishing pole just so, feeling the line for that moment when something takes the hook. The wind moves gently across your cheek. You breathe in, and as the air comes into your nose, you can feel the presence of a Spirit beyond all wind, all around you.

Okay, that’s not exactly the kind of fishing experience that led Peter and his companions into an encounter with Jesus, but it’s one of the deep threads of spiritual experience in this congregation. And something about it feels more like Peter’s experience in Luke’s gospel than the one Isaiah describes. Luke and Isaiah both describe encounters with God that happen in unique ways. (more…)

February will be a very busy month for me. Leanne and I could be traveling to South Korea as soon as March (or as late as June), so we have a mile-long list of things to take care of before we might have to leave. Given the way life works, I imagine either I will get everything done early and then get a very late travel date, or travel will come very soon and I won’t be at all ready. If those are the options, you can guess which one I would choose.

As most of you know, we get about a week’s notice when it’s time to leave, so you should have the pleasure of one Sunday morning worship service after we get the travel call. I promise to look suitably panicked about the whole situation. Once we go, I’ll be off work for four weeks. We’ll spend a week (or slightly more) in Korea, then we’ll take the rest of the time to adjust to our new life with Ian. (more…)