Building a Diverse Redemptive Community
Scripture: Romans 14:1-12 21st century America is ripe for preaching from Paul’s epistle to the Romans as we can relate to the multicultural dynamics of church and society. The Christ community in Rome, in the form of many small communities similar to a house church today, was quite diverse. The major subgroups include Jews and Gentiles. In the earliest Christ communities, Jews would attend Temple on Saturday and meet for the Lord’s Supper on Sunday. Eventually they split from the…
Mandated Reporting
Scripture: Ezekiel 33:7-11 So sadly, evil is very real. While humans have nearly unlimited capacity to do good things, we can be very cruel too. Unspeakable harm has happened to children, the elderly, the disabled, and other vulnerable populations in homes, schools, churches, group homes, and among other organizations. One correction we are doing as a society is making mandated reporters. Many debate the role of clergy as mandated reporters. Some states do mandate clergy to report abuse while New…
Advanced Directives and the Cost of Discipleship
Scripture: Matthew 16:21-28 A now late Catholic deacon friend once shared with me his basic plans for he and his wife as they neared the end of their lives. They had their home. Just down the road was an assisted living facility when they couldn’t quite make it at home. Then, there was the hospital and nursing home when assisted living was not enough. After the hospital offered all it could they had the funeral home. After that, their gravesite.…
Taking the Keys to the Kingdom
Scripture: Matthew 16:13-20 When a nurse arrives for a shift, she or he needs to accept the keys. They know that their work may be very rewarding. They also know they may be greatly challenged. They also might assess what they are getting into before taking the keys. Our faith is like that. We know good things will come, we also know there is no guarantee it will be easy. Our passage for today’s lesson follows the miraculous scenes of…
A Stairway to Heaven?
by Cindy Fitzwater, a long-time member of the United Presbyterian Church who preaches from time to time. Scripture: John 1:43-51 I want to begin by telling you how I came to choose today’s topic — because sometimes an idea comes to us in a very ordinary way, or we learn that God speaks to us in places we never expect. And, if we pay attention, we might discover that God has been nudging us all along. This message started with…
250th Anniversary
by William Wallace Banker, a long-time member of the United Presbyterian Church who preaches from time to time. Scripture: Isaiah 51: 1-6 A few weeks ago we celebrated July 4th which is a national holiday. Why July 4th? July 4th, 1776 is when the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. The United States is celebrating and commemorating its 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. The 250th is called the Semi quincentennial. As we have heard…