Sermons

March 27, 2016

Easter Sunday

 Acts 10: 34-43 Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

 I Cor 15:19-26 If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

 Luke 24: 1-12 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified… “He is not here, but has risen.”

 In February, the Scientific American cover story described scientists who are searching for a ninth planet. They suspect it’s there, even though nobody can see it yet. As you may remember, Pluto was demoted in 2006 to a lesser status as an icy blob, leaving us with eight known planets in a pancake-like configuration around the sun. Now Planet X, as it is called, is thought to be ten times larger than the planet Earth , because of the way it bends the orbits of several icy blobs swirling in the darkness at the outer edge of our known system. Judging by the gravitational pull, astronomers know it must be there, out beyond the planet Neptune. At this point. Planet X is known only by its impact on other celestial bodies.

 That is essentially the message of the empty tomb on this Easter Sunday. It calls us beyond physical facts to a realm of mystery and wonder, where courage and hope abide. We have evidence in lives that were changed by the gravitational pull of the resurrection, but no eyewitness accounts. 

March 20, 2016

Palm/Passion Sunday

Luke 19:28-40 and 22:14-23:56 [Common English Bible]

It’s Palm Sunday. Like Christians for nearly two thousand years, we’ve just paraded through the building, waving our palm leaves, shouting Hosannah! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord. Let’s do it again:

 Hosannah! Blessed is the One who comes in the name of our God! Hosannah! 

 Come on, wave your palm leaves! 

 Wait — why are we doing this? What’s this all about?

March 13, 2016

Fifth Sunday in Lent

Isaiah 43:16-21

Psalm 126

Philippians 3:4b-14

John 12:1-8

 I am about to do a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

 Six days before Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume…

In her book The Call to the Soul, Marjory Bankson describes the six-part cycle of call, with the first three elements of the cycle on one side of the poison river, and the second three parts on the other. As you know, the poison river separates “inspiration from application”; it is the barrier between the inner, private side of call and the manifestation of that call in the outer world. Crossing the poison river requires courage, faith, and trust. And it requires a guide.

March 6, 2016

Fourth Sunday in Lent

 In the season of Lent, the scripture passages today allow us to reflect with the early church on the gift that is Jesus among us.  The passages allow us to hear a story of a different type of family than the family we may have experienced growing up. The passages connect us to a people who initially did not see themselves as a unified people and had to experience over forty years of traveling together to emerge with some sense of togetherness. And, while not read today, the Psalms also mark our own need.

February 28, 2016

Third Sunday in Lent

I want to thank you for the invitation to again be with you today and share some of what we are learning and working with at The Potter’s House. This Wednesday we celebrate one year of being re-opened in the new space. Preparing for this message has given me an opportunity to reflect on this past year, which I can honestly say has been both the most rewarding and challenging year of my life. This week I took a day away from the shop to catch my breath, to try to catch up to everything that’s developed over the past year, and where I believe we are being led as a mission. This small ‘a’ anniversary has also given me pause to remember and celebrate all those hands that have carried and cared for us. We would not be where we are, would likely no longer be at all, apart from the thick webs of solidarity we are spun in with Seekers Church. So thank you for that ongoing relationality that sustains us as an organization and nurtures me as I attempt to provide leadership to it.