Tag: Worship

First Sunday of Trinity

June 4, 2023

INTRODUCTION

Our theme for this Trinity season is “Live in Peace.” The reflection question is “How did you offer peace this week?” Good question! To which I might add… and what can you do to find meaning and purpose in these turbulent times? 

These certainly are chaotic times: turbulent weather; widespread famine and food insecurity; violent conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East and persistent tension in the Western Pacific; political and cultural confrontation across the nation; and widespread illness and injury in our community. At many levels of reality, we seem to be living in the midst of painful chaos.…

Read More

Pentecost

May 28, 2023

I have preached on Pentecost several times because I love the Pentecost story so much.  I love that both men and women were represented among the disciples in the upper room that day.  I love that though the disciples were diverse and spoke many different languages, they all could understand one another.  I love their awe and wonder as the Holy Spirit descended on them in tongues of flame, empowering them to go out and be the body of Christ for the rest of the world.  Each time I preach I find another theme in this story to research and contemplate. …

Read More

The 7th Sunday of Easter

May 21, 2023

Prayer:  God, help me to not screw up too badly this morning.

Except for playing football in high school and college, I’ve never seen myself as fully competent to succeed in life.  Per my own way of thinking, I’ve always fallen short.  I’m not tall enough.  I’ve got bad hair.  My voice is not authoritative.  I’m not sophisticated.  I lack charisma.  I’m a slow reader.  And perhaps most importantly, I don’t really understand what I’m talking about.  It follows then that whatever I say this morning will not satisfy.  It will not be sufficient.…

Read More

The 6th Sunday of Easter

May 14, 2023

FREEDOM IS A CONSTANT STRUGGLE by Patricia Nemore

David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell A. Blair, Jr., Joseph McNeil.

Raise your hand if you know who these people are.

I did not until about two months ago and, I’m sorry to say, I might not remember who they are if you say the names back to me a month from now.  But I will remember what they did.

These men are the Greensboro Four, four freshmen at the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina, now North Carolina A&T State University, who, on February 1, 1960, sat down at a segregated lunch counter at the Woolworth’s in Greensboro and launched the sit-in movement.…

Read More

The 5th Sunday of Easter

May 7, 2023

When we listen to and read the Lectionary’s resurrection stories during Easter season, we often focus on what happened to Jesus: He is raised up from the dead, he appears suddenly without warning to the disciples, and later he sits at the right hand of the Father. Jesus’ message to his people after the Resurrection is that no matter what happens to the disciples then, and to us now, the Father will not let defeat and death be the final word. God will raise us up just as he raised up Jesus from defeat to victory.…

Read More