Hope Beyond Our Enemy Images

Isaiah 25: 1-9

Roger Lynn

September 24, 2017

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

In ways both subtle and blatant, across all aspects of our life and culture, our lives have been and continue to be shaped by enemy images. There is an understanding of “how the world works” which operates at a deep level and assumes that the world is divided into “us” and “them,” and that “they” are out to get “us.” It seems that in every new election cycle this attitude takes on ever increasing intensity. We see it in the news. We find it in our Facebook pages. We watch it unfold in the midst of our own community. Sometimes we hear it preached from the pulpit and we even read it in the pages of scripture.  It is a world view which is so ubiquitous and pervasive as to be almost invisible. It hides in the shadows, flies below our radar and slips past our awareness. All too often we tend to think it simply is the way things are and the way they always will be, because we think it is the way things always have been.

Beyond the God of Violence

2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:15a

Roger Lynn

September 17, 2017

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

You have heard me say it before, and now you are going to hear me say it again – because it is still true and it bears repeating. What we believe about God matters. It makes a difference in how we experience life. It makes a difference in how we live. And how we think about God is greatly influenced by the stories we hear as a part of our religious tradition.

So when I read the story in 2 Samuel about what Nathan had to say to King David, my first thought is to just ignore the whole thing. I simply don’t want to deal with one more example of violence being understood as God’s will. But then I realize that I can’t in good conscience just walk away from it. I need to stand up and say as clearly and as forcefully as I can possibly manage that violence is not the way of God.

Following Christ Into God’s Future

Luke 10: 25-37

September 10, 2017

Roger Lynn

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

Sixteen years ago tomorrow we watched a scene of unimaginable violence and destruction unfold before us. Two enormous towers in New York collapsed into a pile of rubble. A hole was punched into the side of the Pentagon. And a plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Approximately 3,000 people died in the attacks. Countless more have died in the years since then in the various wars which have been waged in response. And a shadow of fear has fallen over our nation and our world that at times threatens to engulf us completely. 

In the wake of such overwhelming devastation, darkness and fear, we who seek to be people of faith are left to ponder the question of how best to respond. Because we live in a complex and complicated world such a response will not be simple and it will not be easy. But because we follow Jesus in our quest to live faithfully there are certain basic qualities which must be included in any response we make.

Rest

Luke 10: 38-42

Roger Lynn

September 3, 2017

Labor Day Week-end

(click here for the audio for this sermon)

Tomorrow is Labor Day, a holiday set aside to honor those who work for a living. We make this tribute by taking a break from our labors. And in so doing we join a very old tradition. In the opening chapters of Genesis we are told that at the end of the process of creating the world God took a day off to rest. This practice is enshrined in the religious tradition of Sabbath. There is an awareness, at a very deep and basic level, that human beings cannot long survive on a steady diet of nothing but work. We need rest. We need play. We need recreation. There is a reason why the phrase “working ourselves to death” is a part of our cultural lexicon.

Unfortunately, we often seem to forget this important truth. We have inherited a “work ethic” in our culture which frequently leaves us feeling guilty about any time not spent in the pursuit of something “productive.” I once knew a gifted, creative woman who felt guilty whenever she spent time with her art. All too often we have taken to heart the message that if it isn’t making money then it is of no value. And so we spend our lives in frantic pursuit of fulfillment, never quite recognizing that it remains elusive as long as the search is defined by our franticness. We are like Martha – so busy with our “important” work that we fail to notice we have Jesus sitting in our living room.