Remembering Our Strength

1 Samuel 17: 1-49

Roger Lynn

June 28, 2020

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David stands squarely in a long tradition of Biblical heroes. His words and his actions on the battlefield with the Philistines are a perfect illustration of a theme we see played out by countless others who came before him and who followed him. He almost gets it, but not quite. He almost grasps God’s vision for humanity, and then he lets it slip through his fingers, like a stone sliding from a sling. He comes so close that he is even able to articulate it for those who are gathered around him. “...that all this assembly may know that God does not save by sword and spear...” (1 Samuel 17:47) And then he turns around and kills Goliath with a rock! He had all the language right – God will protect me, it’s not about strength and power, it’s about trusting in God. He walks right up to the edge of a profoundly new way of dealing with the world. And at the last moment he picks up a rock and takes matters into his own hands anyway. 

We’ve been following in David’s footsteps for all of the years since then. We come close and then we miss it by a mile. Trusting God is an enormously challenging thing. The learning curve is steep. Most of the time we just don’t get it. Most of the time we simply fall back on the same old familiar patterns which guided David – we stoop down and pick up a rock.

Face To Face With The Infinite

Isaiah 6: 1-8

Roger Lynn

June 21, 2020

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These are challenging days to be alive. All of the Covid-19 related stuff has weighed heavy on many of us, and continues to do so. Adapting to changing circumstances on what sometimes seems like a daily basis. Dealing with grief and loss in so many ways. Struggling to find the right balance between taking appropriate precautions and just wanting things to get back to “normal.” On and on the list could go. Then all of the issues around race that have been with us for a very long time and are now rising suddenly to the surface in a powerful new way in the wake of George Floyd’s death. How do we live together? What does it mean to truly honor someone else’s humanity? Where do I fit in the larger struggle? On and on the list could go. There is a lot on our plate right now, and it often feels more than a little bit overwhelming. And what I know is that we will not last long in the face of such challenges unless we are intentional about making sure to attend to the nourishing of our spirits. It’s important for us to pause from time to time and allow ourselves to be be embraced in the eternal presence of the Great Mystery.

Radical Wholeness

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Mark 5: 21-43

Roger Lynn

June 7, 2020

(the audio for this sermon is unavailable this week)
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It’s been going on for so long that it is easy to start believing it is simply human nature - in-groups and out-groups – those considered acceptable and those who are not. Sometimes the distinctions are clear and officially recognized. In India it was the caste system. For the Hebrew people it was a system which focused on being ritually clean or unclean. Sometimes the distinctions are more subtle and shadowy. In high schools around the country there are people who are cool, or hip, or whatever the current term might be. And there are people who are not, such as those who don’t know the current word for cool. But whether clear and official or subtle and unofficial, the results are the same. We divide people into us and them. We put up barriers of separation. We cut ourselves off from each other. And in the process everyone is diminished. Not just those who are left feeling superior. Not just those who are left feeling inferior. Everyone. The whole human experience is diminished. We are diminished in big ways that show in things like war and ethnic cleansing and racial violence. We are diminished in small ways that show in things like loss of human resources and cultural diversity and potential friendships. And the more we do it, the more we are diminished, because deep down in the core of our being it is not who we are – it is not what it means to be human. It is learned behavior, and we seem really good at learning it, but that which is learned can also be unlearned.