Tile: Life in the flesh Texts: Ezek 34:11-24, Ps 95:1-7, Eph 1:15-23, Matt 25:31-46 Date: Nov 20, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas “If I said my heart was beating loud / If I said I want your body now / Would you hold it against me / If I said my heart was beating loud […]
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Odd Notions: Nursing Rocks and the Image of God
Title: Nursing Rocks and the Image of God Texts: Isa 46:3-9, Deut 32:1-18, Gen 1:26-27, 2 Cor 3:12-18 Date: Nov 13, 2011 Author: Catherine Lee I’m going to talk tonight about God, the mother of Israel. That statement invites a few qualifications, especially at this point in our sermon series and discussion. For one thing, […]
Imaging the invisible God
Title: Imaging the invisible God Texts: Ps 131, Isa 66:10-13, Lk 13:31-35 Date: Nov 6, 2011 Author: Nate Rauh One of the central beliefs of the Jewish and Christian faiths, is that God is invisible. God is unseen. This is one of the central beliefs, and it can also be one of the most frustrating […]
How can this be?
Title: “How Can This Be?” Texts: Proverbs 8-9, 1 Corinthians 1:24-30, Luke 7:31-35 Date: Oct 30, 2011 Author: Meghan Florian Since we are in the midst of a sermon series specifically focusing on God and gender, our texts have been chosen to direct us to a particular topic – Jesus, Woman Wisdom. And, I admit, […]
Priesthood of all believers
Here are some of Isaac’s reflections on what it was like to show up at Chapel Hill Mennonite and experience a community that made “the priesthood of all believers” a living reality: During the service people from behind me, in front of me, and to my right and left got up to lead various parts […]
Learning to speak is learning to touch
Title: Learning to speak is learning to touch Text: Isaiah 42:13-17 Date: Oct 23, 2011 Author: M. Elia I first met the Lord Jesus in an enormous Baptist megachurch. Imagine the Durham Bulls stadium, but slightly larger and with a roof over it, only with no alcohol and fewer hotdogs. (Though our church did have […]
The Father’s womb
Tile: The Father’s Womb Texts: Psalm 110; Isaiah 49:1-3, 13-18; John 1:14-18 Date: Oct 9, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas I’m struggling with patriarchy these days, patriarchy and God, thinking of God as a Father, “Our Father, who art in heaven,” as we say in the prayer Jesus taught his disciples, that Jesus taught us […]
She is not a man, nor is He a woman
Tile: She is not a man, nor is He a woman Texts: Exodus 3:13-15, Matthew 28:16-20 Date: Oct 9, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas This week kicks off our series on passages in the bible that mess with our imagination, with our images of God, especially our images of God’s gender. The church, by […]
Uprooted and replanted
Tile: Uprooted and replanted Texts: Isaiah 5:1-8, Ps 80:7-15, Philip 3:4-14, Matt 21:33-46 Date: Oct 2, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas Scattered here and there in our Scriptures for today are images of God’s people, Israel, as vines, planted, uprooted, and replanted; vineyards that need care in order to thrive, to produce good fruit […]
Divine Deal-making and A Painful Patience
Title: Divine Deal-making and A Painful Patience Texts: Jeremiah 15:15-21; Psalm 26; Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28 Date: August 28, 2011 Author: Ben D. “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause […]
Forgiveness comes first
Tile: Forgiveness comes first Texts: Matt 18:21-35 Date: September 11, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas How many times do I have to forgive? It’s a good question. After someone has wronged you again and again, at some point, don’t you have to be done with him or her? At some point, aren’t you justified […]
Love is the fulfilling of the Law
Title: Love is the Fulfilling of the Law Text: Romans 13:8-14 Date: Sept 4, 2011 Author: Meghan Florian We are a people deeply indebted – indebted to love. It is, one might say an infinite debt. One which we can never repay. Yet here we are, in the epistle to the Romans, being told in […]
In heaven as it is on earth
Tile: In heaven as it is on earth Texts: Isa 51:1-6, Ps 138, Matt 16:13-20 Date: August 21, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas This past summer I’ve been teaching a class at the Durham prison, a class on autobiography. We read and discussed memoirs like Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott and the Autobiography of Malcolm […]
Strange encounters
Title: Strange Encounters Texts: Isa 56.1, 6-8; Matt 15.21-28 Date: August 14, 2011 Author: Nathan Rauh One of the things I’ve come to realize this summer is how much this community has been working on me, teaching me to sit in the tension with difficult texts and let them work on me. Catherine exemplified that […]
The voice of the Lord
Title: The Voice of the Lord Text: 1 Kings 19:9-18 Date: Aug 7, 2011 Author: Catherine Lee So in the mold of the “summer of stories,” I’m going to tell you one. But only one. I’m pretty much just going to riff on one really good story from 1 Kings. But don’t worry, there’s lots […]
Bread of life
Tile: Bread of life Texts: Isaiah 55:1-5, Romans 9:1-5, Matthew 14:13-21 Date: July 31, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas Jesus withdrew to a solitary place, away from the towns, “a deserted place by himself” (Matt 14:13a)—perhaps to mourn the death of John the Baptist, who was just beheaded by king Herod. “But,” the text says, […]
Angels and hell
Tile: Angels and hell Texts: Rom 8:26-39; Matt 13:31-33, 44-52 Date: July 24, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas I used to live in a house in Durham, in Walltown, where we tried to create an environment of hospitality, of letting needy people stay with us, of hosting meals throughout the week for people in our […]
Waiting with Brian Haw
Tile: Waiting and Groaning Texts: Rom 8:12-25 Date: July 17, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains… and not only creation, but we ourselves…groan inwardly (Rom 8:22-23). For the past ten years, Brian Haw camped in Parliament Square in London, England. At night he slept […]
Egads! a sermon on the Song of Songs
Title: Egads! a sermon on the Song of Solomon Date: July 3, 2011 Author: Thomas Lehman Texts: Zechariah 9:9-12, Song of Songs 2:8-13, Romans 7:15-25a, Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 My title is a plagiarism. On the 31st of August, 2003, Jennifer Graber preached on the same passage from Song of Solomon. After long deliberation I have […]
New creation
Title: New creation Date: July 6, 2011 Texts: 2 Cor 5:18a Place: MCUSA Convention Author: Isaac Villegas “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ.” We pulled into the parking lot of St. John’s Missionary Baptist Church—a 100-year-old black Baptist church; we were there for our Holy Thursday footwashing service. Since […]
Prophets
Title: Prophets Date: June 26, 2011 Texts: Jeremiah 28:5-9, Psalm 89 Author: Isaac Villegas Jeremiah is stuck in a battle of the prophets. There are two prophets at the center of this drama, Hananiah and Jeremiah, and each of them offers a competing vision of the future. Jeremiah offers a difficult word to the people […]
Hope that is in you
Title: Hope that is in you Date: May 29, 2011 (6th Sunday of Easter) Texts: Ps 66:8-20, 1 Pe 3:13-22; Jn 14:15-21 Author: Isaac Villegas Let’s review the basics. Easter is about resurrection; in the church calendar Easter is a seven-week celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. And resurrection is all about hope; resurrection […]
You killed Jesus
Title: You killed Jesus Date: May 22, 2011 (5th Sunday of Easter) Texts: Acts 7 Author: Chris Gooding It seems somehow appropriate that, on my last time appearing before this congregation to preach, I’m assigned Acts 7—the story of the stoning of Stephen. In the story, Stephen is arrested and made to appear before the […]
the miracle of faith
Title: The Miracle of Faith Text: John 20:19-31 Date: May 1, 2011 Author: Meghan Florian It’s late in the evening, and the disciples are gathered in secret, huddled in a circle, maybe, talking in hushed tones. So much has happened in a week. So many of their hopes dashed. Their expectations of power and glory […]