Isaac visited a Mennonite community in Freeman, South Dakota. Here is an excerpt from his reflections on his time with Salem-Zion Mennonite Church: God’s creation is cultivated not only to provide for the members of Salem-Zion but also for the sake of the world. In the fall, after the harvest, the congregation expresses gratitude with […]
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Grace & wealth
We cannot know Christ unless we follow him daily in life ~ Hans Denck, 16th century Grace must be lived out, or it is not grace ~ Karl Barth, CD II/2: 695 Title: Grace and wealth Texts: Isa 49:8-16, Matt 6:24-34 Date: Feb 27, 2011 Author: Isaac Villegas “Look at the birds of the air; […]
Holiness & Perfection
Title: Holiness & Perfection Text: Lev 19 Date: Feb 20, 2011 Author: Chris Gooding What can we learn from the strange book of Leviticus? I studied Jewish legal interpretation under a rabbi while I was at Duke Divinity School, and he would often cite one of the verses in our passage for today to teach […]
Choose life
Title: Choose life Texts: Deut 30:15-20, Ps 119:1-9, Matt 5:21-37 Date: Feb 13, 2011 Author: Isaac Villegas “Choose life so that you and your descendents may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you” (Deut 30:19-20). The God of Israel cares about life—not only […]
untitled, 2.6.11
Title: untitled Date: February 6, 2011 Texts: Isa 58:1-9b, Matt 5:13-20, 1 Cor 2:1-12 Author: Matt Morin In today’s passage from Isaiah, we hear the prophet announcing a word of God to the people in the southern kingdom of Judah: Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked […]
A reliable presence
Title: A Reliable Presence Texts: Micah 6:1-8, Matt 5:1-12 Date: Jan 30, 2011 Author: Isaac Villegas A couple weeks ago Reynolds Price died. With his first novel in 1962 he established himself as a gifted Southern writer. He went on to write a number of novels and plays and short stories and collections of poetry, […]
United by the cross
Title: United by the cross Text: 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 Date: Jan 23, 2011 Author: Meghan Florian Originally I’d planned to preach on our gospel text today, but after Tom’s comment last week I couldn’t help but take the bait and look more closely at 1 Corinthians 1. As Tom put it last week, in verses […]
Grace and peace, then and now
Title: Grace and peace Text: 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 Date: January 16, 2011 Author: Thomas Lehman Today is the first of seven consecutive Sundays for which the Epistle comes from 1 Corinthians. Paul’s opening greeting appears in vv. 1 – 3. His prayer of thanksgiving is vv. 4 – 9, after which he rushes to reprimand […]
Words made flesh
Title: Words made flesh Texts: John 1:10-18 Date: Jan 2, 2011 Author: Isaac Villegas A few weeks ago my friend Chris was in town. We ended up spending a lot of time talking about life, about faith, about how we grew up. For both of us, American Christianity is embarrassing. For example, it’s embarrassing to […]
Like Mary, Like Joseph
Title: Like Mary, Like Joseph Text: Isa 7:10-16, Matt 1:18-25 Date: Dec 19, 2010 Author: Isaac Villegas Loved and Liked The story of Christmas, of Immanuel, God with us, is that we are not only loved by God, but that God likes us. Not only does God love us, God actually likes us. (See James […]
Mysteries of the flesh
A meditation on prison and Christmas. Here are a few lines from Isaac’s column: As members of our church gather for fellowship and prayer in prison, we receive the flow of God’s life through our hands. The love and friendship of God revealed at Christmas come to us again as the Spirit overshadows our circle […]
The house doesn’t always win
Title: The House Doesn’t Always Win Text: James 5 Date: December 12, 2010 Author: Chris Gooding Many of you know that I haven’t always been Mennonite. I grew up as a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS), which is the most conservative branch of the Lutheran church in America. To cite only a […]
Singing and the Spirit
Isaac wrote a reflection on his visit to a Mennonite church in Chicago. Here’s an excerpt: …His voice wavers, fading in and out; and it sounds as if his throat is full of gravel. Yet he sings with confidence: “Just a closer walk with thee; Grant it, Jesus, is my plea.” The rest of us […]
Becoming fire
Title: Becoming Fire Text: Matt 3:1-12 Date: Dec 5, 2010 Author: Isaac Villegas John the Baptist appears in the wilderness and says, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me… He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Matt 3:11). First John […]
Against war
Our church was recently mentioned in the local newspaper, The News & Observer, in a piece about congregations preaching against war and torture: …The Rev. Isaac Villegas, pastor of Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship, also preached on war Sunday. He said the classified reports released on the Wiki Leaks website and the disclosures in a new […]
Our tortured king
Title: Our tortured king Texts: Col 1:11-20, Lk 23:33-43 Date: Novemeber 21, 2010 Author: Isaac S. Villegas Hanging on the cross, tortured, nearing death, a convicted rebel asks Jesus to remember him. Don’t forget me, he says, just before he dies alongside Jesus. We’re usually very good at running away from death. But our passage […]
Former glory
Title: Former Glory Date: November 6, 2010 Texts: Haggai 1:15b-2:9; Ps 145:1-5, 17-21 Author: Isaac Villegas Ah, the glory days. I’m sure you can remember them. We look back to some era of our lives, and think: Yes, those were the days. For me, I think back to the soccer field. Playing hard at weekend […]
The just shall live by faith
Title: The just shall live by faith Texts: Habakkuk 1:1-4, 2:1-4; Luke 19:1-10 Date: October 31, 2010 Author: Thomas Lehman As today is Halloween, Chapel Hill’s most celebrated holiday, it is appropriate to say that the word means the hallowed evening before November 1, All Saints Day, a holiday in Europe and elsewhere. In the […]
The beginning and the end
Title: The beginning and the end Texts: Gen 1:1-3, Ps 84, Jn 1:1-5, Rev 22:16-17, 20-21 Date: Oct. 24, 2010 Author: Isaac Villegas “The earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Gen 1:2). The first chapter of Genesis is […]
Lighthouse Mennonite
Title: Waiting for God at Lighthouse Mennonite Date: October 17, 2010 Texts: I Cor 14:26-33 Author: Isaac S. Villegas Waiting. Waiting for God. After Catherine’s sermon last Sunday, I’ve been thinking about what it means for us to wait for God. Catherine preached from the book of Jeremiah, about the Jews who had to live […]
Your people will be my people
Isaac reflects on his recent visit to Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church in Goessel, Kansas: As these two sister congregations cross borders in order to commune with one another, they find themselves in communion with Christ. To use the words of Augustine of Hippo, the Holy Spirit is the presence of love that “holds them together in […]
New
Title: New Text: Jeremiah 29: 1-7 Date: Oct 10, 2010 Author: Catherine Thiel Lee This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the survivors…This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and […]
The crumbs are enough
Title: The Crumbs Are Enough Texts: 1 Timothy 6:6-19, Luke 16:19-31 Author: Meghan Florian Date: Sept 26, 2010 “There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment.” Paul begins with the need to be content – we brought nothing into this world, he writes, and we take nothing out of it. This passage ends with […]
Faithful Witnesses (Alexanderwohl)
Title: Faithful witnesses Date: September 19, 2010 Texts: Isa 43:6-12, Isa 62:1-3, Rev 2:12-17 Author: Isaac Villegas “I know where you live—where Satan has his throne” (Rev 2:13). With those ominous words, Jesus addresses the church in Pergamum at the beginning of the book of Revelation. “I know where you live—where Satan has his throne.” […]