Meghan Florian, a member of our congregation, offers a wonderful reflection on gender roles at church. The point of affirming women as preachers ought never be to belittle the vital work women have been doing in the church all along. Instead, while we need to see women encouraged to raise their voices, to interpret and […]
This world is passing away
Tile: This world is passing away Text: 1 Cor 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20 Date: Jan 22, 2012 Author: Isaac S. Villegas Let’s start with talking about what Paul doesn’t mean, what 1 Corinthians doesn’t mean when we hear a line like, “from now on, let those who have wives be as though they had none” […]
In the beginning
Title: In the beginning Texts: Gen 1:1-5, Ps 29 Date: Jan 8, 2012 Author: Tom Lehman The book of Genesis probably reached its present text about six centuries before the birth of Christ. Prior to that it existed, at least in part, as oral tradition–stories told by one generation to the next. The first book […]
The Lord is with you
Tile: The Lord is with you Text: Luke 1:26-38 Date: Dec 18, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas Prayer: May the Holy Spirit come upon us, and the power of the Most High overshadow us. May it be done to us according to your word. During Christmas, we remember that God has come close, that […]
Mary, Advent, and OWS: Rejoice with the lowly
In this season of Advent, as we dwell with Mary, the one who is filled with Jesus, we let her words draw us into resonances of the gospel we may not have heard before. Mary’s words are living and active. They resound from places we may not have thought of as hospitable for God—like the […]
Occupying the wilderness of God
Title: Occupying the Wilderness of God Text: Mark 1:1-8 Date: Dec 4, 2011 Author: Martha King I was going to start with: It was a dark and stormy night… only it wasn’t stormy at all—the night was actually quite clear. I do remember the wild darkness, however, and the crisp cool of summer nights up […]
An apocalyptic advent
Tile: An apocalyptic advent Texts: Isa 64:1-9; Ps 80:1-7, 17-19; Mk 13:24-37 Date: Nov 27, 2011 Author: Isaac S. Villegas “See the sunlight, we ain’t stoppin’ / Keep on dancing till the world ends / If you feel it, let it happen / Keep on dancing till the world ends / Keep on dancing till […]
Led into ministry
Long before that moment, long before I discerned God’s call, the Spirit was working through the hands of the community, molding me into a pastor. With their hands, the people led me into ministry. I still remember Fred’s prayer on behalf of the community as they laid their hands upon me and impressed God’s calling […]
Life in the flesh
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 […]
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, […]