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 […]
Mothers’ Day in Alabama, 1961
Title: Freedom Riders Date: May 8, 2011 (3rd Sunday of Easter) Texts: Luke 24:13-35, Acts 2:36-41 Author: Isaac Villegas This past week was a historic week for people in America. This week, fifty years ago, in 1961, a group, assembled from all over the country, got on buses in Washington, D.C., and began their trip […]
A local Easter story
Title: A local Easter story Date: April 24, 2011 (Easter) Texts: Matt 28:1-10 Author: Isaac Villegas Let me tell you an Easter story. C.P. Ellis’s father died at the age of forty-eight, which meant that C.P. had to drop out of high school and become the bread winner for his family, for his mom and […]
Who is this?
Title: “Who is this?” Date: April 17, 2011; Palm Sunday Texts: Ps 118, Matt 21:1-11 Author: Isaac Villegas Jesus is the talk of the town. Crowds gather along the streets. Some are there to welcome God’s prophet, the one who will speak God’s truth about the world. Others are there to welcome a messiah, the […]
Double Vision
Title: Double Vision Texts: Ezekiel 37.1-14, Psalm 130, Romans 8.6-11, John 11.1-45 Date: April 9, 2011 Author: Nathan Rauh Prayer: Merciful LORD, thank you for giving your prophet Ezekiel his vision, and us your Scripture. Holy Spirit, go beyond my words to speak your Word to us, and point us to Jesus Christ, the Word […]
We are not blind
Title: “We are not blind, are we?” Date: April 3, 2011, Lent 4 Texts: Jn 9:1-41 Author: Isaac Villegas The disciples stand at a distance and are curious about the beggar; they use the blind man as a way into a theological discussion with Jesus. “Rabbi,” they say, “who sinned, this man or his parents, […]
Healing & Hope
Title: Healing and Hope Date: March 20, 2011 Texts: Jn 3:1-21 Author: Isaac Villegas In Fukushima, Japan, when everyone was told to evacuate the nuclear power plants, 50 workers refused to abandon the reactors. They decided to stay and work around the clock, doing all that they could do to try to prevent a meltdown. […]
Reformed earth (Ash Wed)
Title: Reformed earth Date: 3/9/11 (Ash Wednesday) Texts: Isaiah 58:1-17 Jesus once said, “Only the one who loses her self will save it.” I think that’s a pretty good way to summarize what Lent is about. It’s about learning how to lose yourself, to let go of the self you have created, the identity you […]
Creation & mission
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 […]
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 […]