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.” […]
Guest in a Jewish house
Isaac reflects on his visit with the people at First Mennonite Church of San Francisco: In San Francisco the Mennonites assemble as Christ’s body within the house of Israel. Gentiles have become children of God, wrote theologian Karl Barth in 1949, “only as those chosen with [the Jews]; as guests in their house.” For First […]
Slaves of Christ
Title: Slaves of Christ Texts: Philemon 1-21 Date: Sept 5, 2010 Author: Chris Gooding After I graduated from college, I spent a year living in Bombay, India. I moved there to work for a non-profit known as International Justice Mission. IJM helps people with a variety of legal issues worldwide, but what they are best […]
Pilgrimage to Zion
Title: Pilgrimage to Zion Texts: Psalm 122, 126, 129, 137 Date: August 29, 2010 Author: Isaac Villegas “Where are you from?” I’ve been hearing that question a lot these past few months as I have been traveling around visiting different Mennonite communities. “Where are you from?” If you’ve recently moved into the area for work […]
These far by faith
Title: These far by faith Text: Hebrews 11:29-12:2 Date: August 15, 2010 Author: Monica Schmucker This week the lectionary gives us another chunk of that legendary Hebrews chapter that we started on last week. As I read it over during this past week, I was looking for the things that would jump out at me […]
Seeking a homeland
Title: Seeking a homeland Text: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Date: Aug 8, 2010 Author: Meghan Florian “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” – or, in another translation I memorized as a child, “faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do […]
The World of God
On his recent trip to a Mennonite church in Lancaster, Isaac reflected on the way church is a place where the world is welcomed into God’s presence. Here’s an excerpt: While waiting for the Monday night meal to begin, I read a brochure that describes the church’s purpose: “East Chestnut Street Mennonite Church, planting life […]
Will it make me happy?
Title: Will it make me happy? Texts: Luke 12:13-21, Colossians 3:5 Date: August 1, 2010 Author: Thomas Lehman Although today’s scripture passages contain enough attractive material for sermons on several subjects, preparation has been more than usually challenging, and in at least one respect humbling. Preaching to listeners that include our three grandchildren is a […]
Anabaptism at Mt. Zion Mennonite
Isaac took a recent trip to Boonsboro, MD, and spent a week with Mt. Zion Mennonite Church. Here’s an excerpt from the reflection he wrote for the Mennonite Weekly Review: From the window of the nursery I can see the cemetery that stretches across the hill alongside the church — a field planted with rectangular […]
Renting
Title: Renting Date: July 18, 2010 Texts: Num 9:15-23, Jer 29:4-9, 1 Pet 2:9-12 Author: Isaac S. Villegas We are wanders—all of us. Most of us did not grew up here in North Carolina. Even if we did, our ancestors didn’t. We live in a foreign land. I’ve been here for seven years, and I’m […]