Title: Solomon’s Request Texts: Psalm 111, 1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58 Date: August 16, 2009 Author: Tom Lehman Psalm 111 was read a few minutes ago; it is an acrostic. After the opening “Praise to the Lord” there are 22 lines, each beginning with the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet. (Waltner) […]
Bidudh nei: letter from Nathan
I have returned… returned to the States and now back to Bangladesh. Going back for Michael and Rachael’s wedding was a really nice vacation. They’re now happily married and moved into their new house in Lancaster. Derrick and Rebecca also recently bought a place in Harrisonburg and I was able to visit that as […]
Absalom, Absalom
Title: Absalom, Absalom Texts: 2 Sam 18:5-9, 15, 31-33 Date: August 9, 2009 Author: Isaac S. Villegas “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son” (2 Sam 18:33). With these words David is at his end. It’s too much for […]
Being Church
Title: Being Church Texts: Ephesians 4:1-16, John 6:24-35 Date: August 2, 2009 Author: Dave Nickel Last summer, I was asked if I would be interested in doing an internship with the five congregations of Eastern Carolina District. I said yes, but I had some reservations. Most of them were pragmatic: How would my time be […]
Power: a meditation on peace
I gave a short meditation during a worship service for our Virginia Mennonite Conference summer assembly: “Jesus is our peace.” They asked me to share about Jesus’ beatitude on peacemaking from Matthew 5: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” Below is what I came up with. ————————————————————– Isaac S. […]
Report on MCUSA Convention 2009
Mennonite Church USA Delegate Assembly 2009 Report by Ryan Koch, Chapel Hill Mennonite Fellowship July 7th, 2009 Tom, Isaac, and I arrived in Columbus on Tuesday afternoon just in time for evening worship which inaugurated the conference. A few details about the conference: all together nearly 7500 individuals attended. The total number of delegates was […]
Desire
Title: Desire Date: July 12, 2009 Texts: 2 Sam 6:1-5, 12b-19; Mk 6:14-29 Author: Isaac Villegas Lord of life, lead us into your grace and truth. Give us eyes to see the truth about ourselves, and the grace to not run away from what we see, but receive your new life. Amen. Sometimes the truth […]
Weakness and Perseverance
Title: Weakness and Perseverance Texts: Mk 6:1-13, 2 Cor 12:2-10 Date: July 5th, 2009 Author: Dave Nickel 1. The church we attended in Phoenix had a “mentoring” program. Through this program, I was asked to mentor a high school student named Dan. I agreed to try, but I didn’t know what it meant to […]
Available
Title: Available Date: June 28, 2009 Texts: 2 Sam 1:1, 17-27; Ps 130; Mark 5:21-43 Author: Isaac Villegas “God made everything that is made for love; and the same love sustains everything, and shall do so for ever.” ~ Julian of Norwich I’ve never seen a grown man beg like Jairus. He came to Jesus […]
David and Goliath
Title: David and Goliath Date: June 21, 2009 Texts: I Sam 17:32-49, Mk 4:35-41 Author: Isaac Villegas I used to play a lot of soccer growing up. I was part of a club team, which basically means High School soccer wasn’t good enough for us. We played all year round, traveling all over the country […]
Hoto pare bristi hoi: letter from Nathan
Nathan Charles MCC Bangladesh June 9,2008 It’s storm season. It’s almost over from what I understand, but we’re kind of on the edge of the end of storm season and about to move into the rainy season. During storm season localized thunderstorms spin up and create mischief before moving on. For me these storms are […]
Closer: sermon on the Trinity
Title: Closer Date: June 7, 2009 (Trinity Sunday) Texts: Isa 6:1-8, Ps 29, Rom 8:12-17 Author: Isaac Villegas In April, celebrities took over downtown Durham. Hollywood came to town. They were filming a movie called Main Street. Most of the young ladies were very interested in the star of this movie, which is Orlando Bloom. […]
The miracle of communion
Title: The miracle of communion (Pentecost) Date: May 31, 2009 Texts: Rom 8:22-27, Ac 2:1-21 Author: Isaac Villegas I’ve been thinking a lot about Ben’s sermon last week, his sermon on Ascension. And the more I think about it, the more it makes sense that Jesus goes away, that he ascends to the Father, that […]
Love one another
Title: Love one another Date: May 17, 2009 Text: John 15:9-17 Author: Monica Schmucker Love. Our lectionary texts seem to be marinating us in passages on love these past few weeks. Our gospel text this week comes from one of my favorite parts of John. These scenes are an intimate portrait of Jesus with his […]
Abide in me
Title: Abide in me Texts: John 15:1-8, Acts 8:26-40, I John 4:7-21 Date: May 10, 2009 Author: Isaac Villegas “Abide in me.” Jesus says that’s what we are supposed to do. “Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither […]
The broken body of Christ
No one is proud of weakness. We don’t like to put our brokenness on display. But the Lord’s Table confronts us with our wounded bodies. The brokenness of Christ’s body confronts us with the wounds in our own life. In this short article, Isaac reflects on the way our congregations are broken and distributed as […]
Who are you?
Title: Who are you? Date: May 3, 2009 Texts: Acts 4:5-12; I Jn 3:16-24 Author: Isaac Villegas Who are you? There are a number of ways to answer that question. You can give your name: Hi, I’m Isaac. Or maybe your job, or talk about your parents, or about where you’re from. Who are you? […]
The boundaries of God’s love
Title: The boundaries of God’s love Date: April 26, 2009 (3rd Sunday of Easter) Texts: Psalm 4, Acts 3:12-19, 1 John 3:1-7, Luke 24:36b-48 Author: Thomas Lehman When I started to prepare this message I was drawn to the passage from 1 John Ch. 3. Verse two deserves special mention before I take up the […]
Those who haven’t seen
Title: Those who have not seen Date: April 19 (Easter 2) Texts: Acts 4:32-35, Ps 133, I Jn 1:1-2:2, Jn 20:19-31 Author: Isaac Villegas “if the church does not live by miracles she does not live at all.” ~ John H. Yoder Last week was Easter. And we heard the story of Mary’s encounter with […]
To practice love: Maundy Thursday
Title: To practice love Date: April 9, 2009; Maundy Thursday, foot-washing service Texts: John 13:1-17, 31b-35 Author: Isaac Villegas In a few minutes you will walk up here and stand in line, waiting your turn to wash feet and have your feet washed. You will sit down on a chair. Take off your shoes. Then […]
The way of the donkey
Title: The Way of the Donkey Date: April 5, 2009 Texts: Phil 2:5-11, Mk 11:1-11 Author: Isaac Villegas What’s with the donkey? This is the most important publicity moment in Jesus’ life. And he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. We all know that image matters. People notice the details when you’re important. Just think […]
Ekano Ami Besto: letter from Nathan
To every thing there is a season, turn, turn turn. Bangladesh is one of MCC’s oldest projects. There’s a plaque in the Dhaka commemorating the first volunteer in West Bengal back in 1946. At one point MCC Bangladesh had over 300 National staff and something like 70 Expatriate service workers or Bideshi’s, but a few […]
Love heals
Title: Love Heals Date: March 22, 2009 Texts: Num 21:4-9, Eph 2:1-10, Jn 3:14-21 Author: Isaac Villegas “What would not have been assumed would not have been healed.” ~ Gregory of Nazianzus “The God who created us without us will not save us without us.” ~ Augustine What a strange story. The people encounter poisonous […]
Anger
Title: Jesus comes with a whip Date: March 15, 2008 (3rd Sunday of Lent) Texts: Ex 20:1-17, Jn 2:13-22 Author: Isaac Villegas Jesus, like any good Jew, takes a trip to the temple in Jerusalem for Passover. And when he finally gets there, after his long trip, he is disgusted. It’s not the holy place […]