Sermon 4.22.12--Luke 24:36-49

Have you ever played the get-to-know-you game where you share with the group the three people, alive or dead or fiction, with whom you wish you could eat dinner? We used to use this question as an icebreaker in the camping ministries I helped lead. Well we’re going to play it right now. It’s pretty simple. Take a few moments to think about the three people throughout history that you wish you could invite to a dinner party. When you’ve decided on one or two or all three of them, share them with the congregation.

Who knows? You might be surprised at who in the room shares your people!

4.15.12--Sermon on Acts 4:32-35

Already in my short tenure in ministry, I have had the great blessing of serving beside some amazing Staff/Parish Relations Committee chairs. Now, I know that most of you know what role this group of people fill, but for those of you who do not, the Staff/Parish Relations Committee, known in the biz as the SPRC, is the hiring and firing committee of the church. They are the people who act both as the voice of the church—bringing the questions, concerns, and compliments of the congregation to the pastor—and as the ear of the church—hearing and responding to the questions and concerns of the pastor.

In other words, this is the committee that new hires—and new appointed pastors—makes friends with really quickly.

Easter Sermon--Mark 16:1-8

He is risen! He is risen indeed! Halleluiah!

We are gathered here on this magical morning to remember and celebrate the glorious resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! So I say again:

He is risen! He is risen indeed Halleluiah!

I love this day, and not just because everyone is dressed in their Sunday best, our pews are just little more full than usual, and everyone has a smile on their face. No, the reason that I truly love Easter is that it is the victory celebration over the cosmic battle between good and evil. The votes have been tallied. The last inning is over. The bell has been rung. And the undisputed champion is, of course, Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

He is risen! He is risen indeed Halleluiah!

Good Friday Sermon on John 19:28-30

Later, knowing that all was now completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

We are slowly nearing the end of our time together. There are only two words left, and they are by no means the easiest to understand or the easiest to hear. Let us take some time to sit and ponder together the enormity of Jesus’ last words before his death as the Gospel from St. John records them.

It is finished.

I have often heard that Jesus’ words here are like that of an artist or worker looking at a finished product. Maybe Jesus was like a composer who has just finished his magnum opus. Did he experience, even as he hung broken and bleeding on the cross, something akin to what Beethoven experienced after working for countless hours and days on his 5^th Symphony? It is finished. The music is made. Or maybe it was more akin to the feeling that falls upon an author after writing the last word of a novel. Did Jesus know the relief of completing the task like Leo Tolstoy felt after finishing War and Peace? It is finished. The novel is way too long, but it is completed. Or maybe it was like the since of peace that a master chef feels after toiling in the kitchen all day over a single meal. Everything was added in just the right amounts at just the right time, and now the dinner is done, ready to eat.

It is finished.