Proper 29 Project

Title: Our God Reigns
Text: Psalm 96
Date: July 4, 2010
Place: LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church (Grand Rapids, MI)
Author: Chaplain (Col.) Herman Keizer, Jr., U. S. Army, ret.

This weekend our Nation pauses to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the establishment of our Nation – the intellectual giants who pledged their lives and fortunes to establish a Nation into which God breathed liberty. We watched parades, heard speeches and sang patriotic songs. As a Nation we proclaimed once again the ideals and ideas that we cherish as a free people.

But we all sense again in this year’s celebration that our National life has changed since 11th of September 2001. We are a nation fighting two wars that continue to add names to the list of those who sacrifice for our freedom. Our victory in both wars is complicated by hostilities that resist efforts for peace.

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Title: Kingdom Table Manners
Text:
Date: November 16, 2010
Place: Duke University Divinity School
Author: Mark C. Gorman

Jesus enters the house of a leader of the Pharisees for a Sabbath meal and starts to do something most of us would consider pretty rude. Looking around at all the other guests, he pokes fun at the way they jockey for the most important places at the table, and then he offers a little bit of tongue-in-cheek advice. First, to the guests: “Don’t choose the most honored place, or look out—someone better than you might show up, and you’ll suffer the embarrassment of being shown to the end of the line.” Then to his host: “You call this generosity? Isn’t it kind of a
cheapskate move to only invite people who can pay you back? Next time, invite the poor, lame, cripple, and blind—the ones who can’t pay you back. Then people will know how generous you are.”

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Title: Rethinking the way
Text: Luke 13:1-9
Date: March 7, 2010
Place: Immaculate Conception Church (Durham, NC)
Author: Fr. Steven Patti OFM

A story in the newspaper last week describes a new book written by a man named Marc Thiessen. The book is called “Courting Disaster,” and it makes the case that waterboarding, a form of torture, is not only useful and desirable, but also permitted by the teachings of the Catholic Church. Mr. Thiessen is described as a practicing Roman Catholic.

In his book, Mr. Thiessen writes: “A captured terrorist is an unjust aggressor who retains the power to kill many thousands by withholding information about planned attacks. “ Therefore, he claims, torture is justified, because by torture you may be able to prevent a terrorist from carrying out an attack, and therefore save lives. As Catholics, how do we respond to his claim? As Catholics, can we ever justify the use of torture? Continue reading →

Title: When the earth melts
Author: Stephanie Gehring
For Christ the King Sunday

There are many days when I do not know how to begin believing. Today is a day like that; what does it mean that Christ is king?

This is not a sermon to victims; I do not have words yet for that. Forgive me my silence.

It is a sermon, instead, to the guilty.

And what do I have to say to you, who have been accused of much you did not do, whose acts of courage and self-sacrifice have gone unnoticed? Continue reading →

Title: Faint Traces of God
Text: Genesis 37
Date: November 7, 2010
Place: Community Mennonite Church (Harrisonburg, VA)
Author: Rev. Jennifer Davis Sensenig

(for audio, follow this link: Faint Traces)

The Family of Jacob

Last Sunday, we heard the story of reconciliation between Jacob and Esau.  These twin boys had shared close quarters in the womb, but as adults they had disrespected and mistreated one another.  Later in life, God moved Jacob toward reconciliation, even though, as Pastor Shirley said, Jacob and Esau reconcile with separation rather than with proximity.

Family peace did not last long for Jacob.  While they were living near Shechem, Jacob’s daughter Dinah was raped by the most honored man in the ruling family of Shechem.  What follows in chapter 34 of Genesis is a devastating cycle of revenge by Dinah’s brothers, the sons of Jacob.  To avenge their sister, they plundered a city—killing every man.  The Bible says of Shechem: “All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and made their prey. And so God intervenes and moves the family. Chapter 35 is the travelogue.  This was a time of great loss for Jacob’s family and three deaths are reported.  Deborah, who was kind of like an aunt to Jacob, his beloved wife Rachel died as baby Benjamin was born, and Jacob’s father Isaac died as well.

These are the family chapters that none of us wants to revisit.  And then, like a family update, we hear a chapter of Esau’s family life.  Genesis chapter 36.  And guess what:  Esau’s descendants become kings!  The Bible seems to say that the chosen line—Jacob and his family—are spiraling out of control and dying off while Esau’s descendants are working their way up the ancient ladder of success to become the kings of Edom.

Now, as we turn to chapter 37, I want us to think about this question: Is there hope for this family? Continue reading →