FEELING LENT…HUMILIATION IN THE PRAETORIUM

Matthew 27:27-31

March 29, 2020…Fifth Sunday in Lent

INTRODUCTION

Over these Sundays of Lent we are feeling Lent!  We are exploring in this series of messages the waves of emotion that wash over Jesus during his final days in Jerusalem, while also encountering how these emotions speak to us in our life’s journey.

On previous Sundays, we have witnessed Jesus experiencing exhilaration on Mt. Olive Road as he enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.  We have seen him filled with rage as he cleanses the temple of supposedly holy persons committing unholy exploitation of disadvantaged folk.  We ran into confusion in the Upper Room as Jesus takes on the role of a slave, washing his disciples’ nasty feet.

Last Sunday there was defiance on full display as Jesus exhibits courage in the face of hatred before the religious leaders and Pontius Pilate.

This morning we see the pain of humiliation inflicted upon Jesus’ body and soul.

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FEELING LENT…CONFUSION IN THE UPPER ROOM!

John 13:1-17, 34-35

March 15, 2020  3rd Sunday in Lent

INTRODUCTION

To say this has been a confusing week would be the understatement of all understatements!  The wave of panic over the coronavirus, or COVID-19 if you prefer to sound more scholarly, has washed over us and left us drenched in various degrees of anxiety.  We’ll come back to this shortly…

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FEELING LENT…EXHILARATION ON MT. OLIVE ROAD

Luke 19:28-40

March 1, 2020  1st Sunday in Lent

INTRODUCTION

                  Over these next six Sundays we are going to be feeling Lent!  We are going to be exploring the waves of emotion that wash over Jesus during his final days in Jerusalem, while also encountering how these emotions speak to us in our journey as Christian folk.

This morning we begin with that glorious day on Mt. Olive Road which has become known to us as Palm Sunday:

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MY MISSION FOR GOD-BLOOMING WHERE PLANTED

Acts 16:13-15

February 2, 2020

^13-14 On the Sabbath, we left the city and went down along the river where we had heard there was to be a prayer meeting. We took our place with the women who had gathered there and talked with them. One woman, Lydia, was from Thyatira and a dealer in expensive textiles, known to be a God-fearing woman. As she listened with intensity to what was being said, the Master gave her a trusting heart—and she believed!

¹⁵ After she was baptized, along with everyone in her household, she said in a surge of hospitality, “If you’re confident that I’m in this with you and believe in the Master truly, come home with me and be my guests.” We hesitated, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

INTRODUCTION

Back when I was pastor at Chestnut Hill UMC in the early-mid 90’s, Lynchburg General Hospital was undergoing a massive renovation.  It was a highly stressful time for the employees, to say the least, as they tried to work around all the work going on.

I remember walking through what remained of the gutted nursing station on the 3rd floor Medical/Surgical unit.

There, in the midst of open ceiling conduits and dangling wires and drywall dust and staff members rushing around chaotically was an old white message board nailed precariously to the wall.

An on this message board someone had scribbled with a green magic marker this serendipitous quote: “Change is Inevitable, Growth is Optional.”

And it is. 

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MM4G-MY MISSION FOR GOD

PASSION + APTITUDE = CALLING

Isaiah 6:1-8

January 19, 2020

INTRODUCTION

Last Sunday we pondered the assertion that we don’t go to Church…we are the Church!  We are the hands, the feet, the voice of Christ in this world wherever we are, whenever we are attuned to someone in need of our Lord’s healing, hope-filled grace.

Yes, each of us, as the Church in the world, has a personal mission for God.  So the question becomes “How do I know what my mission for God is?”

Well, it all begins with identifying our unique Calling – that which God intends for me to be and to do.  And that can sometime involve a bit of trial and error!

From the pages of the Preacher’s Cheesiest Stories is the classic yarn about a young Indiana farmer named John who had grown quite bored with his life.  One afternoon, while plowing the north 40, he gazed up in the sky and saw a peculiar cloud formation that spelled what appeared to be the letters GPC. 

Now John was an extremely devout Christian fellow, and he interpreted this as a sign from God to Go Preach Christ.  He immediately hopped down from his tractor and headed off to seminary to become a Baptist preacher.  Upon graduation, he was called to his first congregation—a tiny rural Baptist church down in eastern Kentucky.

Poor John couldn’t preach a lick.  The congregation soon was dwindling.  The elders of the church had a meeting with John and informed him he had to leave.  John protested, “But God called me to this!  I saw it plain as day in the sky while I was plowing a field—clouds spelling GPC—Go Preach Christ!”

                  One of the wise elders said to John, “Did you ever consider God was calling you to Go Plant Corn?” 

                  This morning I want us to explore how we might get a clearer understanding of our personal mission for God.  It all begins when you…

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