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Transfiguration of Our Lord—March 2, 2014
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Exodus 24:12–18 | Psalm 2 | 2 Peter 1:16–21 | Matthew 17:1–9
Summary: Each year we hear that story of Jesus going up the mountain and being revealed in glory. The disciples are amazed and want to stay there, but Jesus leads them down from the mountain. Many of us have had mountain-top experiences, but often those of us in the church feel exhausted in our lives. We are like the disciples and want to stay on the mountain, but we need to take our amazement with us and go with Jesus down the mountain and journey to Jerusalem.
Epiphany VII—February 23, 2014
Preacher: Pastor Angela Freeman
Lessons: Leviticus 19:1–2, 9–18 | Psalm 119:33–40 | 1 Corinthians 3:10–11, 16–23 | Matthew 5:38–48
Summary: Many of us have an image of God as a cigar-chomping loan shark keeping track of our sins. The feeling that we need to be perfect is at conflict with the God with whom we are in relationship with through prayer and worship. Today’s lessons explore what it means to be perfect. God’s love and justice allow all people to live fully in community. The way we are called to live in accordance with love and justice can be at odds with the ways of the world. When we live in community, we let God embrace the brokenness in our lives and form those broken pieces into a beautiful whole.
Epiphany VI—February 16, 2014
Preacher: Pastor Angela Freeman
Lessons: Deuteronomy 30:15–20 | Psalm 119:1–8 | 1 Corinthians 3:1–9 | Matthew 5:21–37
Summary: Today’s Gospel is one preachers would like to skip, so it is important that we take it seriously. I particularly want to focus on Matthew 5:21–24, where Jesus tells us we need to be reconciled with people we have difficulty with. As a congregation, we are called to be a community together. Jesus is not calling us to follow a moral code but to be on a pathway of reconciliation. Being in right relationships with each other is key to the wholeness of the body of Christ.
Today’s sermon in not available for technical reasons
Epiphany V—February 9, 2014
Preacher: Pastor Angela Freeman
Lessons: Isaiah 58:1–12 | Psalm 112:1–10 | 1 Corinthians 2:1–16 | Matthew 5:13–20
Summary: In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells the people that they are the salt of the earth. Salt is useless when it is hidden in a deposit underground, but when brought to the surface, it changes things. In the same way, if we stay here in our church community, we cannot change the world. If we begin to spread our salt around the world, we can begin a revolution. We live out our calling when we scatter our salt in our neighborhood and in the world.
Presentation of Our Lord—February 2, 2014
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Malachi 3:1–4 | Psalm 84 | Hebrews 2:14–18 | Luke 2:22–40
Summary: Today’s powerful Gospel text reminds us that God is always showing us something new. As Mary and Joseph follow the requirements of the law, the baby Jesus is shown as a light to the world. This light reveals what God is up to. God is present in the flesh and with us forever, God’s word is living and still speaking to us, and God’s law is fulfilled in love. Simeon sees God’s word fulfilled in a baby, and that is enough for him.
Epiphany III—January 26, 2014
Preacher: Pastor Angela Freeman
Lessons: Isaiah 9:1–4 | Psalm 27:1, 4–9 | 1 Corinthians 1:10–18 | Matthew 4:12–23
Summary: Today’s Gospel reminds me of the old commercial that asks, “Can you hear me now?” In our vocation as Christians, God asks each of us this question. Sometimes we are called to get up and move to follow Jesus, but mostly we are called to serve where we are. Jesus called the disciples to follow him, but they also went to live in the town of Capernaum. We are called to action that is dynamic and passion-filled, that incorporates our gifts into ministry, and that shares our scars and creates authentic community.
Epiphany II—January 19, 2014
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Isaiah 49:1–7 | Psalm 40:1–11 | 1 Corinthians 1:1–9 | John 1:29–42
Summary: In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist points to Jesus as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, and some of John’s disciples follow Jesus. Most sermons focus on this second part, but I think it is more important to see that John notices God at work in the world, tells people, and it changes their lives. We are reluctant to tell the story of God at work in our lives and in our church. We are called to tell others that God is at work in the world.
Baptism of Jesus—January 12, 2014
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Isaiah 42:1–9 | Psalm 29 | Acts 10:34–43 | Matthew 3:13–17
Summary: Today’s Gospel is the short, powerful moment when Jesus comes to be baptized. There has been lots of theological discussion, but more important is the way God takes this old tradition of baptism and uses it to recognize Jesus as God’s son. We all know the dry bones of our lives, but God is calling us to live wet in our baptismal promise—to be drenched in God’s love, to see through the eyes of faith, and to stand in solidarity with others.
Christmas II—January 5, 2014
Preacher: Pastor Angela Freeman
Lessons: Jeremiah 31:7–14 | Psalm 147:12–20 | Ephesians 1:3–14 | John 1:1–18
Summary: I love looking at the stars at night and thinking about the wonders of the cosmos. In my home in northern Michigan or here on the North Shore, we see the light of those stars clearly in the dark night sky. Have you seen the light of Christmas glowing out of the manger? As human beings we think we can save ourselves, but we often need something greater than ourselves. We need a savior, a light shining in the darkness, the light that is God come to rest in the manger—the star shining in the darkness and calling us to real life.
Christmas Eve—December 24, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Isaiah 9:2–7 | Psalm 96 | Titus 2:11–14 | Luke 2:1–20
Summary: In our minds, Christmas often is full of beautiful stained-glass pictures, but Luke paints a more realistic picture of people in their lives, with taxes and no room reservation. This is the scene when God brings unconditional love into the world. As much as we want life to be picture perfect, life intervenes, but God still chooses to be with us, even in our most desperate times. God comes as a child to proclaim justice, call for peace, heal the sick, and feed the hungry. God makes a habit of nesting his unconditional love with each of us.
Advent IV—December 22, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Angela Freeman
Lessons: Isaiah 7:10–16 | Psalm 80:1–7, 17–19 | Romans 1:1–7 | Matthew 1:18–25
Summary: This week we have a crib to represent the story from Isaiah that a child will be born to God’s people facing invasion as a sign that God is always with them. Matthew applies this story to the child born to Mary and Joseph. and it reminds us that God comes in the form of something as ordinary as a baby. God became flesh and bone in Jesus and experienced pain and death. We do not need to look to the heavens or follow a star; God is already there in all the hard and scary places of our lives.
Advent III—December 15, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Isaiah 35:1–10 | Luke 1:46b–55 | James 5:7–10 | Matthew 11:2–11
Summary: In the lesson from Isaiah, the people are returning home from captivity and find God as streams in the desert, so that is our symbol this week. We all experience deserts in our lives as individuals and as a society. The river of life flows over and through us, bringing refreshment, but we may have to look for it. Yet, God showers us with blessing—our hope in Jesus Christ.
Advent II—December 8, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Angela Freeman
Lessons: Isaiah 11:1–10 | Psalm 72:1–7, 18–19 | Romans 15:4–13 | Matthew 3:1–12
Summary: This week we have the stump from which Isaiah tells us a flower will spring. But it is so hard and dry that we can’t imagine anything growing out of it. We each have times when our lives and souls are hard and dry and in need of healing. During Advent we prepare for the baby who will bring grace so the lion lies down with the lamb. God invites us to move beyond the dry stump, be free from everything that imprisons us, and receive the Word of God with us.
Advent I—December 1, 2013
Preacher: Pastor Jeff Lilley
Lessons: Isaiah 2:1–5 | Psalm 122 | Romans 13:11–14 | Matthew 24:36–44
Summary: In the lesson from Isaiah, the prophet says he saw the word of God, so this year we will have a visual aid each week during Advent. This week we have a mountain because Isaiah talks about nations streaming to the mountain of God. The mountain is an image of strength, permanence, and power, but when we think of God on the mountain, it is easy leave God out of our lives. But we know that God came to be with us in the form of a child. Paul tells us to put on Christ like a garment so God is with us—in every fibre of our being. This way we are the people of God for the whole world.