The title is the link. What a year 2011 was!
Showing posts with label Mark 12:38-44; 1 Kings 17:8-16; WPC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mark 12:38-44; 1 Kings 17:8-16; WPC. Show all posts
Friday, February 3, 2012
Sunday, January 10, 2010
You are baptized, what did you expect?
Luke 3:15-22, Westminster Pres, Santa Fe. Jan 10, 2010
[Much of the ideas and outline for this sermon came from Joanna Adams sermon broadcast Jan 10, 2010 on day1.org entitled "God Believes in You". This is the date of her retirement after an admirable faithful life in ministry.]
Last weekend many of you had a chance to meet my friends, Jeff and Renee, who were in town visiting from Colorado Springs with their energetic and wonderfully curious four-year old twin girls, Lela and Karis. On Saturday, we went to what is becoming one of my favorite places in town: The children's Museum. Fun with face paint, bubbles, giant Costa Rican cockroaches…. It was great. It must have been just after the cockroaches that Jeff approached me: "Hey Topple (that's what my old friends would call me), Renee and I were wondering if you would baptize our kids tomorrow?" I was a little taken aback: What an honor and a privilege! Participating in people's baptisms are some of the most sacred and treasured moments I have as a minister. But, tomorrow? Don't I need session approval for something like that? Doesn't the family need to be part of the congregation? All of these things that come to my mind as a pastor in a church when all I wanted to do is say: YES! I'd love to and what a joy to know that you want them to be baptized, to claim their inheritance as beloved children of God, and that you want me to do it! [Note: Margaret Sandoval, a beloved elderly elder, said to me after the service..."It probably would have been alright for you to baptize those girls." I love her!]
Well, we didn't have a baptism here last Sunday....perhaps the opportunity will come sometime in the future, decently and in order… I certainly suggested as much.
The way baptisms are done in many churches these days is a curious thing. Some churches baptize tiny tiny infants and make all these proclaimations.. Others have a pool in their buildings, as if that really replicates a river baptism: Submersion! I have done several baptisms since I entered the ministry; from infant to a baptism in an ocean where I almost got swept away by the tide!
In this church, with the person to be baptized, we gather around the font, and I say: "Hear the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.'" During the sacrament, everyone present is invited to:"Remember your own baptism and be grateful." Remember our baptism…? Well, I was just 6 months old...to do this, I had to go to my mother and father to ask for some details... They remembered that Matt Moore lifted me up above his head, and I promptly spit up on his suit. Fortunately that was before the service began.
[Much of the ideas and outline for this sermon came from Joanna Adams sermon broadcast Jan 10, 2010 on day1.org entitled "God Believes in You". This is the date of her retirement after an admirable faithful life in ministry.]
Last weekend many of you had a chance to meet my friends, Jeff and Renee, who were in town visiting from Colorado Springs with their energetic and wonderfully curious four-year old twin girls, Lela and Karis. On Saturday, we went to what is becoming one of my favorite places in town: The children's Museum. Fun with face paint, bubbles, giant Costa Rican cockroaches…. It was great. It must have been just after the cockroaches that Jeff approached me: "Hey Topple (that's what my old friends would call me), Renee and I were wondering if you would baptize our kids tomorrow?" I was a little taken aback: What an honor and a privilege! Participating in people's baptisms are some of the most sacred and treasured moments I have as a minister. But, tomorrow? Don't I need session approval for something like that? Doesn't the family need to be part of the congregation? All of these things that come to my mind as a pastor in a church when all I wanted to do is say: YES! I'd love to and what a joy to know that you want them to be baptized, to claim their inheritance as beloved children of God, and that you want me to do it! [Note: Margaret Sandoval, a beloved elderly elder, said to me after the service..."It probably would have been alright for you to baptize those girls." I love her!]
Well, we didn't have a baptism here last Sunday....perhaps the opportunity will come sometime in the future, decently and in order… I certainly suggested as much.
The way baptisms are done in many churches these days is a curious thing. Some churches baptize tiny tiny infants and make all these proclaimations.. Others have a pool in their buildings, as if that really replicates a river baptism: Submersion! I have done several baptisms since I entered the ministry; from infant to a baptism in an ocean where I almost got swept away by the tide!
In this church, with the person to be baptized, we gather around the font, and I say: "Hear the words of our Lord Jesus Christ: 'All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.'" During the sacrament, everyone present is invited to:"Remember your own baptism and be grateful." Remember our baptism…? Well, I was just 6 months old...to do this, I had to go to my mother and father to ask for some details... They remembered that Matt Moore lifted me up above his head, and I promptly spit up on his suit. Fortunately that was before the service began.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
My Robe's getting longer Mark 12:38-44
Mark 12:38-44; 1 Kings 17:8-16 , Nov 8, 2009
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Santa Fe
On Nov 22 we are going to have a good meal together, courtesy of Kevin Hart and his crew.We’ll recognize thanksgiving and give thanks for all our many blessings; And then we are going to turn in our pledge cards. It’s part of what we call "stewardship." Of course when we talk about stewardship it means being good stewards of or taking care of what’s been entrusted to us—through the offering of our time, our talent, and our treasure to take care of the church and live out it’s mission; but really, when we talk about stewardship--it means money...it means we fill out a blue slip and try to make a go out of church and ministry for another year. We can dream big and set a big budget and think of all the wonderful ways we can be church and keep a roof over our heads.
But of course, this is Nov 22, and we are only at Nov 8. Gives us a few weeks to start thinking and praying about what kind of commitment each of us might be able to make.And to put things in perspective we have two stories of two widows, who may teach us a little about stewardship this morning.
The first widow we find in 1st kings: She’s faced with a dilemma. A crazy person[1]—the prophet Elijah—is challenging her hospitality. First he requests a little water. "Okay, sure." Then, then he requests a little food, just a small morsel of bread…but it’s the last of what she has. She tells him, “ I'm gonna cook what I’ve got for me and my son, so we can eat it and die”....uff., Gloomy situation. But, real life. Some mother's face this dilemma.
What do you do when the cupboard is bear...there is nothing to eat? nothing left? Runnin on empty, account’s run dry. What would be your response to God? ? Give away to a stranger? Give up? Or keep living for another day?
Elijah assures her that her jar will be filled….and she trusts, gives Elijah some bread, and low and behold, "The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah." A powerful testimony of generosity, of trust, coming to a point of desperation and acting with bold generosity.
So what does this teach us about stewardship? Giving? If we have reached the last of what we’ve got, do we give? Or if we have a whole lot, especially compared to this widow…do we give?
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