Sermon: Mark Rupp

Scripture | Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon | Winning a Debate in the Beloved Community

When you are assigned one of the scripture passages containing the “greatest commandment,” it can be a little daunting.  Not only is this one of CMC’s top 12 scripture passages (or at least the version in Mark’s gospel), it is Jesus’s summation of the entire Law.  What more can a person have to say about it without detracting from it’s beauty or unnecessarily overcomplicating its simplicity?  I can sympathize with those described there at the end of the passage: “No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.”  

Sometimes when I’m whining about being stuck writing a sermon, my husband will tell me to just say “Love everyone” and be done with it.  Or if it’s near Christmas, he’ll tell me the whole sermon should just be “Jesus is the real gift.”  Somehow without ever attending Sunday School, he seems to be able to really get at the heart of it.  While both of his suggestions are tempting options, I’m guessing they would leave you all wanting something a little more to chew on.  

And so, let us set out to approach this passage with fresh, 2020-eyes to see how the beautiful simplicity of the greatest commandment might speak to us in new ways some 2000 years later.  When I read Matthew’s version of the greatest commandment thinking about how it speaks to this moment, I can’t help but first be drawn more to the wider context of the passage than the specifics of what Jesus says.  

If you were with us last week or read Joel’s sermon afterward, you may remember that this is not the first time Jesus has found himself…

Sermon: Joel Miller

Scripture | Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon | Not trapped

There are a lot of intersecting lines within this brief exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees and Herodians and the question of whether or not it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. 

There is the obvious question of paying taxes, with the additional layer of how an occupied people relates to the occupying government.  Think Gandhi in British-occupied India.  Closer to home, think Native Americans in settler-occupied America. 

There is the lively rabbinical debate of what is lawful in the Hebrew Scriptures and what scripture one might use to back up one’s argument.  Think of the episodes that directly follow this one when Jesus is asked about resurrection, and the greatest commandment, responding to each with a citation from Torah.

There is the modern question of the separation of church and state and the relationship between the secular and the sacred and by modern I mean a relatively recent way of thinking that would not have been on the minds of these first century folks.  There’s the question of how we in a representative democracy relate differently to our government than those in the ancient Roman world.  

There is the matter of conscientious objection and when one’s allegiance to a higher authority is in conflict with other authorities.  Think sanctuary and war tax resistance. 

There is the broader issue of our relationship with money and what we do with it. 

There is the rhetorical issue of how to respond when you are given a Yes or No question and neither answer quite works and either answer could get you in trouble.

The text states up front that the goal was to entrap Jesus in what he says.  It’s a trap set at the intersection of religion, politics, and money.  We jokingly say these are topics to be avoided…

Sermon Manuscript

Love you enemy as yourself? 

Scripture | Isaiah 25:6-10, Matthew 5:43-48

Speaker: Joel Miller

Toward the beginning of seminary Abbie and I were asked to lead a congregational retreat for a church near where I grew up.  One of the exercises we had people do was to rewrite the words of Psalm 23 with a different image besides shepherd.  The Lord is my ____, and then go from there, re-writing the Psalm to fit the new image.  That’s the Psalm that goes on to say, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”  We went around the room and shared what we had written.  The Lord is friend, the Lord is my mother, the Lord is my computer.  I don’t remember any of the following lines of anyone’s Psalms except from a quiet dear elderly woman.  Her Psalm included these words: “You prepare a table before me.  I have no enemies.”

Fast forward to just a few weeks ago.  I’m meeting with the Wednesday small group that discusses the Daily Meditation emails from Richard Rohr.  As we’re getting underway, discussing the blatant racism and political polarization around us, one of the participants says “You know, for the first time in my life I feel like I actually have some real enemies.

Of all the things Jesus said, passed down through the gospel writers, “love your enemies” has to be one of the most confounding.  It’s hard enough to love your neighbor as yourself.  I mean, it’s hard enough to love yourself. 

Is it even commendable to seek to love someone who has directly caused you harm, even trauma, who is still out there getting away with it?  What about people who willingly play a part in systems that oppress?  Nice people who perpetuate terrible things just by doing their job.  And…

Sermon | Julie Hart

Scripture | Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:12-26

Sermon | World Communion Sunday: Expanding the Table

World Communion Sunday is a gift of the Presbyterian Church to the larger body of Christian Churches.  Observed on the first Sunday in October, this day calls the Church to be the universal, inclusive Church.  The first celebration occurred in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1933. It was their denominations attempt to bring churches together in a service of Christian unity in which everyone might receive both inspiration and information, and above all, to know how important the broader Church is, and how each congregation is interconnected with each other. Apparently, the concept spread slowly initially. It took the suffering of the Second World War as our nation struggled to create unity and sacrifice that the idea finally caught hold. World Wide Communion Sunday reminded us of our spiritual oneness. It emphasized our common call to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the world as well as to share our resources with our brothers and sisters in need.

Today, World Communion Sunday is celebrated around the world, demonstrating that the church, founded on Jesus Christ, peacefully shares God-given goods in a world increasingly torn apart by profit-focused economies and governments based on greed.

World Communion Sunday offers congregations an opportunity to experience the practice of Communion as a global community of faith. This Sunday has become a time when Christians in every culture break bread and share juice to affirm Jesus’ message of inclusion. On this day, we remember that we are just one small part of the whole body of believers. Imagine some sharing communion in a grand cathedral or a mud hut, outside on a hilltop, in a meetinghouse, in a storefront, or in our homes. Christians celebrate communion in as many…