Speaker: Julie Hart

Text: Luke 9:23-24

Then he said to them all, If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves (their self-centeredness or ego)  and take up their cross daily and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.  What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?

1.I’ve got great Christian credentials! I grew up in the community church from conception on, attended every Sunday, was involved with my youth group, attended church camp from third through 12th grade, served on camp staff during my college years and even married one of my church camp counselors.  But, somehow I missed a very important message.  It could have been my fault or it could have been the church’s and I suspect it’s a little of both.

Finally, in my mid 30’s when my dad entered alcohol treatment I found my way to a 12 Step Alanon meeting for Adult Children of Alcoholics, I was introduced to the idea of turning my will and my life fully over to the care of God.  This is step 3 of the 12 Step journey- a process based in the Christian tradition.  Here’s the abbreviated version of steps 1-3. I can’t do life alone anymore because I am so unhappy. I believe there is a God that can restore me to health and I’m finally willing to surrender my will & ego and let God take charge.  Now, this might sound easy to you but it hasn’t been for me.  The message I had absorbed growing up was to take God on to call in hard times and to do my best to make the world a better place.   The idea of…

Text: Genesis 28:10-19     

Coming of Age Celebration

What do a baby doll, a Bible, a notebook, a water pitcher, a blanket, a red kick ball, and a communion cup have in common?  This winter I’ve been a guest in each of our elementary school age Sunday school classes.  Our Christian Education Commission asked me to talk with our young people about rituals in the church and why we do them.  Those objects are some of the props I’ve been carting around.

Many of these rituals are ones we share in common with other Christians.  In these classes we’ve started out by gathering in a circle around the red kick ball, which serves as our sun.  We talk about the liturgical calendar.  So far we’ve managed to circle through the seasons of the church year without breaking out in a spontaneous game of dodgeball, but there have been a couple close calls.  After the full circle we talk about Communion and baptism and what they mean to us.

We also talk about the different rituals they will experience as they grow up in this particular congregation.  We dedicate babies as a way of blessing families and committing to raising children as a community.  We give Bibles to second graders and encourage them to be in lively conversation with Bible stories.  Toward the beginning of high school we have a catechism class that gives a big overview of how Mennonites have understood Christian faith.  At the end of high school, we wrap you in a blanket that will be yours to take with you wherever you’re headed next.

Toward the middle of that progression, usually in your twelfth year, is this Coming of Age celebration.  It’s our way, as a congregation, of marking that major transition from childhood to adolescence.  We like to make a…

https://joelssermons.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/20180204sermon.mp3

Text: Genesis 28:10-19     

Coming of Age Celebration

What do a baby doll, a Bible, a notebook, a water pitcher, a blanket, a red kick ball, and a communion cup have in common?  This winter I’ve been a guest in each of our elementary school age Sunday school classes.  Our Christian Education Commission asked me to talk with our young people about rituals in the church and why we do them.  Those objects are some of the props I’ve been carting around.

Many of these rituals are ones we share in common with other Christians.  In these classes we’ve started out by gathering in a circle around the red kick ball, which serves as our sun.  We talk about the liturgical calendar.  So far we’ve managed to circle through the seasons of the church year without breaking out in a spontaneous game of dodgeball, but there have been a couple close calls.  After the full circle we talk about Communion and baptism and what they mean to us.

We also talk about the different rituals they will experience as they grow up in this particular congregation.  We dedicate babies as a way of blessing families and committing to raising children as a community.  We give Bibles to second graders and encourage them to be in lively conversation with Bible stories.  Toward the beginning of high school we have a catechism class that gives a big overview of how Mennonites have understood Christian faith.  At the end of high school, we wrap you in a blanket that will be yours to take with you wherever you’re headed next.

Toward the middle of that progression, usually in your twelfth year, is this Coming of Age celebration.  It’s our way, as a congregation, of marking that major transition from childhood to adolescence.  We like to make a…

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

Revelation 6:1-8

[Text of the sermon is unavailable, but audio is available above.]

…

Text: Jonah chapters 3 and 4  

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.

The first time the word of the Lord came to Jonah it said, “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”  Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, the empire that ravaged the northern kingdom of Israel, Jonah’s home.  They were ruthless, cutthroat, and showed no mercy to captive peoples.  They were Israel’s bitter enemy.

When Jonah is first commanded to go at once and preach to them, he does go at once, in the opposite direction.  Rather than head east, toward Nineveh, he boards the first ship he can find heading west, to Tarshish.  If Jonah lived in Columbus and was commanded to go preach in Washington, DC, he would have jumped on the next flight to LA.

This does not work out well for Jonah, or his ship mates.  A storm arises, and their ship experiences heavy turbulence.  Jonah takes the blame for the storm.  They throw him overboard.  The sea goes calm, and peace is restored.  Except for Jonah, who is sinking like a stone.  But the Lord sends a big fish, which swallows Jonah whole, giving him a three day retreat in the belly of this beast to ponder the meaning of life.  Unable to digest this wayward prophet, the big fish barfs him up onto dry ground, and heads on its way.

And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.

It’s the same word as the first.  To get on his way to Nineveh, that great city, and call for their repentance.  And so we pick up the story from today’s lectionary reading.  The second, less familiar, half of the book of Jonah.

And so Jonah heads on…