Prepare Ye

Go and Tell. Do Not Be Afraid!   This is my written text for my Easter Sunday sermons on March 27. The lesson is Mark 16:1-8. I've included my Small Talk (Children's Message) because it connects to a part of my message that I wanted to be sure didn't get lost in the activity at the end of my sermon. SMALL TALK I have a gift for each of you. Do you know what it is? It kind of looks like an Easter egg, but they aren’t a bright color, are they. And they have holders, can you read what they say on there? He has risen! Do you know who they’re talking about? JESUS! That is what we celebrate today is that Jesus has been raised from the tomb. And while this looks like a grey Easter egg, it really represents the tomb that they put him in when he died on Good Friday. Open up the tomb. He is not there, but a cross is. Because he died on the Cross, we are forgiven for our sins. That is what makes Good Friday good. Because the tomb is empty, because he

  This is my message for our Services of the Last Supper, which were on Wednesday, March 23 & Thursday, March 24. The text was Mark 14:22-42. Alone. In Mark’s Gospel, more so than the other three, Jesus feels alone. While he knows what awaits him, and has told his disciples what is to come, now that the hour is here, he feels alone. He knows that this meal he celebrates with his closest friends will be his last meal. But he made it more than that. He told them, and they told others so that it would be shared to us and through us, that this meal was more than what it signified. The Passover meal is a sacred tradition in the Jewish culture, but especially so for the Jews of Jesus time when, while you could celebrate Passover anywhere, you had to be in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover meal. It begins with someone, usually the youngest person, asking, “Why is this night different from all other nights?” That allows the story to be told of how the people of Israe

  This is my written text for my sermon on March 20, Palm Sunday. The lessons are Mark 11:1-11 (the entry into Jerusalem) and Mark 14:3-9 (the woman anointing Jesus.)  This is my manuscript, but I only referred to it for quotations. One of the passions I have in studying the Gospels is comparing how they tell the same story in different ways. Both of the readings we have today appear in all four Gospel. Each of them has features that are completely unique. Our first reading is traditionally known as the “Triumphal Entry.” But look at the lesson, does there seem to be much triumph in Jesus coming into Jerusalem? Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields.  Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” John calls it a “great crow