Prepare Ye

Here is my sermon text for Sunday, June 25 on the text of 2Corinthians 2:1-10. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. A quote that has been given to so many people, you cannot know who said it first – Pain is good, because it lets you know you’re alive.  We all have been caused pain by others, by what they’ve done, said, or how we were treated. And we’ve all done things to cause pain to others. One of the problems is that we are all too aware when we are in pain, we are often oblivious to when we have caused it. We are reluctant to tell people that they’ve hurt us, because we don’t want to give them a second chance. But too often, the ones who have hurt us are the ones closest to us Paul admits that he has hurt the church in Corinth, & they have hurt him. He knew that the friction between the church & him was painful. To avoid mutual pain, Paul didn’t come to visit. Because both sides were hurting, there was no

B ang when the door, as a girl comes home from school with tears in her eyes and throws her backpack to the ground. Her mother comes over to her, puts her arm around her and asks what is wrong. The other children also come in, and look at the little girl and shake their heads. L ifting her daughter’s chin with her finger, the mother asks again, what is wrong. Between her sobs, the little girl says she never wants to go back to school again. When asked why, she says that everyone is mean to her and bullies her. A s they walk into another room, the mother gives her daughter a hug, and they sit down on the couch, her arm still cradling the little girl. She asks her daughter for specifics, exactly what happened to her. The little girl said everyone picks on her. C autiously, the girl begins her story. When she walks down the hall, people move away from her, like they are afraid. When she passes by, they whisper and talk about her behind her back. Some made n

This is my sermon text for June 4, 2017. It is based on the text from Acts, Acts 2:1-7, 12-18, 41-43, portions of the story of the first Pentecost. Peace be with you. The day of Pentecost – which means 50 days – is a festival of the Jewish church. It is the festival of the booths, & one of three pilgrimage festivals, a festival where people are supposed to come to Jerusalem. That’s why the city is packed with so many people from so many different places. They hear this commotion. It sounds like a wind storm, a tornado, a hurricane. People rush to see what is going on, From the house at the center of the commotion come a group of men. These men a speaking in a variety of languages. The people who have come from all over to celebrate the festival of booths can hear these men speaking in their native languages. They are bewildered, amazed & astonished. They wonder if these men are drunk. No. They are filled with the Holy Spirit, which has come as Jesus had promised t