Sermons

Second Sunday in Lent - March 8, 2020 Monroe Nicodemus: Stretches to do something new: 1 Graphic Some time recently I came across a picture of a sign on a building. In big letters it said: “Be brave enough to suck at something new.” It reminded me of a book I read many years ago titled A Pretty Good Person: What It Takes to Live With Courage, Gratitude and Integrity by Lewis Smedes. The message of that book was similar to a message I had come across even earlier where the argument was made that life was a lot like baseball. The author of that book pointed out that, like life, baseball is the only sport that keeps track of – actually makes a big deal of – errors. Abraham’s saga begins. There are so many times in the Bible where the drama is so understated – as in "“So Abram went.” Events that just smack you up side the head are expressed in just a couple of words. Like the similar passage in the John 11:35, “Jesus wept.” All of Jesus compassion – it fills the NT – redu...

March 1:The First Sunday in Lent – St. John’s Opening It is good to be back here at St. John’s. It’s been a while. Why we’ve had Christmas and a New Year’s Eve. A new decade. And Ash Wednesday has now come and gone. Lent has begun. It’s a time of the year that I dreaded when I was a parish priest . There were more activities, more things to keep track of, more pressure to grow, and more hope that our numbers would be better this year than they were the last year. I must tell you that it’s been a delightful deliverance for me to be retired. It’s delightful to be here with you this morning. The keeping of Lent has been a great blessing to me from the time I was a youth. It’s been a time when I could hear the call to be better than I was. And for most of my life it has been a time when the voices of distraction have been tamed. I have been more aware that most of my life and energy is spent on things that are ultimately not very important. Lent has been a time that flashes, “Major on...