Sermons

One of the movies nominated for best picture this year was Selma which recalls the time in the not so distant past when the country was divided over the fight for equal rights as Martin Luther King, Jr. gathered people together to make a choice, to take a stand. The movie doesn’t cover his whole life but a period of 3 months, a moment in time about the work leading up to the Voting Rights Act. In one clip from the movie we see MLK say forcefully “It is unacceptable to use power to keep people voiceless” And though this man was nonviolent he did take action to raise consciousness to push against the accepted oppressive norms. This action led to violence as forces within this country resisted the walk to freedom as people were clubbed and beaten for standing up for their rights. Ironically the bridge where the marchers…

As I thought about the wilderness I remembered a time several years ago when I was out in East Texas walking. I was in a wooded area which was enclosed and familiar to me I was passing by trees and streams that I had seen many times before. I was thinking as I walked, trying to understand a situation at work so you would have thought that the familiar surroundings were a good place to do that but for whatever reason I wasn’t content with the setting and felt compelled to go beyond the usual boundaries of my walk to look for a break in the fence enclosing the area and I found one, so I crossed the road and began to walk on a path I had never seen before. I needed a new perspective I was in the wilderness of sort, seeking enlightenment The road was open before…

On Thursday I was in the office studying the gospel “Truly I tell you no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” At that very moment I hear tromp tromp tromp above my head heavy footsteps. Yikes ! Was I about to be reborn from above? Well, Yes and No. It was the AC guys up in the ceiling changing the filters and making sure the system was blowing air efficiently. The next line of the gospel is “the wind blows where it chooses you hear the sound of it but you don’t know where it come from or where it goes.” Practically speaking the wind doesn’t really blow where it chooses if you never change the filters. And part of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus is related to changing the filter in order that the wind of the spirit can get through to him. Nicodemus…