U-turns Permitted

An Advent/Christmas message from Isaiah 40:1-5 and 27-31. 

The well-known parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus, from Luke 16:19-31, does not teach us about what heaven and hell will be like. It shows that there is hope for both rich people and Lazaruses in Jesus' Good News.

"Lord have mercy...." prayed the sinner in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. A parable of personal forgiveness and kingdom reversal. And a challenge to take these words on our lips every day. Luke 18:9-14.

Jesus taught that we should include those whom we would normally not include. Yet history shows that we (Christians) pretty much ignore Jesus' teaching. The passage is Luke 14:1;7-14.

Much of our Christian teaching and experience focuses on how to keep the law to get/stay in God's good graces. There's much more to be said and experienced than that. The woman in Luke 13:10-17 was bent and bound. Jesus unbent and unbound her. That's good news!

Today we read Luke 12:32-40. Jesus frees us from fear and gives us freedom and joy in using our resources for the betterment of His world.

Today we conclude our series on "What is the Gospel?". After a brief review, we ask ourselves what it might look like to live the kind of life that we might call "God's life".

We live in a culture that wants to "get over" or "fix" suffering asap. We have lost the ability to experience Jesus' presence in suffering. It is part of the good news of the Gospel that we are never alone, especially not in our deepest suffering.

The church has acknowledged Jesus as King throughout the centuries, but has often used the tools of Empire to build His Kingdom. How did Jesus set up God's Kingdom and what does that teach us?

Our series on "What is the Gospel?" continues with thinking about how Jesus rescues all of creation, on every level, from the intensely personal to cosmos-wide.

Part 2 of the "What is the Gospel?" series. Jesus has come to earth to show us God's love. What is God's love? And what about God's wrath? And what do you do if things are pretty bad and God's love seems far away?

This is the first in a series of 6 sermons that attempt to unpack what the "Good News" (Gospel) of Jesus Christ is. Many of us aren't clear or have a too narrow version of the Good News. There is much comfort, hope, and meaning when we come to understand the richness of what God has done for us and all of creation through Jesus Christ - especially in the times in which we live.

This is the last service in the life of Trinity CRC in Broomall. We now conclude our ministry. But that doesn't mean the Kingdom has not been present, or that it will not be present going forward. Isaiah 61 and Luke 4 serve as our source of encouragement.

Romans 11:36 reads: "For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen." This verse sums up the story of the Bible that goes all the way back to Genesis, and it gives us enormous hope and purpose for the future.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" is a well-known text from Philippians 4:13. Paul connects this to the concept of "contentment" in 4:11. Contentment means to "stand strong" and self-sufficient in Christ so that the waves of life don't overcome us. 

Today we read the famous "Parable of the Sower" from Matthew 13. R.F. Capon calls this a "watershed moment" in Jesus' teaching, and that it is. It is much more than "how to listen to a sermon". Your whole perspective on the world might change!

Today we read the famous "Great is Your Faithfulness" passage from Lamentations 3. We place these verses of hope squarely where they are - surrounded by despair. We don't ignore the despair, nor do we allow the despair to quench the light of hope. We hold both together.

As the ragtag people of Israel stand ready to enter Canaan, the Promised Land, God encourages them to be strong and courageous, and not to fear, because He will be with them always. Jesus promises the same to his ragtag group of disciples as He prepares to leave them after His resurrection. And the same promise is for us today.

Today we read Genesis chapter 1, the beginning of the Gospel, the good news, that God is creating out of welter and waste, and He invites us to join Him in that creative process.

We conclude this short series on 2 Corinthians with the famous statement from Paul in 12:10 that when he is weak, he is strong. And we note that Paul is fully in touch with himself here. He recognizes his weaknesses and he recognizes his strengths. And all because Jesus' power is made evident in him.

Today we read 2 Corinthians 5:13-20. Paul shows us the perspective he brings to bear on his troubles. It is a perspective that gives hope and sends us out with a purpose.

In the church, societal and personal crises of his time, Paul uses the term "jars of clay" to describe how weak and vulnerable he and his people were. But in those "jars of clay" is a treasure - the glory of Jesus Christ. "Death is at work in us, but life in you", he says in 2 Cor. 4.

There are very few of us who do not think we are in a time of crisis - whether that be personal, communal, national or global. In 2 Corinthians 1 Paul expresses his own distress and speaks of the comfort that comes from God.

Today Rev. Jane Filkin from the Campolo Ministry Center at Eastern University opens Luke 24 for us, the story of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus after Jesus' death. In their deepest grief Jesus walks with them, teaches them and transforms them.

Proverbs 31 contains the famous description of the "valorous woman", which has often been used throughout the centuries to think of and treat women in a way that is honoring to them or the God who made them. Today we will approach this passage as not so much a description of what a "valorous woman" should and shouldn't do, but as a description of what wisdom looks like, especially in a time of cri...