Rev. Zach

1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14     Psalm 111:1-10     Ephesians 5:15-20     John 6:51-58 Let’s get real.  That’s what people say when they feel that they have some undisputed – and uncomfortable – truth to share.  I think our readings approach that phrase in a different way.  I think they speak to us today about what it means to be “real” – to find and know and understand our identity and purpose. At least, that is where we begin with Solomon.  If you read chapters 1 and 2, you’ll get a little more detail.  In fact, you might find it to be like a Spark Notes version of the Game of Thrones (sex, betrayal, vengeful bloody transfer of power)!  In fact, the last several weeks of Old Testament readings have been like that.  The Psalms have complimented them, and have been woven between lament over our sinfulness and praise for the way in which God is always faithful – even when we are not. The letter to the Ephesia...

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20     Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23     Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16     Luke 12:32-40 The scripture passages we have received today remind me of the relatively modern invention of the Choose Your Own Adventure books. If you have not experienced this genre of children’s literature, each book has a central theme and puts the reader as a first person narrator in the story. At certain points the reader must choose what to do next and turn to the corresponding page (which is not necessarily the next page). The story continues until another choice is required, and the same pattern continues until you reach the end of a story line – whether by peril or success – depending on your choices as the reader. I tell you this because I think there is a fairly simplistic story line that can be read out of these passages, and there are more complex threads to find if you are willing to “follow the white rabbit” as both Lewis Carrol and the Matrix invite u...

Sermon Delivered on August 19, 2012  1 Kings 3:3-14 Ephesians 5:15-20 John 6:51-58 Have you ever been so engrossed in a book or a project that you did not notice that the lights were still off until someone else turned them on? Or how about looking for your glasses when they are on your head or your keys when they are in your hand along with five other things? These are moments that make you say, “Duh.” These are moments that confirm our humanity by our obvious limitations. These are moments that remind me of comments of elders from my youth. Comments like, “Don’t you have enough sense to come in out of the rain?” Or, “If your head wasn’t attached, I bet you’d leave it somewhere.” Of course whenever I would tell my mother that I was trying she would simply sigh and say, “Yes. Yes, you are.” Then again, one of my favorite of her euphemisms was, “Boy, you talk like someone a tree fell on.” I’m not sure what the current phrase might have been for that type of thing in Jesus’ day ...