Rev. Zach

James 1:17-27     Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Athletic products have some of the best motivational slogans.  As I reflect on the last few weeks of readings in Ephesians and John, I can’t help but think about the slogans “Is it in you?” and “Just do it.”   Both of these come to mind when I think about the last several weeks of scripture readings.  For five weeks, we’ve been talking about Jesus as the Bread of Life.  We have been talking about incarnation theology – that is the idea that God is made manifest in you and me through Jesus Christ.  Those are some mighty fancy words.  I don’t mean to suggest that you or I do not understand them.  I mean to say that sometimes we like fancy words to make us feel good about our crumby world.  Of course there are many of us who understand those words but don’t quite feel up to them.  Maybe the idea of God peaking out through your eyes is a bit overwhelming.  Maybe you think that Go...

Jeremiah 1:4-10       Psalm 71:1-6        Hebrews 12:18-29        Luke 13:10-17 Well, it’s soccer season again, or it’s about to be. I have been coaching my son’s team for three seasons, and it looks like this is the first season that we will have most of the same players as the previous season – even though the last season was our least successful. I’m hopeful for a good season, and I’m learning a lot from these boys. Mostly I am remembering things that I have forgotten. Not just technical skills, but things like the idea that a great effort is a success. These kids don’t have the technical skills figured out yet, and so a good effort means a good result. It would be nice if more of the world worked that way. I’m not saying that we should not try to achieve results, or that working harder is better than working smarter. I am saying that sometimes we put so much emphasis on results that we forget about the reasons that motiva...

Sermon delivered 9/2/12  Psalm 15 James 1:17-27 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 G.I.G.O. is a programmer’s acronym for Garbage In Garbage Out. It is used to describe sloppy program design that results in a computer program that functions less elegantly than it could or should. It also represents a certain knowledge of best practices – or at least the ability to see certain errors that are not obvious to the uninitiated – and, therefore it functions as a type of Pharisaic code. One could easily use the phrase Garbage In Garbage Out to describe the scriptures we have read today. Psalm 15 tells us that God only tolerates the blameless – those who speak no evil, do no evil, and will not hear of it done. These are the ones who will abide in the tent of the Lord. James comes across with the one-two punch to tell us that good only comes from God, and that if we hear about Jesus but do not love like Jesus then we are lost even to ourselves. We are pretenders going through the motions of fai...