Rev. Zach

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19   Psalm 24     Ephesians 1:3-14     Mark 6:14-29 As a media rich culture we produce and consume vast and untold amounts of magazines, books, music and video.  It seems that we are constantly consuming or communicating about some idea or some opinion about recent events.  Whether you blog, tweet, pin – or even read one of those newspaper thingies – we are involved in constant conversations about the world and its events.  And when we aren’t doing that, some of us love to escape the world in a good book or even a terrible movie. And nothing draws us in like a tragic back-story – you know, the story before the story.  “Years ago you served my father in the clone wars,” said the princess, and we’ve been hooked to one of the most powerful film franchises in the universe for 38 years.  Perhaps it is because a good back-story makes us feel like their story could be our story.  We can believe a character’s ...

2 Kings 5:1-19a           Galatians 6:1-10           Luke 10:1-11, 19-20 Hubris is a rather fancy word, isn’t? It almost makes the user seem as self important as the one being criticized. In Greek society the word carried a legal penalty with it for offenses that were power related and unjust – perhaps even similar to crimes we would call “heinous” today. For us, hubris is just a high dollar word that implies overconfidence to the point of an overblown sense of self importance. As a nation that occasionally refers to itself as the last remaining Global Super Power, it seems reasonable to consider whether or not our sense of self worth is entirely accurate. In fact, I would suggest that some level of self critique has been as much a part of our culture as fireworks and flags. The sacred tome – or at least a good catch phrase – for such a concern is the novel titled The Ugly American , written by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer in 195...

Sermon Delivered July 15, 2012 2 Samuel 6:1-5 Ephesians 1:3-14 Mark 6:1-13 Our readings today have a lot of expectations in them, both implied and obvious. The idea of expectations reminds me of a joke about opinions. Opinions (or expectations) are like arm pits – we all have them, and some of them stink! It’s true. Hard to believe – I know – but not everything that I want or expect to happen is going to happen. Not everything that I expect to happen, even the things that should happen – good things, great things – are the right thing or even the likely thing to happen. That is not a bad thing. It is not necessarily a good thing, either. It’s just the way things work. Even the Rolling Stones knew it. Mick Jagger sang [ though I will not as I do not have the moves like Jagger] , “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you’ll find you get what you need!” That’s true, but I’m not sure that it’s the best theology. At least, it’s not a complete witness. It’...