A pageant is the acting out of a story or stories we know, and many of the stories you’ll hear today, you might have first learned in Sunday School or Vacation Bible School, or from reading your own Bibles.
However, when we tell the story today, we’ll be acting it out and there may be a few things added which aren’t in the Bible. There is no script, so it’s kind of what you call an improv…in other words, we’ll be making it up as we go along!
When You Pray Pentecost Seven, 7/27/2025 Bob Stillerman Luke 11:1-13 Bulletin | Wyatt Pearce Baptism Insert | Sermon Text Luke 11:1-13 11:1 He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” 11:2 so he said […]
For the Record Pentecost Six, 7/20/2025 Bob Stillerman Luke 10:38-42 Bulletin | Sermon Text Luke 10:38-42 10:38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 10:39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to what […]
Stay or Go? Pentecost Five, 7/13/2025 Bob Stillerman Luke 10:25-37 Bulletin | Sermon Text Luke 10:25-37 10:25 An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 10:26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 10:27 He […]
And so…in many ways, this story is a parable critiquing empire. And what’s tricky, is that too often, we, those who regard ourselves as faithful disciples, assume we are the Three Young Men in the story. But how often do we insist on an Americanized gospel? How often do we strive to hear and express God’s truth in languages, customs, and traditions beyond our own? It’s a worthy question on a weekend of national reflection.
I see these flags, and I am flooded with gratitude for the opportunity to know a God of boundless affection, and to live in a nation of boundless possibility. But I also see these flags, and I know, daily, that they are a call to confession and repentance. The blood spilled at Gettysburg and Antietam, Normandy and Selma are spilled in vein, each time our discomfort, our pride, our privilege silence our voices and stymie our advocacy for the unwon freedoms of others. The fellowship of bread and cup is too shallow, if it will not welcome others who worship God on different mountains, if it will not replicate the radical hospitality and goodness of the One we claim to follow.
