Sermons

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.

After all, if our God is SO big, and SO strong, and SO mighty, and there’s nothing They cannot do, what do you reckon He or She could do with our hands, our hearts, our voices, our ears, our eyes, and our spirits, if they were all looking forward rather than backward?

All That is Mine is Yours Trinity Sunday, 6/15/2025 Bob Stillerman John 16:12-15 Bulletin | Sermon Text John 16:12-15 16:12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak […]

But not today. On Pentecost, the ruach, the Spirit, the sweeping wind of God, the one that blew across a sea of nothingness in Genesis, and tamed the chaos monster, and provided order to our universe – that very same Spirit falls upon you and me, and all the believers in Jerusalem. 

The text tells us that the apostles will be witnesses in Jerusalem, this big city, where they will first meet the Spirit, and the site of great miracles; in Judea, their home region and the place they feel most comfortable; in Samaria, a place where they feel least comfortable, and whose citizens are construed as enemies; and even to the ends of the Earth, in this instance, Spain, the farthest corner of the Roman empire. Stagg says that commentators often label this growth or outreach as the major trajectory of Luke’s two-volume gospel, but to do so is a mistake. Yes, the earliest Christians are on the move, but the hardest boundaries to cross are not geographic; they are religious, national, political, and racial, just to name a few.