Mindful Leader

Youth Mission Report Sunday

Noah Haight is reading the Scripture.  Short excerpt of the Summer Singers.  Melissa Doloff introducing the speakers.  Lindsay Blanchett, Jaimie Olson, Isaac Reese, and then moi.  Youth went to Mescalero, New Mexico.  Scripture is from Sermon on the Mount and not putting our lights under a basket.  

Forgotten Women of the Bible -- Hannah

1 Samuel 1 -- I read the end here -- verses 20 to 28 but the liturgist had read all of the big (and hard) words earlier.  The Youth had sung an anthem that included the words "I believe in God, even when God is silent."  We had new members coming in and I cut the sermon a little short.  Not a lot.  Think I got the "key points."  Hannah starts the story of moving from chaos to order (depends on who's definition of order I think).  She is the mother of Samuel.  But the first two chapters focus on Hannah, not Samuel.  

Forgotten Women of the Bible -- Devorah

This is from Judges 4.  We would in English call the heroine here, Deborah, but I have a friend named Devorah, and I felt that saying her name, in Hebrew, was the right thing.  Devorah stands on behalf of being courageous.  She is a fiery woman or maybe a woman of lightening or woman of the torch.  She stands like a beacon, and deserves to be remembered.

Advent 1 -- Putting Scripture Front and Center

Text is from 2 Kings and Josiah's finding of the scripture.  Most of the "exegesis" (reading out) is during the reading itself.  Sermon contains elements of restatements from July ("Why") and earlier in November (David moving Ark to the center of political authority).  

Using suggested scriptures from Luther Seminary -- Narrative Lectionary.  

Who Picked This Scripture ? God Did!

Thanksgiving week and the Narrative Lectionary gave me Isaiah 5: 1-7 and Isaiah 11: 1-9.  I think the key to this reflection is the Henri Nouwen in the middle.  It is the bridge ... but it is also the fact that this is week 52 of the church year (as it relates to the calendar).  This is Christ the King Sunday.  

The title comes from how I open the sermon -- a scene of death and brokenness and devastation and then we have to preach on Thanksgiving?  Huh?  

But to return to the Nouwen ... we are who we are as a result of the lives we have lived.  We need to get away from this idea of selecting this and rejecting that.  All of it is makes us who we are ... 

Genesis 32: 22-30 -- Jacob Wrestles with God

I love this passage.  I really should preach four or five times on this come next summer.  But if Sara/Abraham are us, Jacob is really us.  A trickster who fools himself for a while but then his ways meet someone better at it than he is ... and God calls Jacob back to face his brother.  We all wrestle with God and I would hope and pray are marked by that struggle, but then I love this passage.  

Genesis 18 and 21 -- "All things are possible: Laughing in Despair and Joy"

This is the 9:00 Service at Hilltop and in my vanity, I had believed the 10:30 was "better" but I didn't record it.  Ugh.  This one is a smidgen longer and different:  not a lot, but some.  I for example used the Monsters, Inc at 9 and not at 10:30.  Oh well. 

But what I really play with is the idea of do we really believe all things are possible with God?  Brueggemann says if we say "no" then we are saying there is no God, but if we say "yes" then the implications of that are incredible.  I have been saying during worship "Bonhoeffer" a lot for the last three years -- I think it is time for "Brueggemann" to be uttered.  

These are better in my opinion, when I go into the sanctuary on Saturday and deliver them to an empty room.   

Then, Why the Wesleyan Understanding of "Church"?

The two readings were from Genesis and Hebrews -- with an attempt to focus on the idea of Grace.  This was not a particularly scripturally based exposition of God's word.  A little history and a lot of Wesleyan Theology.  

First, Why God?

There is a lot of scripture here but in theory it is based on Joshua 24: 14-15 but it is also Job 38, Proverbs 3, Acts 5, Genesis 1, John 1, and Amos 7 with a touch of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics thrown in for good measure.  Three basic parts here:  prove God, some characteristics of God (not exhaustive) and finally, what does this God expect of us?  

When we first laid this out a few months ago, the idea of linking it in any way to Jefferson/July 4th was not part of the "plan" whatever that means.  

This is one of the longer sermons I have ever given.  Over 34 minutes.  

May 24, 2015 -- Pentecost and Confirmation Sunday

The reading is from Acts 2 (1-21).  That said, I focus more on the idea of 'what does this mean?'  The real "audience" (if one doesn't mind using that term here) is not everyone there, but the 12 youth being confirmed.