Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Sometimes I preach: Advent, John 1:1-14 (SSUMC 12/7/14)



Before anything was, when there was only darkness and chaos, there was the Word, and through the Word, God spoke and from the Word came light. And God saw that it was good. I bring this up because I think it is important during this Advent season when we sing and celebrate the light of the world, to at least acknowledge to ourselves that at times we have chosen the darkness... When there was only darkness and chaos. There was the Word. This is where John’s story begins. And the Word was life and life was the light of all people. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. And the light came into the world, but the world did not recognize him. He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. We have a complicated relationship to light. History has shown this to be true. The Bible itself shows this to be true We know light is what we need, but light can unsettling Because the light shows you who you really are; shows the world for what it really is. Shows what you are not yet, but could be. It reminds me of the story in Exodus, where Moses comes down from speaking with the Lord and his face is glowing. It is literally radiant. And the people are so afraid that they beg him to cover his face. Sometimes, when faced with a glimmer of Light that created us, we turn away and beg for it to be hidden. We go and hide in the darkness. Men hated the light and loved the darkness, because their deeds were evil. And some days, it is can be pretty comfortable. We can wrap ourselves in the blanket of privilege and hide in the closet. And sure you might run into some stuff, no one can see your fears, and your insecurities and your misdeeds. I think it’s important to say that out loud: that sometimes we have loved the darkness more than we have loved the light. And yet, I think we know that despite the times we have turned to hide in the darkness, we know that we were not made for hiding in closets, Deep down, even if we are scared, that we were not made for darkness...


(Listen to the rest of the sermon here)

Thursday, October 23, 2014

The World Drenched with Grace

God is at work all among us. 

God is at work constantly in the world. 

Theology is not a body of  knowledge that we memorize and put in file cards. 

Theology is a way of perceiving the world as drenched with grace, as filled with the life and power of God.”

Luke Timothy Johnson


May we always have eyes to see it.





Sunday, August 24, 2014

Sometimes I Preach: Walking with God (Back to Jerusalem), Luke 24:11-35 (SSUMC 8/24/14)


Because we believe that God walks with you down the road, surrounding your whole life with grace. We proclaim that before you took your first steps, God was with you. Even when you’re walking away from the place you should be, God meets you on the road. And if we were being technical here, I would tell you this is what prevenient grace looks like. This is the dawning of salvation in your heart. This is your heart burning within you even though you don’t know why.

This is the beginning of your walk with God, the part of the walk when you don’t realize God is with you.

But we also proclaim that we believe that when the moment comes when you realize you are in the presence of the resurrected Christ, it changes you.

John Wesley would say this is the dual moment of your justification and regeneration. But if that sounds a little ridiculous, let me put it this way. This is the moment you wake up. This is the moment who see Christ for who he is, see yourself for you are and see the world that Christ has issued in. This is the moment you are reborn.

This moment when you see the resurrected Lord in the breaking of the bread.


Listen to the rest of the sermon here



image credit: Walk to Emmaus Stain Glass in Pitman UMC's sanctuary (pitmanumc.org)

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Sometimes I preach: The Reason Behind All This Time and Sand, Exodus 19:1-6,32:1-6 (SSUMC on 6/1514)

We started a new sermon series this week at SSUMC called Painting Pictures of Egypt, based on various stories from Exodus and Numbers featuring the Israelites during their time in the wilderness. I had the privilege of kicking us off last Sunday. If you are interested in the song I mention at the very beginning which the series is based on, you can hear it here


"We meet the Israelites here on the third new moon after they had gone out from Egypt. Three months had come and gone since the water of the Nile turned the blood, frogs and locusts filled the sky, since the Angel of the Lord swept through Egypt but passed over them, since they marched out Egypt with gold and silver and song. Three months since the Red Sea split in two and they walked across on dry land. Three months since they watched Pharoah’s army swept away in that same water.


Three months.


And we meet them in the wilderness.


Three months already they’ve been walking around here.


And yet today we find them camping at the base of a mountain in the wilderness.


And the glory of the God surrounds that mountain and it burns with the power of God, which they have been witness to, time and time again.


God is about to call Moses up on there on that  mountain and God’s about to hand down the covenant, the 10 commandments, the stone tablets, the whole shebang.


And as he goes, Moses leaves them with a promise from the mouth of God. “That I  who delivered you from Egypt, who brought you here on eagles’ wings, I will make you my people.”


And then Moses goes up. And the people are left

Still in the wilderness.


For forty days.


Waiting at the base of the mountain .


Still in the wilderness.


After forty days, the word goes out that Moses is late. That maybe he’s dead. That maybe its over.

That maybe this mountain in the wilderness is as far as they get..."

Listen to the rest of the sermon here

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

#Guyturns27

My favorite boy turned 27 two weeks ago, which is convenient since that means his birthday weekend fell over the holiday weekend!
                                                

Though Guy doesn't take birthday nearly as seriously I do, I still wanted to make a big deal out of it since he is pretty sure that 27 is going to be the best age.




So starting on Friday, we began celebrating. I made him his favorite desert (that I make) and we took off for a date at the Fernbank Planetarium.

               

Then after church on Sunday, we drove to Chattanooga Bend State Park for a picnic and hiking alongside the river.

 



I might have vandalized a little bit. But it seemed worth it.








After hiking we drove to LaGrange to spend the night. We ate at Brickyard Grille and Tavern in downtown LaGrange. (side note: the table looks a table made for a giant. In real life, I did not get that impression)

                    


The next morning, we drove to Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park (the largest state park in Georgia) to explore.

(Photo evidence of our pit stop at a Piggly Wiggly: Guy wanted to try to some local cuisine)

               

The park itself was impressive and we had a great time exploring some of the trails, though my favorite part was this place which overlooked the rest of the park.

 

(I could have stayed there all day with our pork cracklins, my mismatched socks and our picnic blanket.)



Happy 27th birthday, Guy. May it be the best year yet and the beginning of even better ones to come.

I love you. 


Friday, May 30, 2014

Spring 2014: An Inadequate Overview

Back on February 15, I looked ahead at my calendar and had an overwhelming feeling of excitement, followed by a tiny bit of panic (no weekends=rough end to semester)

But almost every weekend from Feb 21 to past weekend (May 26) was filled by something wonderful, which made it worth it. 

Weddings, family visits, retreats, graduations, murder mystery dinners, lock-ins, you get the idea. 

It was crazy and busy and beautiful. 

But between that and the whole PhD thing I'm still working on, there was little time left for other things like blogging...or scrubbing my shower (which in case you were wondering was the first thing I did after I turned in my last paper) 

But without further ado, here is a brief glimpse of what my semester looked like: 

Jamie's beautiful wedding weekend: the most wonderful weekend of this horribly cold winter



My spring break was busy, filled with family, birthday surprises, trips to the Zoo, Stone Mountain, Millidgeville (not pictured the NT exegesis paper I graded) 

Catie's getting married! 

Easter 2014 

Sara's got an MFA. 

 Alex has an MDiv...and a pug named Bishop. 

The brilliant Candace (and my sweet church compatriot) at the UMW Fashion Show (you read that right) 

Mother's Day Painting with the Family. 

So that was a brief brief glimpse into all the good parts of my semester. It was filled to the brim with people that I love. There was also lots of stress as the final papers refused to write themselves no matter how hard I begged and working at church as more paperwork than anyone would guess. But one year of PhD work is officially down and the summer is here with new fun adventures and schoolwork (Ich lerne Deutsch lesen.) 

Stay tuned for the next post: Guy turns 27. It involved a lot of dessert. 



Jennifer


Monday, February 24, 2014

Sometimes I preach: When Jesus Says Things We Wish He Wouldn't, Matt 5:21-37 (SSUMC on 2/16/14)

Warning: I complain about the weather because let's face it. Winter is terrible, even not that bad Georgia winters. 
http://www.kennethdowdy.com/iconography13.html

"The Jesus I picture in my head wears sandals all the time so obviously, he couldn't have been cold, right?

And it was strangely comforting as I thought about it. That somewhere in time, Jesus had once maybe been outside in 35 degree rain.

And it wasn't the Jesus I pictured.


But following Jesus is like sometimes. We have these  sometimes even unspoken expectations and pictures of who Jesus is in our minds, and every now then we encounter something that forces us to readjust our image."






image source: http://www.kennethdowdy.com/iconography13.html