Matthew 13:1-9- " Sixth Sunday after Pentecost"

Synopsis:

Jesus shares a beloved parable (an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, as the old preachers would say). This is one of the few parables where Jesus tells his disciples exactly what he means because specificity matters. Like saying “Black lives matter,” rather than “All lives matter,” it is important to speak with specificity, so Jesus warns his disciples about the different “soils” of the soul–hard, shallow, and thorny–but that there is good, soft soil in which God is growing good fruit. Within each human heart are all of these soils–no one is 100% evil or 100% good. We all have hard places to till up, but we also have good, soft soil where God is at work in our lives. In David Wilcox’s Carpenter Story, we hear a story about the power of creativity and compassion to help till two hard hearts and reconcile two neighbors, turned enemies, turned friends again by a traveling carpenter.

Matthew 10:40-42- "Fourth Sunday after Pentecost"

Synopsis:

On the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, we continue with Jesus teaching to his disciples as he prepares them to be sent into a dangerous world. Finally, he tells them to look for those who will offer cups of cold water to them, those agents of hospitality and grace in unexpected places. We live in a world hungering and thirsting for justice, and each of us have a cup of cold water to share with God’s beloved, but the needs are so great feels like watering the desert. And yet, if we all share our cups of cold water, God will continue to quench every thirst.

Matthew 10:24-39-"Third Sunday after Pentecost"

Synopsis:

On the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, Jesus calls his disciples to fearless discipleship in a dangerous world. What does fearless love look like in our world today? It doesn’t take long to see such grace. In Louisville, we saw images of protestors protecting a police officer who was separated from his partners in downtown underneath the Bearno’s Pizza sign. Love compels us to listen, to learn, and to do as the great, Black theologian Howard Thurman says we must follow Jesus and, “Jesus stands with those whose backs are against the wall.”

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29- "Clearing the Way for Christ: Palm Sunday"

Synopsis:

Throughout Lent, we have been asking God to give us fresh eyes to see all aspects of our life together as a community of faith. On Palm Sunday, the Psalmist reminds us that the most unlikely one becomes the foundation for the whole building. Jesus rides into Jerusalem not on a white steed like a conquering Caesar but on a goofy donkey (a colt even, so his feet were probably dragging on the ground) to show that God’s power and the world’s power are radically and fundamentally different. Jesus conquers not not by shedding the blood of his enemies but by allowing himself to be executed like a common criminal on a Roman cross–a gruesome but regularly used instrument of torture and death. Christ comes to teach us what power truly looks like, as he says in John 15:12-13, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Palm Sunday is a reminder to us that God’s Kingdom is always coming and already arriving, and the policies of God’s Kingdom look radically different than the policies of this world. In God’s Kingdom, lions lay down with lambs instead of eating them and mortal enemies break bread as brothers and sisters.

Luke 12:32-40 - “Stories Jesus Tells: Fight to Keep the Fire Burning”

Synopsis: Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” and then tells a parable of servants waiting for the master to return from a wedding feast. Weddings were sometimes multiple days and in an era before cellphones, a watchman had to keep the fires burning to welcome the master home at any time day or night. This watchfulness is like a fire burning inside, too, where we keep focused on our heart’s deepest desire and duty. According to Jürgen Moltmann, at the core Christianity is a religion on promise. There is a hopefulness to our faith which challenges the despair or numbness of our culture. We are called to keep the fire of hope and love burning through the night time of our fears.

Watch Christian Picciolini’s story on TED.com

(The sermon title comes from the song, “Fight to Keep,” by the band Korean-American Indie Rock band Run River North)

Keywords: Parables, Jesus, Kingdom of God, hope, promise, despair, violence, evil, white supremacy, racism, justice, peace, peacemaking, relationship, transformation, salvation, longing, belonging