May 15

Accept No Substitutions

Galatians 1:13-17; 2:11-21

Last week’s sermon examined the first church council in Jerusalem.  Where it was recognized that the Gentiles have full acceptance by faith alone in Jesus Christ.  Shortly after this Council, Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians.  This was probably the first book in our New Testament that was written.  For the next three sermons we are going to consider the challenges facing the church especially the challenge of full conclusion.

He begins this letter with something astonishing, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel (1:6).”  Of course, he quickly adds, that there is no other gospel, but there are perversions of the gospel that can send us in the opposite in a hell-bound direction.  The manifestation of the perverted gospel that Paul address in Galatians has to do with the mixing of works and faith, especially ritualistic works of the Old Covenant.  The perverters taught that to be saved, you must have Christ plus ______.

Beliefs and practices that pervert the gospel have always been a temptation to believers.  They may be things that we are comfortable with, or practices that we think prove or devotion to Christ, or rituals that set us apart from the not-so-committed Christians.  Requirements are piled upon believers that are supposed to make them better Christians.  All these things only bind believers and keep them from the freedom that is in Christ Jesus.  We are set free from the evil age by the grace of God in the giving of Christ for our sins.

The call of Galatians is to stand firm in the freedom that Christ has secured for us.  We cannot allow the gospel to be added to, or diminished.  We can only proclaim grace and peace given to us by God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins o set us free from this present evil age, so that we can live according to the will of our God. (1:3-4)

Pastor Greg

May 07

Faith Formation on the Wilderness Road

Acts 8:26-39

When you hear “evangelize or evangelist” what do you think of?  Often the idea of someone pointing a finger into someone’s chest and saying if you do not believe, you are going to hell.  I think the Scriptures this week is helping us realize that we are involved in “faith formation” in our interactions with others.

Faith formation is every action, experience, or relationship that nurtures a relationship of trust with God and shapes the way we see and interact with God’s world.  Faith formation is the very mission of God’s church, to equip followers of Jesus Christ and send them out into the world to spread God’s kingdom.  The question in faith formation is are you leaving the person closer to God than when you first met.  The view of faith formation tells us that we are tellers of good news, and sometimes, even THE Good News! 

The angel from the Lord took Philip from an active and fruitful ministry in Samaria, to an almost deserted road in the wilderness.  Philip sees an entourage with the primary individual sitting in a fine chariot.  He notices the primary individual is doing something unusual, he is reading a scroll, the book of the Prophet Isaiah.  When Philip greets him, the important individual, the head of the treasury for Queen Candace, says a very sad phrase, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”  The Official of the Queen has come from south of Egypt, to Jerusalem, to the Temple itself, he had purchased an expensive item, the scroll of Isaiah, but after the sale, no one had helped him understand the words of the Scripture he had just purchased.

In faith formation we take the person as they are, from where they are, and help them get closer to God.  The man was not an unbeliever, he was a seeker of the God of Heaven and Earth.  Yet, when he sought out the faith represented by the Temple, he was not allowed inclusion because of his physical condition of being a eunuch.  He was pondering the section of Isaiah that talks of God’s restoration of all things and hope for the eunuchs.  All because of the work of the suffering servant. 

Philip helped him understand the work of the suffering servant, Jesus Christ, and to find full inclusion into the people of God.  The man was not excluded, but included through baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ.  Faith formation was helping him see the love of Jesus Christ for him and brought him to full inclusion into the kingdom of God.

How are our efforts in faith formation working?

Pastor Greg

Apr 25

Was-faith OR Is-faith?

Luke 24:13-35

Some of the saddest words in the Gospels is in verse 21 “But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.”  Have you ever noticed that some of the saddest words in our language begin with the letter D?  For example, disappointment, doubt, disillusionment, defeat, despair and death.  All of these are summed up in the words of Cleopas and his companion to the stranger who joined them on the Emmaus Road.

Easter Sunday, preached of the danger we have when we turn Jesus in to someone to memorialize, to remember for all the great things he taught, miracles he performed, and sermons he preached.  That is “Was-Faith.”  And these two, not unwilling to be called “one of the group,” were in despair because Jesus is now in the past-tense.  They had heard whispers of the resurrection.  Most people have heard rumors of the resurrection even today.  But a “Was-faith” had driven all hope from their hearts.

As the story unfolds, Jesus explains the declaration of the prophets, then he breaks bread with him (this is my body) opening their eyes to the presence of the resurrected Christ at their table.  Their “was-faith” becomes an “Is-faith.”  They rejoin those in Jerusalem and proclaim “The Lord has risen indeed.”

Our disappointment, doubt, disillusionment, defeat, despair and death comes from the “Was-faith.”  This what Jesus was when……  “When Pastor so-and-so was here” or “When Mom and Dad took me to church”, or “When I expected the Lord to do something in my life.”  All these are “was-events” but Jesus is not a “was”, “He Is!”

That is the Resurrection Message!  He is living, and not among the dead.  He is life itself.  This message has to filter down into every action, relationship, decision, and direction we have in our lives.  That is the “The Lord has risen indeed” proclamation that we make every moment as our lives are transformed by the hope that Jesus brings.

Pastor Greg

Apr 15

The Story That Sounds Like a Dream

Luke 24:1-12

But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. (24:11)

One of my favorite scholars made an interesting observation about the Resurrection Accounts in the Gospels.  “They are told in whispers,” he observed.  He meant that these stories are told as if the witnesses thought they could not be true, or it was too good to be true.

God’s working, God’s deliverance leaves us humans “gobsmacked.”  The Psalmist uses this same idea in describing the restoration of Israel after the Babylonian Captivity.

“When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion,
We were like those who dream.”  (Psalms 126:1)

When God works in human existence, it is like a dream that is too good to be true.  The Resurrection of Jesus Christ, when encountered by his followers, to use a modern phrase, “it blew their minds.”  But for us, being raised with these stories, having them told over and over again, this good news can become common place, almost mundane or ho-hum.  Maybe that is why it seems the power of the resurrection is not at work in the world today.  We have reduced the story from “too good to be true,” to a Golden Book children’s story.

But the whisper of the resurrected Christ in just three hundred years will have conquered the Roman Empire, and has become the cornerstone of Western Civilization.  Maybe when we hear, “ALLELUIA!  CHRIST IS RISEN” we should be gobsmacked, as we respond to the news that is too good to be true “ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN INDEED!  ALLELUIA!”

Blessed Easter to Al.

Pastor Greg

Faith and Fellowship kickoff!!

June 1, 2025 Immediately after Traditional Worship (11:30 ish)

The Search committee is  beginning the process to get the Congregations input as to what we need and want in a new pastor.
(in anticipation of Greg’s retirement, Summer of 2026).

Pizza, salad and beverages will be provided. Bringing a dessert to share is optional. Everyone is welcome to come whether they want to eat or not but please share your ideas.

If you cannot attend you can also email your comments/suggestions to:

[email protected]