Preaching is effective as long as the preacher expects something to happen-not because of the sermon, not even because of the preacher, but because of God.
- John E. Hines
This Sunday is Rally Day at Community Church. This is the Sunday when the program year gets under way. Sunday School begins again. The choir comes back together. And, finally, we pick a theme for the new year. This year our theme is Simplicity. Each sermon in the remainder of the month will be about this spiritual discipline.
Now, it's not that there ain't a whole lot to say about simplicity. There is a ton. Four sermons barely touch the surface. But it is an interesting challenge to choose the passages most appropriate to the four Sundays.
This morning I will choose those scriptures...at least the scriptures for this Sunday. The aspect I am exploring is that simplicity is a gift from God. It is found in the giving, God's giving, that we begin to understand simplicity. The challenge of choosing scriptures is a good one for me. I almost never do it. I'm glad to have to go about this preaching thing a little differently.
Keep me in your thoughts. And feel free to suggest passages of scripture!
Heh. Anyway...So far I have:
September 9
Sermon Title: "Simplicity: A Gift From God"
Scripture: Deuteronomy 8:7-18, Matthew 6:25-34
September 16
Sermon Title: "Simplicity: God's Caring"
Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46
September 23
Sermon Title: "Simplicity: Don't Forget to Share"
Scripture: Luke 12:13-21
September 30
Sermon Title: "Simplicity: Seek the Kingdom"
Scripture: Luke 12: 22-34
I like this idea, focusing on simplicity through giving. I'm really not good at remembering verses when I want them...a brain freeze...but if I think of any I'll let you know...
Are you going to Bread for the Journey at Seabury this year? I haven't decided.
Posted by: mompriest at September 5, 2007 07:51 AMActually, I am helping put it together this year...speaking of simplifying...Heh. Oy vey!
Posted by: Tripp at September 5, 2007 09:25 AMIt's amazing how complicated it can be to teach about simplicity! In all seriousness, it sounds like a good program.
Posted by: Pastor David at September 5, 2007 12:08 PMI guess you'll be there!
I'm thinking I'll come for the Tuesday night and Wed. morning. It's kinda tough for me to commute back and forth and be there the entire time....plus, kids, dogs, oh, and that full time church job...
I'll introduce myself...
Posted by: mompriest at September 6, 2007 06:50 AMIt will be great to meet you!
Posted by: Tripp at September 6, 2007 06:57 AMDon't forget Ecclesiastes! Before and after the oft-overused "seasons" verses, there is much written about simplicity and finding joy in the life God gives us.
Posted by: Scott at September 6, 2007 07:26 AMI've been preaching from the lectionary for the past month, and I can only conclude that whoever compiled summer of year C is very misanthropic. Since this is my last Sunday as an interim pastor, I've decided I'm entitled to pick whatever readings I want.
Posted by: Kyle at September 6, 2007 02:06 PMSpeaking of sermons, here's a powerful one.
Making a pilgrimage means setting out in a particular direction, travelling towards a destination. This gives a beauty of its own even to the journey and to the effort involved. Among the pilgrims of Jesus’s genealogy there were many who forgot the goal and wanted to make themselves the goal. Again and again, though, the Lord called forth people whose longing for the goal drove them forward, people who directed their whole lives towards it. The awakening of the Christian faith, the dawning of the Church of Jesus Christ was made possible, because there were people in Israel whose hearts were searching – people who did not rest content with custom, but who looked further ahead, in search of something greater: Zechariah, Elizabeth, Simeon, Anna, Mary and Joseph, the Twelve and many others. Because their hearts were expectant, they were able to recognize in Jesus the one whom God had sent, and thus they could become the beginning of his worldwide family. The Church of the Gentiles was made possible, because both in the Mediterranean area and in those parts of Asia to which the messengers of Jesus Christ travelled, there were expectant people who were not satisfied by what everyone around them was doing and thinking, but who were seeking the star which could show them the way towards Truth itself, towards the living God.
We too need an open and restless heart like theirs. This is what pilgrimage is all about. Today as in the past, it is not enough to be more or less like everyone else and to think like everyone else. Our lives have a deeper purpose. We need God, the God who has shown us his face and opened his heart to us: Jesus Christ.
Posted by: Ellen at September 8, 2007 10:53 AM