Christian McIvorJuly 5, 2020 Isaiah 66.1-4, Matthew 7.21-27 Chrissy and I bought our first home – or at least, we started paying the bank for it – in the fall of 2013. We did our due diligence and had the property inspected, and everything turned out to be in good shape, except there was a little bit of mold growth on one of the beams in the crawl space. The inspector assured us that we could get rid of it by scrubbing it down with some bleach and, not knowing any better, we didn’t think much of it and went ahead with the purchase. On reflection, this might have been…

by Michael Usey As far as I am concerned, the book of Jonah has the best last line in the Bible: “And should I not be concerned about Nineveh,” God says to Jonah, “that great city, in which there are more than a 120,000 persons who don’t know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” The End.  It’s what God wants to know from Jonah and the readers of this comedy, another in our summer series of Questions that God Asks.  Jonah is the only book in our Bible that ends with a question. If it were not the end, however, I expect the next line would…

by Michael Usey Moses’ early history is the stuff of novels. When Pharaoh instituted a mass slaughter of the male infants of the Hebrews, Moses’ mother hid him in a tiny ark in a stream where Pharaoh’s daughter bathed.  The princess found him, and took him to her household to raise.  But, once he was grown and among his own people, Moses saw an overseeing beating a Hebrew; Moses inpulsivel killed the Egyptian.  He fled for his life, settling in the Midian Desert.  Which is where God surprised and recruited him, speaking to him from a burning bush, a bush not consumed by the fire.  God called him and gave…

by James Blay (Genesis 3.9-13) The birth of the Information age in the late 20th Century ushered in a period of immense access to information in very efficient ways. In a lot of ways it mirrored the invention of Gothenburg’s Printing Press in the 15th Century. Where once the availability of information was limited to the few and privileged, advances in information technology made it easily available to the many.  With the availability of information comes the manipulation of information. Today we have to deal with fake news, deep fake videos – where one can actually make a video of someone else speaking and saying things they did not actually…

by Michael Usey The world is a lot right now.  Another week being trampled by the new and improved Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Corvid-19 (where the infection rate continues to increase here in NC), a looming economic recession with sky-high unemployment, systemic and personal racism leading to the murders of black citizens, and our would-be American dictator’s obscene words and acts.  I almost entitled this sermon Hope during the Plague in Racist Leaderless America, but that sounded too hopeful.  2020 reminds me of 1968.  Two of the five biggest battles of the Vietnam War were in early 1968: The Tet Offensive, which lasted the month of February and was…

Luke 4.16-20, Acts 2.1-13 Two summers ago I took our youth to Laredo, TX – one of the largest port cities in the country just on the border of the US and Mexico. The week before we left, I had lunch with Bill Ingold. During our lunch I admitted that I’ve always been worried that if I blew a tire while driving our youth, I wouldn’t know what to do – so I asked his advice. What would it feel like? Would there be a loud pop of the tire? How would I control the car? Bill told me what I could expect – it would happen gradually – the…

by Michael Usey It’s Ascension Sunday, the most curious of all feasts on the church calendar –a celebration of the day Jesus left us, the day Jesus started to work from home. Once I preached on Ascension Sunday at College Park a sermon respectfully entitled, “Hey, I Can See My House from Here.”  I’m not sure that, in the midst of this Rona mess, we need another reminder of Jesus’ absence.  However, according to today’s text, Jesus is indeed with us every day in real and concrete ways that are not always easy to see.  The parable of the sheep and the goats is nobody’s favorite story. There are lots…

New Testament Reading: Acts 17. 16-34, NRSV This past week I heard from five San Diego friends that I have not heard from in years; perhaps you have reconnected with people too. A peculiar consequence of the Rona is this reconnection with people from our past, or people we know now but in new and different ways. “So you’re a radical Baptist Christian, what is that about? Are you one of the crazy ones?” [Answer: “Well, yes, but not in the way you think.”] So I wanted for us to consider today’s lectionary passage, Acts 17, Paul before Mars Hill, which might seem odd in these times of social distancing…

Romans 8.6-11; Ezekiel 37.1-14 Sometimes I’m amazed at how fragile our human flesh is. We have fragile bones that break, fragile lungs that collapse, fragile hearts that miss a beat, fragile minds that freeze with age. Our fragile flesh propels us into selfish greed, succumbs to lust, fixates on wealth, drives us to narcissism or defensiveness or rage or self-harm.  This year our fleshly proclivities have been on full display during this pandemic on the public stage, as we’re seeing 14.7% unemployment, the highest since the Great Depression almost a century ago; 33 million people filing for unemployment since this crisis hit here. More than 78,000 Americans have died from…

by Michael Usey Today is Good Shepherd Sunday.  All the scripture lessons for this morning are about shepherds. We have chosen the music in this service with the same theme. It’s an indication of how central this image of the Good Shepherd is for our faith. Authors Judith and Neil Morgan tell a story about Ted Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), in their biography of Geisel. When Geisel was a college student, he and his roommate wanted to open up a private detective firm. They were going to call it, “Surely, Goodness and Mercy,” and their slogan would be, “We shall follow you all the days of your life.”  Maybe too…

by Michael Usey When I was in college and seminary, I confess with some shame that I was fascinated by those people who make speeches for a living, the professionals, the ones who speak at conventions, banquets, and motivation seminars. We always called them hired gums.  After I got married to Ann, that desire went away completely, especially after I had kids.  Originally, I was envious when I read about the hired gums. Not because of the exorbitant fees that they charged (okay, well that too), but because they give one speech over and over again. Preachers can’t get away with that, not often anyway. We have to pony up…

by Christian McIvor Hello, College Parkers! I’m glad to be offering the sermon this week,and while it’s on the same scripture passage we looked at last week, I’mgoing to have a different focus that I hope is meaningful for you all. Ithink it’s a testament to the love and strength of our community thatwe’ve been able to come together in various ways over the past monthand, of course, that we’re finding ways to celebrate this Easter seasontogether. Although, I’d imagine I’m probably not the only one who’snot feeling particularly celebratory at this point in time. We’re currentlyin the midst of a season of pain, suffering, death, and isolation unlikequite anything…

by Michael Usey The Antiques Roadshow is a great TV program on PBS. It’s been going for years; it was supposed to have a program in Williamsburg, Virginia, this spring, but it has been rescheduled, along with most everything else. If you haven’t seen it, you should know that it is simply a group of appraisers who travel around the country, rent out convention centers and civic auditoriums, and people by the thousands bring in some object they have found in their house, or at a swap meet, for appraisal, speculating how much something is worth. Someone will bring in an old clock, a watch, a vase, or a painting,…

Offered by Lesley-Ann Hix Tommey Hi friends! Greetings from New York City! My name is Lesley-Ann, and I serve here as field personnel for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. As you know, the spread of COVID-19 here has been very scary. Just in the past day, the number of total positive cases throughout all five boroughs surpassed 80,000. Those numbers include several in our community at Metro Baptist Church. As every service organization closes its doors, we are praying for our neighbors who are having a hard time accessing needed supplies. For students navigating their virtual learning in families with limited access to internet and computers. For everyone who is losing…

Three weeks ago feels like three years now. Is anyone else feeling as I am: Is this really happening? Am I going to die? I’m 62. Is anyone in my family going to die? Do the hoarders really not give a damn about anyone else? Could I lose my job? Will people I love lose their jobs? Are there actually still people who don’t get how dangerous this is? Can we please get a president who knows what he’s talking about?  And yet: how friendly people are when Ann and I go for walks (keeping our distance, naturally)! We should walk more. How considerate many people are! How creatively generous…

Psalm 31.9 – 16 NRSV by James Blay Somebody once told me that to lose hope is the greatest disaster that can happen to a person. The circumstances of life can bring us much despair, and hope is the only reprieve many of us have. Hopelessness is like a dark pit without a bottom, and when we fall into that pit, we keep falling. I am reminded of this quote from Nelson Mandela, as I contemplate these times, this moment in the story of our existence, “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed…

“WOULD YOU PLEASE BE STILL!“ This all too common phrase for any parent with young children, has almost become a mantra in our house – the phrase that carries us from one moment to the next. It’s 5:00 am – I’m awakened by the jab of a sharp, boney elbow of an almost 5-yr-old boy into the middle of my back. This boy who is somehow stealthy enough to climb into our bed without being noticed, now cannot go 5 minutes without doing a full somersault between his parents. I lean over and whisper, “would you please be still” At 7:30 am – almost exactly!! – that same sweet boy is…

[It’s the fourth Sunday of Lent, in which we’re looking at poems & hymns from the Hebrew Psalms, follow our theme, Psalm-body Once Told Me: Ancient wisdom from the Psalms.  Each week after we ponder a psalm, I’ve concluded with some admonition, some action that I’ve encouraged you to do: Listen deeply, be silent, read a book, look for home–and this week is no different.  Also, this sermon is yet another following our 2020 themes, that of awe and wonder at creation, and our care for it.] My sister-in-law sent this excellent C.S. Lewis quote this week. His words —written 72 years ago, in 1948—ring with relevance for us: merely…