"And He Healed Many" (Sermon on Mark 1:29-39)
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“And He Healed Many” (Mark 1:29-39)Yesterday, on a pastors’ e-mail list that I’m a part of, one of the men, Pastor Jay Webber of Arizona, brought a prayer request to our group on behalf of his son Paul and daughter-in-law Ruth. He’s given me permission to share this with you, by the way. His daughter-in-law, Ruth Webber, is 23 years old, and she is six months into her first pregnancy. However, she has been diagnosed with advanced gastric cancer, stomach cancer. Her chances for survival, Pastor Webber reports, are not good. Right now she’s up at the Mayo Clinic in...
Published on Wednesday 8th of February 2012 01:41:19 AM
"A New Teaching with Authority!" (Sermon on Mark 1:21-28)
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“A New Teaching with Authority!” (Mark 1:21-28)Our text today is the Holy Gospel, the story of Jesus teaching in the synagogue and rebuking an unclean spirit, and the people’s reaction to what he was doing. They rightly saw that this was “A New Teaching with Authority!” “Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching,” our text says. We sometimes forget that Jesus was a rabbi, a teacher. During his ministry, he would travel around to various places and teach. And one place where he regularly went was to the synagogue. Now the temple in Jerusalem was the place for the nation...
Published on Wednesday 8th of February 2012 01:41:19 AM
"Net Growth" (Sermon on Mark 1:14-20)
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“Net Growth” (Mark 1:14-20)Where are the fish? Where have all the fish gone? This is the question on the mind of most every church in America these days. And no, I’m not talking about trout and catfish. I’m talking about people. Where are the fish, where are all the people? Why aren’t we seeing them in the church like we used to? Whose fault is it? Whom can we blame? Our numbers are down. Attendance, offerings--that’s what we’re fishing for, isn’t it? Maybe we need to try a different net. Why aren’t we seeing any (if you’ll pardon the pun)...
Published on Wednesday 8th of February 2012 01:41:19 AM
A colonial heritage in scholarly interpretations of Mark's gospel
Posted by admin / Under Mark Lawn
When the story of Jesus known as The Gospel of Mark began to circulate as a written text in the ancient Mediterranean cities, it became engaged in a form of negotiation with the Roman imperial culture. A newly published dissertation from the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) shows, however, that a European colonial heritage probably has caused biblical scholars to neglect the earliest Gospel's primary act of negotiation with its imperial context. Biblical scholar Hans Leander has investigated how Mark's Gospel was related to Rome's Empire when it began to circulate among the early Christians during the first century C.E. He...
Published on Wednesday 8th of February 2012 01:41:19 AM
"A Trip out to the Wilderness" (Sermon for the Second Sunday in Advent, on Mark 1 and Isaiah 40)
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“A Trip out to the Wilderness” (Mark 1:1-8; Isaiah 40:1-11)Today and throughout the season of Advent, the church takes “A Trip out to the Wilderness.” We go out there and we meet John the Baptist, our wilderness guide. What John is doing out there is leading God’s people in two things, penitential preparation and hopeful expectation, as we await the coming of the Lord. Penitential preparation, hopeful expectation--these are the distinctive accents of Advent that we will hear in our trip out to the wilderness today. God does some of his best work out in the wilderness. In that desolate...
Published on Wednesday 8th of February 2012 01:41:19 AM
"Awake until the Coming of Our Lord" (Advent sermon on Mark 13:24-37)
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“Awake until the Coming of Our Lord” (Mark 13:24-37)It is customary for midweek services in Advent or Lent for the preacher to come up with a theme, some connecting thread that ties together the services and sermons for that season. Last year, for instance, our Advent series, for both the Sundays and Wednesdays, was on the seven “O Antiphons” of the hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” It made for a nifty, handy-dandy series theme. But this year for Advent, I wasn’t sure what to do with these midweek services, what sort of a theme to come up with. Then...
Published on Wednesday 8th of February 2012 01:41:19 AM
"Advent Is Worth the Wait" (Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent, on Isaiah 64, 1 Cor. 1, Mark 11)
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“Advent Is Worth the Wait” (Isaiah 64:1-9; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 11:1-10)We don’t like to wait, do we? I mean, we Americans. And especially when it comes to Christmas. Wait till the night of December 24 to start celebrating Christmas? No way! So the Christmas catalogues started coming--when, the day after Labor Day? Then came the Christmas movies: “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas” came out November 4. The Christmas radio stations: “Santa Baby” was “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree” already a couple of weeks ago. And the TV specials: “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” is this Tuesday. Apparently, Rockefeller...
Published on Wednesday 8th of February 2012 01:41:19 AM
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