Sermons
2-5-12 Listen Watch Video
Order of Worship Announcements
Dear Friends,
At some point in our lives, we will be asked to do something that, depending on our response, will either disappoint the one doing the asking, or disappoint ourselves. Every one of us lives with expectations – those which we have of ourselves, and those which others have of us. What complicates it all is that, for those of us who seek to ground our lives in God, we live everyday with a sense that God also has expectations of us – to live justly, to give ourselves to purposes higher than our own needs and desires, to love God and our neighbor.
The paradox of meeting expectations – either God’s, or others’, or our own – is that they tend to increase over time. The higher we climb, the steeper the slope. Eventually, we will either slip and disappoint, or stop climbing out of fear of doing so. Either way, this is when we encounter that universal temptation to stay put – to go no further, to settle in, to simply try to meet the expectations at hand, to accept the status quo. And this is the greatest disappointment of all because, in the end, it not only pleases no one, but it tends to make us really miserable.
After some early success with his ministry, Jesus took a break, retreating to a deserted place for prayer and self-reflection (Mark 1:29-39).
He had just pulled off a handful of miracles, meeting everyone’s expectations. His disciples eventually hunted him down because now, it seemed, everyone wanted a piece of Jesus. They had more expectations of him. But instead of staying put and meeting them, Jesus decided it was time to move on. “Let’s go on to the neighboring towns,” he told his disciples, “so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”
When we’re finally on that path where we’re doing what we are created to do, we inevitably come to that crossroads where we must make a choice: please others, or press on. To choose the first is, in the end, to please no one. To choose the second is to change the world, and truly live.
Why, more often than not, do we make it such a difficult choice?
See you Sunday,
Rev. Mark
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1-29-12 Listen Watch Video
Order of Worship Announcements
Dear Friends,
This Sunday, we welcome Bishop Beverly Shamana as our guest preacher for United Methodist Women Sunday. Bishop Beverly Shamana was elected to the episcopacy in 2000 and assigned to the California-Nevada in the San Francisco area until 2008 when she retired and returned to Los Angeles with her husband, Walter Woods. While serving as an active bishop she was President of the General Board of Church and Society and traveled on behalf of the Board for issues of peace and justice.
She is a graduate of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and served as pastor in Los Angeles and Inglewood, and as Conference Staff for Ethnic, Justice & Outreach Ministries until her election by the Western Jurisdiction. She continues to preach, and lead workshops and seminars on art and creativity, which inspired her book, Seeing In The Dark, A Vision of Spirituality and Creativity published by Abingdon Press.
As part of United Methodist Women Sunday, you are invited to stop by Founders Hall to greet Bishop Shamana. The UMW is serving refreshments, and have set up displays and information about United Methodist Women.
1/20/2012 Listen Watch Video
Order of Worship Announcements
Dear Friends,
A few years back Donald Miller wrote about a question one of his teachers asked his elementary school class one day. The lesson was on values clarification, and the question was this: if there were a lifeboat adrift at sea, and in the lifeboat were a male lawyer, a female doctor, a crippled child, a stay-at-home mom, and a garbage man, and one person had to be thrown overboard to prevent the lifeboat from sinking, which person would you choose?
Miller says that he can’t remember for sure, but he thinks his class decided to throw the lawyer out of the boat. He says, “I do remember, however, that the class did not hesitate in deciding who had value and who didn’t.”
Most of us can likely relate to Miller’s classmates. We have a pretty good idea of who is worthy, and who is not. Maybe it’s because we’re naturally wired as human beings to think in such terms; more likely, I believe, it’s because we’re conditioned to do so – by our upbringing or family heritage or personal experience, or by our cultural norms and values, or maybe even by our religion. Whatever the cause, we think in these terms in order to protect ourselves from the world, or at least tomake us feel safer. If we know who is good and who is evil, who is trustworthy and who’s a fraud, we can decrease our odds of ever being hurt or disappointed or disillusioned.
But more than this, thinking in such terms also helps us maintain our own sense of goodness, I believe. We all like to think that we deserve a place on that lifeboat; from God’s perspective, we’re the worthy ones.
The story of Jonah, however, reminds us that there’s room on the so-called lifeboat for everyone. From where God sits, we’re all in need of the same measure of mercy, whether we’re God’s chosen messenger like the prophet Jonah, or the ne’er-do-wells like the Ninevites. There is no need to boot anyone off the lifeboat just yet, because there are no write-offs in God’s book until the very end. From where God sits, we all look the same — like broken, tired, lost and hurting children in need of rescue, all in deep need of a place on the lifeboat, all in need of a measure of love we do not deserve.
Our text this Sunday is Jonah 3:1-5, 10. Join us in the lifeboat as we journey to Ninevah together.
Rev. Mark
1/15/12 Listen Watch Video
Order of Worship Announcements
Epiphany is the season of light and enlightenment. In worship, we celebrate the light of Christ being made manifest to the whole world as shown in the story of the visit of the Magi. The gospel stories tell of the growth of Jesus’ ministry and his call for people to follow him. The scriptures for the remainder of this season are action stories about Jesus going places, seeing and healing people and performing miracles. It is a time when “actions speak louder words.” The writer of the Gospel of John reveals Jesus as Messiah through a series of seven “signs” or miracles such as walking on water, giving sight to the blind and feeding the 5000. Interspersed among these signs are teaching passages where Jesus calls his disciples to follow him and tell his story. Through these signs and teachings, Jesus displays his glory and discloses his identity. John sums up his purpose in the end of the gospel when he writes, “These are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God and that through believing you might have life in his name.
This Sunday, we will hear the story of Jesus calling his first disciples and issuing them the simple job description to invite others to “come and see” what his love can mean in their lives. (John 1:43-51).
The paraments or altar and chancel decorations will change in these “green” weeks. Last week, the graceful drapery on the wall and the flowing fabric on the altar evoked the images of water and baptism which is the first “epiphany” of this season. Just as it was announced from the heavens that Jesus was God’s beloved son, we too are told to remember the baptism promise that we are beloved of God and claimed for God’s good purposes. This week and through Transfiguration Sunday on March 19th, the chancel is clothed in green and gold, symbolizing the glory of God’s presence with us in Jesus Christ and the growth of the gospel.
As we worship together on Sunday, we remember in prayer the members of our church who are on the urban mission trip to downtown Los Angeles this Martin Luther King weekend.
In Christ’s light,
Rev. Martha Wingfield
1/8/11 Listen Watch Video
Order of Worship Announcements
Dear Friends,
Some people make a name for themselves by their successes and achievements at work. We live in a culture in which our identity (who we are) is often defined by our occupation (what we do). When someone asks us, “What do you do,” we’re apt to say, “I’m a teacher,” or “I’m a software engineer,” or “I’m a stay-at-home-mom.” In this day and age, we assume that we are what we do.
And then there are other people in the world who make a name for themselves by their great failures and mistakes. Not only do we assume that we are what we do, but we too often believe that we are what we have done – especially the failures, the regrettable mistakes, the things we can’t go back and undo.
Every last one of us wants to know who we really are – not according to our deeds or our misdeeds, but according to the purposes and God. Who am I? Why am I here? What am I supposed to do with my life?
If you’ve ever found yourself asking such questions, you might want to look at Mark’s story of Jesus’ first appearance (Mark 1:4-11). According to Mark, the first thing Jesus did, before he ever performed a single miracle or preached one word of a sermon, turned out to be the most important thing he could have done: he was baptized by John in the Jordan River. It was his defining moment. As he came up from the waters, the voice of God gave him his real name – “The Beloved.”
In that moment, Jesus knew that he would always be more than his accomplishments, more than his work, more than the criticisms that others had of him. He was God’s Beloved. Nothing could add to that name, and nothing could take it away. Trusting in that new identity, Jesus didn’t feel the need to win over the establishment or strive for acceptance or popularity. Instead, because he knew who he really was, he was free to go straight to the outcasts, the sinners, the failures and the deadbeats. He lived among them, showed them mercy in the name of God, and laid down his life for them.
When you are baptized, that same name is given to you. You, too, are God’s Beloved, despite the claims the world has put on your life, despite your failures and mistakes, and regardless of your accomplishments. You have been accepted by God and adopted into the family. But it is not enough to know who you are. The question that baptism asks of every one of us is this: what will you do about it? To whom, or to what purpose, will you offer your life, your gifts, your passions?
Because we sometimes forget who we really are, or fail to live up to that identity, it is good to be reminded. I hope you’ll join us this Sunday for a renewal of baptism ritual, and hear once again the generous utterance of God upon your life – “You are my child, the Beloved. With you I am well-pleased.”
See you in Church,
Rev. Mark