Ascension May 13, 2012 Ephesians 1: 17-23 Luke 24: 50-53
Rev. Catherine Purves
[Mike sneezes] “God bless you.” That’s something that we say automatically, isn’t it? You don’t even have to be professionally religious like me to respond to a sneeze without thinking, and yet with this heartfelt and sincere sentiment: “God bless you.” It may be the only faith statement that we are willing to make in mixed company or when we don’t know if the sneezer is a believer or not. So, it seems that “God bless you” is a staple of our religious repertoire. The thing I’m wondering about is what we mean when we say it. What are our expectations? What might God’s blessing accomplish in the situation of a sneeze, or in any situation? Read more…
May 6, 2012 John 15:1-8
Michael Carlin
During the children’s sermon, Nicole used the image of a fig leaf to illuminate the importance of context and interpretation. Let us try another. When you picture a manger, what do you see? Is it an open stable, with a wooden trough that hay would have been placed in? The nativities that we purchase for decoration at Christmas have dictated our understanding of where Mary gave birth to Jesus. Historically, however, that type of structure would not have made much sense. Archaeologists have found that buildings were often made of cut stone, with living quarters on the upper level and stables on the lower level, especially dwellings in the cities like Jerusalem. Read more…
April 29, 2012 Psalm 23 John 10: 11-18
Rev. Catherine Purves
I’m thinking that right now some of you are feeling a bit fussed because our reading of the 23rd Psalm didn’t sound quite right to you. I’m sure that what Laurie read was not the way you memorized the 23rd Psalm in Sunday School many, many, many years ago. This is a newer translation, and it does lack a certain grace and poetic appeal. The 23rd Psalm is so beloved, so comfortingly familiar in the old language. Why mess with it? I don’t really care if “my whole life long” is a better translation of the Hebrew than the old version that I memorized that said “forever.” I want to live in the house of the Lord forever, not just my whole life long. And, as far as I’m concerned, “the darkest valley” is no substitute for “the valley of the shadow of death.” What is this, Psalm 23 lite? If we don’t like people messing with our favorite Psalm, I wonder how people felt when Jesus decided to do a rewrite of the cherished imagery of the good shepherd in Psalm 23. Read more…
April 22, 2012 Acts 3: 1-16 Luke 24: 36b-48
Rev. Catherine Purves
This is a most awkward season for us. It is a time when it is actually difficult to know how to speak of Jesus. His birth or incarnation we can speak of at Christmas. His life, including his teaching, his healings, his miracles and his hands-on training of the disciples, we talk about at various times throughout the year. His suffering and death are the topics of Holy Week, and, of course, we celebrate his resurrection on Easter. But right now we are in the peculiar time in between the resurrection of Jesus on Easter morning and his return to the Father on Ascension Day. Read more…
April 15, 2012 Acts 4: 32-35 1 John 1: 1 – 2: 2
Rev. Catherine Purves
Most of us probably have some idea of what it was like to live in the good old days. Depending on your age, the good old days might have been when the streetcar ran on Lincoln Ave., or when the Pirates won the World Series, or when there were only three television channels to choose from, or when everyone knew that a job would be waiting for them when they finished school. No matter what your age, the good old days were better, less complicated and stressful, more hopeful and secure. If only we could get back to those good old days when life was simple and predictable, when people actually looked out for one another, when everyone went to church, when politicians were the salt of the earth, when food wasn’t chock full of preservatives, when there was less violence in the world, when everyone seemed to be healthier, when…. Read more…
Easter April 8, 2012 Mark 16: 1-8 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11
Rev. Catherine Purves
I was wondering this week whatever became of my collection of stuffed Easter bunnies. Every year for, I guess, a decade, my grandmother would give me a stuffed rabbit at Easter. I had white bunnies and pink bunnies and yellow bunnies. I had big bunnies and small bunnies, fluffy bunnies and sleek bunnies. I remember some of them quite well, while others seem to blur into the assembled multitude of bunnies which hopped out of the toy chest every Easter. How has this become the most prominent cultural symbol of Easter? Read more…
Community Good Friday Service April 6, 2012 The Passion from John’s Gospel
Rev. Catherine Purves
The adult class here at our church is currently doing a study of Christianity and Islam, and we are all learning a lot, including me, the teacher. I found out, for instance, that Muslims have a genuine respect for Jesus. I didn’t know that. They think of him as a great prophet and a spokesman for God. They believe in the virgin birth. I didn’t know that either. They believe he performed miracles. And they accept a lot of what the New Testament says about Jesus. But one thing that Muslims absolutely don’t believe is that Jesus died on the cross to save us, to rescue us. Muslims don’t believe that we need to be rescued. Read more…
Maundy Thursday April 5, 2012 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26 John 13: 1-12
Rev. Catherine Purves
It is no wonder that the disciples remembered that night. It was a night and a meal for remembering. The festival of the Passover was a time of remembrance and giving thanks for God’s saving grace when he led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt. And during this last meal that Jesus shared with his disciples he told them that at future meals, when they repeated his actions, they were to “Do this in remembrance of me.” Even apart from all of that, it would be hard to forget a dinner in which the host suddenly stopped, got up, took off his robe, wrapped himself in a towel, and began to wash the feet of those who were eating. Bathing in the midst of dinner – that is something you wouldn’t soon forget. Read more…
Palm Sunday April 1, 2012 Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29 John 12: 12-19
Rev. Catherine Purves
There is nothing quite so fickle as a crowd. They love you when they love you, but then they hate you. It’s amazing to see how public opinion polls swing back and forth on an almost daily basis. Candidates are cheered one day and jeered the next. The public will love you so long as you are performing miracles and they think that you are promising to be the answer to their dreams, but put one foot wrong or fail to fulfill one expectation and crowds will turn on you. I read this week that there had been a 30 point swing in the Pennsylvania opinion polls away from Rick Santorum and in favor of Mitt Romney. There is nothing so fickle as a crowd, especially a home crowd. Read more…
March 25, 2012 Jeremiah 31: 31-34 John 12: 20-33
Rev. Catherine Purves
On Friday I was listening to the news on the radio when I happened to hear a report about a gathering that was to take place in Washington, D.C. yesterday, called “The Reason Rally”. This was going to be some sort of demonstration staged by atheists who wanted to express corporately their denial of God’s existence. One of the organizers explained that this was to encourage others who were closet atheists to proclaim their lack of faith, since they would see that they were not alone in their rejection of God. This atheist blogger also predicted that in two decades atheists would be in the majority in this country, following the pattern evident in Europe and some other parts of the world. Read more…
