Sermons & Meditations

Luke 18:9-14
Presented October 28th, 2007, by J.D. Kline
The 22nd Sunday after Pentecost

Joyce Hollyday shares her personal faith experiences in a book entitled Turning Toward Home. One of the shaping experiences she writes about includes a time from her college years. Joyce was traveling by bus from her college town in Maine to her hometown—Hershey, Pennsylvania. Her much-loved grandfather had just died, and even though there were only two other passengers on the bus, it felt to Joyce as if everything was closing in upon her, so filled was she with her grief. Part way through the trip a large woman, wearing a red stocking cap over a shock of white hair, boarded the bus. Although the bus had one empty seat after another, the woman, arms filled with bags and possessions, made her way to the empty seat beside Joyce. Falling in a heap into the seat, the woman exclaimed, “Praise God, what a beautiful day!”

After a moment’s pause the woman looked deeply into Joyce’s eyes, and as she grabbed Joyce’s hand, the woman gently asked, “Why are you so sad?” Almost in spite of herself, Joyce began pouring out her heart, telling the unwanted stranger all about her grandfather. The woman listened intently until Joyce finished, then responded, “You must have loved him very much. How good of God to give you such a gift!” In response, Joyce found herself embracing a new level of gratitude—a gratitude that injected a new quality into her heart-felt grief.

The longer I’m in ministry and the more I find myself relating to persons walking through difficult times, the more I am convinced that gratitude has the power to bring a unique quality into the very midst of our struggles. I’m not talking about a kind of plastic or artificial veneer that denies the reality of pain while pretending that all is well, but rather about a deep and abiding quality of thanksgiving that brings a new level of trust to our living in the very midst of life’s most profound struggles, hurts, and pains. In the aftermath of my wife Janice’s accident and death, I occasionally encountered the well-meaning person who assured me that God must have needed another angel. Truth be told, there were moments when I would almost find myself wishing I could believe in that kind of arbitrary God who engineers accidents, critical illnesses, and other losses—at least then I would have known who to be angry at! But the God I encounter in the study of Scripture and in the journey of faith is not a God who manipulates our pain, but rather a God who stands with us in our times of deepest need, a God who takes us by the hand and walks with us through our times of grief and loss. Ours is a God who loves us through the storms of life every bit as much as during the times of calm; ours is a God whose love will not let us go.

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Luke 18:1-8
Presented October 21st, 2007, by J.D. Kline
The 21st Sunday after Pentecost

Stewardship Theme: Celebrate Abundance—Nourish Life

It’s a peculiar story, this parable of the unjust judge. Luke suggests that Jesus tells the story, that we might “pray always and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1). It is this notion of not losing heart that caught my eye—and my imagination—when I began to consider the text. For who among us, seeking to live faithfully as followers of Jesus by walking in his footsteps, does not find ourselves tempted at times to lose heart? In a world seemingly hell-bent on warfare and destruction, how do we find the stamina to keep on keeping on—working for peace, caring for the environment, raising our voices for justice and with compassion, correcting oppression? In a world constantly urging us to live independently, as if we have no need for God or one another, how do we remain persistent in the life of spirituality—seeking to live lives of connectedness? In a world in which we are frequently confronted by events and experiences that make little sense to us—the death of someone close to us, the destruction that flows from a natural disaster, the tragedy of ongoing reliance upon violence and warfare, the grief of life gone awry—in the midst of all of this, what keeps us from losing heart? What keeps us moving forward in life and faith? What nourishes our souls?

Consider the parable, which flows on the heels of a series of teachings in which Jesus is preparing the disciples for the coming of God’s kingdom. In reality, Jesus is talking about how we remain constant in praying the prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, here and now on earth, even as it is in heaven.” We who yearn for the coming of that day when justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream—how do we remain constant in faith when justice, righteousness and peace appear to be so far from us?

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Luke 17:11-19
Presented October 14th, 2007, by J.D. Kline
The 20th Sunday after Pentecost

Stewardship Theme: Celebrate Abundance—Nourish Life

My former congregation has a long-standing partnership with a church in Nicaragua, with periodic exchanges involving members from the North American church traveling to Nicaragua, and members of the Nicaraguan church traveling north. One summer, my daughter Jill, then a senior in high school, and I joined a group of seven others for a week’s visit with the members of the Nicaraguan congregation, located in one of the poorest areas of Managua. Each of us lived for the week with a different family, and Jill was assigned to the home of a young couple whose house was among the most basic. The home had no indoor plumbing, and the couple gave their only bed to Jill. As the week was nearing its end, the husband wanted to offer a gift of remembrance, and he took off his wedding ring and handed it to Jill. As you might suspect, she initially refused the gift, but the wife confirmed that, yes, they wanted to share this gift—the one possession of most value they had to offer.

Each of us who had traveled to Nicaragua had taken along token gifts of appreciation, but they seemed insignificant in comparison. Jill offered her pair of running shoes to the husband, shoes he had admired, and to the wife she gave several dresses. But nothing could match the gift Jill had been given. Now, some eight years later, Jill continues to wear the ring, a constant reminder of the power of lives lived generously and with gratitude.

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2 Timothy 1:1-14
Presented October 7th, 2007, by J.D. Kline
The 19th Sunday after Pentecost; World Communion Sunday

Stewardship Theme: Celebrate Abundance—Nourish Life

I have come that you might have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). Familiar words of Jesus; words that have been understood and interpreted in a number of different ways. Some hear those words, and preach a “prosperity gospel,” asserting that when Jesus speaks of abundance, he has in mind material plenty. Indeed, some carry this notion so far that they portray this one who once claimed that he had nowhere to lay his head as announcing that if only you have enough faith, material wealth and overflowing possessions are guaranteed to follow. But the kind of abundance Jesus offers has little to do with material prosperity; rather, Jesus is inviting us to experience a new quality of relationship in our lives. The richness of abundant living has to do with life rooted in relationship with God and with one another; abundant life is life grounded in God’s gracious acceptance, compassion, and love. Once immersed in God’s never-ending supply of grace, those who live abundantly find themselves filled with a passionate desire to live for the glory of God and the good of our neighbors.

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