Sermons & Meditations

John 20:19–31
Presented March 23, 2008, by J.D. Kline
Easter Sunday

I’ve always enjoyed working with words, and one of the side benefits of being a pastor is that I get to put together a weekly sermon. Of course, there are times when the discipline of weekly preparation begins to feel burdensome. But far more frequently, I find myself energized by the process, my faith prodded and strengthened.

As I began to think about today’s sermon, the word synchronicity came to mind, the coming together of seemingly chance events. A few years before my wife Janice’s death, at a time when she was struggling to find her own direction, she read a book by Quaker author Parker Palmer entitled Let Your Life Speak in which Palmer writes of learning to pay attention to the messages our own lives carry. Writes Palmer, “Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody, what values you represent.”

In early December I was planning to go on a five-day prayer and silence retreat, something I do annually, and for whatever reason, Parker Palmer’s book came to mind as a resource that might be helpful. Several times in recent years I had considered reading the book, but this time, it was nowhere to be found—not in my office here at church, and not with my books at home. But about that time the book was donated to our church library, and so I took it along, finding to it be a helpful resource while on retreat.

Palmer writes out of his own struggles, out of his experience with a dark time of depression, and he reminds us that the spiritual journey takes us inward and downward, toward the hard realities of our lives, rather than outward and upward toward the more abstract and intellectual. That is to say, it is as only we walk through our deepest struggles in life, only as we pay attention to the hurts and pains and griefs of our lives, that we are able to break through to something precious, to that which Trappist monk Thomas Merton describes as our “hidden wholeness.”

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Matthew 21:1–11
Presented March 16, 2008, by J.D. Kline
Palm Sunday

Lenten Theme: Another Way of Living

Our Wednesday morning Bible study group spent several months exploring the book of Acts. One of the intriguing stories of Acts is recorded in the early verses of chapter 20, where the apostle Paul is meeting with a body of believers in the town of Troas. Because he plans on leaving early the next day, he shares in discussion late into the evening. Indeed, scripture tells us, Paul continued speaking until midnight in the upstairs room where the group was gathered. A young man named Eutychus, we are told, was sitting in the window, and “began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead” (Acts 20:9). The apostle takes Eutychus in his arms and brings life back into him, then returns to the third floor and continues to speak with the community of believers until dawn.

As far as I could find, this is the only recorded reference to the young man named Eutychus. I share this story of Eutychus this morning as a way of inviting you to consider, if only one story of your life were to be recorded for posterity, what you would like that story to say about you. In other words, how would you like to be remembered? What would you like others to recall about your character, your passion in life, your vision for life? However you answer that question, few of us, I suspect, would like to be remembered as the one who fell asleep, and then fell out the window, while listening to one of history’s great preachers.

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Romans 8:1–11
Presented March 9, 2008, by J.D. Kline
The Fifth Sunday in Lent

Lenten Theme: Another Way of Living

Near the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, the largest single collection of Jesus’ teachings, the Gospel writer Matthew records Jesus as saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). Yet Jesus has an intriguing way of bringing the law and the prophets to fulfillment, as he seemingly toughens, and in some cases, reverses long-held teachings. Perhaps you recall the series of “You-have-heard-that-it-was-said-but-I-say-to-you” teachings.

You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a sister or a brother, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire (Matthew 5:21-22).

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (5:27-28).

You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also, and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give him your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile (5:38-41).

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven (5:43-45).

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