Ascension Written Sermons

The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost, Year C June 27,2010 Do You Want To Be My Disciple The Reverend Dr. Howard J. Hess I. Introduction: Do you want to be my disciple? Listen, because I will tell you how to do that. And in today’s Gospel Jesus does just that. He made far-reaching demands upon those who expressed an interest in following him. These demands might sound harsh to our ears: those who follow me will have no homes, will not be allowed to go home and bury their dead, and will not be able to say good-bye to their families before they leave. Some time ago, I had thought that Jesus needed a PR person, someone who could help him sort out how to interest new disciples and clinch the deal before they changed their minds. Throughout his ministry, Jesus was never interested in marketing. Instead, he approached discipleship with a clear message about how his disciples’ lives will be changed. Because of the cost of discipleship, many of his prospects never followed through. Was...

God of hope before us, God of healing within us, God of mercy above us, Come be with us. Amen Ps.42, 1 kings 19:1-15a, Galatians 3:23-39 and Luke 8:26-39 Happy Father’s Day. Our three sons always enjoyed preparing gifts for their Dad on Father’s Day. Often when they were young the gifts were home made – the kind one treasures – pictures drawn by them of their Dad at playing ball with them or helping them in some way or sometimes they wrote stories and poems. Fathers are important to their own children and to those other children who need their attention; such as Boy Scouts or church youth groups or helping young people go on mission trips. I like a prayer I saw recently concerning Father’s Day. God bless all the fathers in the world. Guide them to be good role models and loving to all their children. Help them to be a father like You are. Give them grace and patience to handle situations in a loving way. My father was an important example for me. He was a Baptist minister. ...

Pentecost 3, Year C June 13, 2010 A Teachable Moment The Reverend Dr. Howard J. Hess I. Introduction: A Teachable Moment. As many of you know, I spent the majority of my vocational life prior to ordination, as a university teacher. I have loved teaching – both then and now. One of the joys of teaching comes from becoming truly excited about the content one is teaching, mastering that content, and then helping students become excited about what they are learning. Occasionally there is a second, profoundly powerful aspect of teaching that emerges from discerning and entering into a “teachable moment.” A teachable moment occurs when the dynamics of our immediate life situation help make clear or magnify what one is trying to teach. Jesus was a master at using the “teachable moment;” Scripture, including this morning’s Gospel, gives us example after example of how Jesus worked to take his disciples and his followers – all of ...

Second Sunday after the Pentecost Sermon – 8:00 and 10:30am Church of the Ascension RCL Proper 5 Year C 6/6/2010 Fr. Rob Travis It's easy to see this gospel reading today as an account of a miracle, the miraculous bringing back to life of a dead man. But that misses some of the major point of the story And you know, sometimes when we say the word “miracle” these days, we actually dismiss the importance of what's going on. So let's look at the bigger scene that is occurring, particularly before Jesus raises the man back to life. First we see Jesus heading towards a town accompanied by his disciples, and a large crowd. This distinction is important. Jackie told me though, that the real reason Jesus did not enter the town of Nain, was not because of the woman and her son, but because if he had, he would have been found inane. As they approach the town, they are met by another group coming the other direction, it's not just the widowed mother, and her dead son, there is al...