Ascension Written Sermons

The Rev. Robert P. Travis 8:00 and 10:30am Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN RCL Year B 1/29/2012 Scripture Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Psalm 111, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13, Mark 1:21-28 Sermon Text: I hesitate to start speaking with you all this morning. I hesitated until yesterday to prepare this sermon, Which is not my usual pattern, Or my preferred way of doing things. But it gives me pause to presume to speak a word to you In the name of God, When we heard what Moses spoke to God’s people, In Deuteronomy. “ Any prophet. . . who presumes to speak in my name A word that I have not commanded the prophet to speak – That prophet shall die.” So someone better get the Defribrillator ready in back, Just in case… I’m not a prophet or anything, But what each of us does when we get up here on Sunday, Is presume to speak in God’s name a word we have been commanded to speak. That is where our authority comes from, And were it not for that authority, there ...

Second Sunday of Epiphany, Year B January 15, 2012 Come and See for Yourself The Rev. Dr. Howard J. Hess Can Anything Good Come Out of Nazareth? I. Introduction . In years past, I was sitting where Nathaniel is sitting in today’s gospel. I was searching for a Jesus in whom I could truly believe and for a community where I could be with others of like-mind. I yearned to know Jesus with the simplicity I had known him as a child without all the baggage of condemnation and judgment. Nathaniel was seeking as well – you see, the reference to being under a fig tree in the Hebrew Scriptures refers to one who is studying God’s word to find answers. The very name Nathaniel means “seeker.” Both Nathaniel and I had a grace-filled experience. We both had someone encourage us to “Come and See” the Christ, the Son of the living God. In spite of Nathaniel’s dismissal of anyone who might come from Nazareth, he went to look. In spite of my doubt that I would en...

The Rev. Robert P. Travis 1 st Sunday of Epiphany Sermon – 8:00 and 10:30am Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN RCL Epiphany 1 Year B 1 /8/2012 Scripture Text: Genesis 1:1-5 , Psalm 29, Acts 19:1-7, Mark 1:4-22 Sermon Text: Today is the first Sunday of Epiphany, Christmas is over, and we get to consider what kind of God is Immanuel what kind of God is “God with us.” Our readings help us learn about the nature of God, and Jesus becoming who He always was going to be, and hopefully in that we will learn something about ourselves, so that we too can live into who we were always meant to become. In the beginning we heard about the very beginning, God creating the heavens and earth, where all three persons of the Trinity were involved, The father creating, the Son being the Word bringing things into being, and the Spirit sweeping over all of it in blessing like wind. God creates the great dichotomy of light and dark, of day and night, a...