X1fw Sermons

In this message we briefly consider the marvelous mystery - not fantasy - central to our faith: The Trinity. Using the lectionary texts as an introduction Simon invites us to grasp that Jesus Incarnate is the revelation of the Triune God. Finally we ponder how it is Trinity that is central to creation, humanity, church, beauty, salvation, and love.

In an exhortative message Simon asks if we are willing to be a people that drink from three streams: Scripture, Spirit, and Sacrament. More particularly we are asked what it is to be a people of the Spirit and if we are up for the adventure of transformation and renewal that the Holy Spirit will draw us into.

As we look at our lectionary readings for the 6th Sunday of Easter, Simon asks us to look at our identity as the church being that of witness. We are witnesses to the greater, better story being written by God which has Easter as it summary. We inhabit this story and in obedience to the commands of Christ we display this story and rewrite the stories being written by the powers that dominate humanity.

Simon asks us to consider understanding the Christian faith as a way. Centering in on Jesus' conversation with the apostle Thomas in John 14 we consider what it is for Jesus to be the way, the truth, and the life. Working from the life of Stephen we ask what type of life is lived by someone who dies like this. It is a life lived as a way not merely a decision.

Simon asks us to consider the values and practices to which we must be devoted and to which we have to give ourselves to in order to be a Gospel-family. Looking at the story of Jesus encountering the two disciples on the road to Emmaus we look at a devotion to scripture and the Lord's Supper and the practice of sharing the table.

Simon shares from our readings asking us to consider the idea of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus as an apocalyptic intervention by God to begin the renewal of all things.

On this the celebration of the greatest day in the Christian Calendar, Simon centers in on Mary's encounter with Jesus 'the gardener.' We are invited to consider that perhaps this is exactly who Jesus is: The cosmic gardener inviting us into this glorious task of garden care.