... to carry us through the risks of life and into new beginnings. In scripture, so many of these stories are stories involving children. Samuel’s mother gives him up to God so he can be raised to be a prophet serving God. She returns God’s gift with that gift of mission. Moses’ Mother gives her tiny son up so that she hopes to give him a chance at life –and God uses that life for an awesome mission. Young David, young Isaac –they all have a story in which risk brings them into a new beginning ...
John 20:10-18, Song of Songs 4:1-16, Revelation 22:1-6
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... into a garden relationship is echoed again in the Resurrection story, in which through the blood covenant, a true marriage is born. The “I AM” of the Song of Songs is the same “I AM” of Revelation, who offers: “Let the one who is thirsty come….for the free gift of the water of Life.” This is Eden at the center of the conjoined rivers. This is the throne of God from which all the rivers of the City of God flow. This is Jesus offering water to the woman at the well. This is the invitation in the ...
... me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” Image Exegesis: The Sin Under Your Skin Two major themes dominate these scriptures. One is power. Who has the power to heal? Who is wielding power in the story and how? The other has to do with sin. The ...
... parable of the Great Dinner. Only God with God’s watchful and wakeful eye, will choose the one with a humble and gentle heart, to be “shepherd” over God’s people and interceder for God’s mercy. For only God atones. Only God forgives. Only God can offer the gift of promise and eternal life. The flowering and fruitful rod, like the staff Moses lifted up, is a symbol of God’s sovereignty and promise that God is watching. We may be asleep, but God is awake and sees us in our sin, sees us in our pain ...
... go. The Holy Spirit invites you to call out that name in your heart and mind, and to allow the breath of God to loose the chains of that anger and fear that are binding you down today and keeping you from being the free and authentic person that God gifts you to be. Choose that person who is truly hard for you to forgive. Cause listen, Jesus told us, it’s easy to forgive our friends! It’s not hard to forgive our families and our children and those who think and act like we do. That’s not forgiveness ...
Mark 6:7-13, Matthew 10:1-42, Luke 9:1-9, Luke 10:1-24
Sermon
Lori Wagner
... remains when the sand falls away. We are the diamond that remains when the coal is compressed. We are gathered in because we have the gift of seeing and hearing Jesus. He is the promise, the rainbow revealed when Light moves through the dust. His voice is the breath. His presence ... dust inbreathed into new kind of creature that rises above the dust / resurrection / eternal life / Life itself / God’s gift and sovereignty. All of these speak to the theme of resurrection and reliance on God/Jesus to lift us ...
... .” (Song of Songs 1:12 Tanakh) “May my prayer be like special perfume before You. May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening gift given on the altar in worship. O Lord, put a watch over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart ... and the king will desire your beauty; bow to him, for he is your lord. The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; men of wealth will seek your favor. All glorious is the princess in her chamber, her gown embroidered with gold. In colorful garments ...
... what having that seat means, how precious and dear it is to sit at the table of God. For table dynamics are not just about getting the best seat or even in waiting to be invited, but in valuing the invitation! And most of all, the generosity and gift of the host. Jesus describes a metaphorical scenario in which many guests are invited by a man giving a great banquet (God’s holy feast). He sends his servant (Jesus) to tell all those who had been invited to “come.” But they all make excuses not to be ...
... the word zoe, eternal life. And he’s not talking about living forever on this planet. He’s talking about living life to the fullest in this world and then living life to the fullest in an even better world beyond the grave. Eternal life is God’s greatest gift. This life may offer us many pleasures and joys, but it still leaves us hungry for some greater meaning or purpose. That’s our hunger to know God. That’s part of our DNA. We were created in the image of God. All the qualities that make up God ...
... . More people are coming to Christ than ever before. People are discovering that Jesus Christ truly is the Way, the Truth and the Life. That is because when Christ’s work on earth was done he ascended to be with his Father so that we might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit so that we might bear witness that Jesus lives today. And people are bearing witness. How about us? Don’t you want to join such an exciting movement? 1. Just As Long As I’m Riding Up Front (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1995), pp. 81 ...
... is the power of forgiveness: after he breathed on his disciples in the upper room, Jesus said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. — John 20:22b-23 The gift of God’s Spirit to God’s people is not first and foremost about spectacular signs and wonders that we can now do, but about forgiveness: receiving it and giving it out. We are sent with the same mission as that upon which the Father sent the Son ...
What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God.
One of the keys to leadership is recognizing that everybody has gifts and talents. A good leader will learn how to harness those gifts toward the same goal.