Alleluia. Christ is risen. I wonder what that means for you today and why it matters. I don’t think we can understand what today really means apart from this past week. Without Holy Week we risk coming to this day and asking, “Risen from what?” We risk coming to this day believing it is only about Jesus’ resurrection and not our own. And what good is it to us if Jesus has been raised but we have not?
Author: Michael K. Marsh
Waiting – A Sermon On Matthew 27:57-66
Here’s my question. What are you waiting for? And what is your hope on this day? The thing that makes Holy Saturday so difficult, that makes this gospel text so unsatisfying, that leaves my sermon lacking is that there is no resolution. There is only waiting. You’ve had days like that, so have I. And sometimes it’s not just a single day of waiting. It’s weeks, months, years. Our life has been changed and it’s no longer like it used to be. We wait and wonder what’s next or if there will be a next. We wait and wonder when it will get better or if it will get better. We wait and wonder how we will ever live again or if we will.
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A Call For Change – A Sermon On John 18:1-19:42
Here’s my question. What is the cross of Jesus asking for in your life today? And what is it showing you? Most of us come to Good Friday believing that the cross gave us something. Most of us come to this day saying that “Jesus died for our sins.” I’m not so sure anymore. I struggle with the torture and execution of Jesus. I suspect most of us do. I can’t make sense of it and I’m not sure Jesus could either. I want to rethink the meaning of Good Friday and the usual ways we interpret it.
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Coming Clean About Ourselves – A Sermon On John 13:1-17, 31-35
Here’s my question. What in you needs to come clean tonight? And what is your fear about that? This is not about whether you will wash someone’s feet or take off your shoes and socks and let your feet be washed. This is about your own sense of worthiness and whether you are enough. I wonder if the question of worthiness is why more people will come to church on Good Friday than tonight. Maybe it’s why more people glory in the cross than the basin. We’re okay with Jesus dying for our sins but not okay with him washing our feet. I think the same reason lies behind both of those things: we don’t feel worthy.
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The Night Of Betrayal – A Sermon On John 13:21-32
Here’s my question. In what ways have you been the betrayer? Whom have you betrayed? And how did that happen? “Very truly, I tell you,” Jesus said, “one of you will betray me.” Everyone at the table looked around wondering who it was. I wonder if they looked at themselves or just each other. I wonder if they looked at their own lives; their thoughts, words, and deeds; things done and left undone. I wonder if they were relieved when Jesus dipped the bread in the dish and gave it to Judas. Are you?
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What Troubles Your Soul? – A Sermon On John 12:20-36
Here’s my question: What troubles your soul today? What is the hour from which you want to be saved? Now before you answer, let me explain what I am asking about. I’m asking about more than just something that upset you or didn’t go your way. I am asking about more than an inconvenience, interruption, or a disappointment. I am asking about those things, events, experiences that shake you to the core. I am asking about those hours that terrify you. I am talking about those memories, thoughts, feelings, or fears that never go away. No matter how hard you try you can’t wish, deny, or ignore them away. They are the things that give you no rest and won’t let you go. They keep stirring up your insides. They hound you through the day and haunt you through the night. They are there when you fall asleep at night and when you wake in the morning. They just keep coming back, coming back, coming back.
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Fragrancing Life – A Sermon On John 12:1-11
Here’s my question: In what ways are you fragrancing the life of others? I hope you understand that I’m not talking about perfume or rubbing someone’s feet. I’m asking about love. I am talking about the kind of love that is absolutely free and will cost us everything. I’m not talking about love that is based on feelings or attraction but the kind of love that is a choice and a commitment by which we pour out on another all that we are and all that we have. I am talking about loving someone to death, and beyond. I’m asking you to look at how you love in light of Mary and Judas. Let them be the lenses through which you look at yourself.
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Working Out Our Life – A Palm Sunday Sermon On Mark 11:1-11
What if Jesus is more like us than we know or want to admit? What if Jesus was always working it out just like we are? What if he struggled with life and death in the same way we do? What if Holy Week for Jesus and for us is a week of figuring it out - figuring out who we are, what we’re about, what matters most; facing our fears and naming our hopes; uncovering, discovering, or recovering something new about ourselves and our lives? What if Jesus is as ambivalent and hesitant about this week as are we? What if today’s triumphal entry is more accurately described as the triumphal drive by or, since Jesus was on a colt, the triumphal ride by?
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Unless … – A Sermon On John 12:20-33
I don’t know if “unlesses” is a real word but I am using it as a noun and the plural of unless. We all have our “unlesses.” They’re about how and what we see. They are the restrictions, limitations, and conditions that shape and inform our relationships and understanding of each other, Jesus, and ourselves. Jesus has his "unlesses" too. Unless is the hinge around which we either see or do not see Jesus.
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Confessing
Photo by Taylor Smith on Unsplash What on earth were you thinking Mike? Why would you do that? What an idiot. There it was again, that familiar inner voice. At one time those words, that voice, were about what I had done. Now…
