Worship

You don't have to look very far nor very hard to find evidence that the church is not speaking a language which is understandable to the majority of contemporary people. Contemporary people seem to see no reason to bother to learn the language of the church, and the church cannot abandon its unique language without becoming just another noise competing for attention in an increasingly noisy world. Take the word, "worship", for instance. What in the world do contemporary people make of this vaguely old-fashioned word? Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky for this week's sermon, "Worship" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.

Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org.

The List

Not that I would *ever* imagine that a Presbyterian would permit himself to be enticed into something so sullied as a three-card Monte game in a back alley, but if that should ever have happened to one of your friends (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) you may have noticed how quickly your money moved into his pocket, despite your best efforts. We call this "slight of hand". We see what we expect to see.

So it is with miracles. Most of us do not expect miracles, and when we are confronted with an account of a miracle, such as the changing of water into wine at the wedding in Cana, our inclination is to either blow it off  by saying, "God can do anything", or to domesticate it by removing the miracle-ness from it. Miracles just don't appear on our list of believable things.

That won't work at the wedding at Cana because Jesus didn't manipulate the jugs of water in any way. He didn't even touch them. We are skewered at the point of this sign. Either Jesus was something utterly unique, or the Gospel account is a fabrication or a fraud. Many today take the latter approach. Everybody knows this is impossible. Those called to faith in Jesus take the first approach. Come join our congregation for "The List" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.

Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org.

No Sermon -- Just an apology

I know it sounds dramatic and all, but for personal reasons, I can't post a sermon this week. Nobody's sick or dying, I didn't have a crisis, I'm fine, family's fine. I just cannot, for reasons I cannot share, post the sermon. Click HERE for the benediction.

I pray you will forgive me. I'll do better next week.

stewart

Something's Up

On the way to church, my wife asked me what the sermon was about. I told her that I would be preaching on a differential analysis of the accounts in Matthew and Luke, with some observations upon the calendar calculations by Dionysus Exeguus. She replied, "Why can't we just have a nice sermon on the wise men coming to worship the baby Jesus?"

Why not, indeed! That's the story that makes everybody all warm and fuzzy. The question it poses to me, however, is why the good news seems to make everybody in the story cranky and, well..., murderous? Join us to find out how the stakeholders of the status quo react to the coming of Christ by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.

Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org.