The texts for Sunday, March 11, 2012 are: Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22
… These texts that insist again and again that the main thing for us should be God
—I am the Lord Your God
—You shall have no other gods before me
—God’s weakness is greater than human strength
—God’s foolishness wiser that human wisdom
— the heavens declare the glory of God
But these texts remind us, too,
that putting God as the main thing is not going to fit real well
with the way we mostly expect the world to work.
Because, if we’re honest, the main thing: God revealed in Jesus, in the cross,
is not what we want the main thing to be.
We want the main thing to be relevance, power, authority, spectacularity
We want the main thing to be about our ability to be in control
to maybe even keep those commandments…
We want the main thing to be about the temple:
the temples that we build,
the sacrifices that we make
the money that we invest
the time that we spend…
Links to things I mention in this sermon:
In the Name of Jesus by Henri Nouwen;
Facing Death, a Top Pastor Reconsiders what it Means to be Christian ;
“Getting ‘God’ Back in Our Church Communications
Jabbok Dawn 