The texts July 1, 2012 (moved from June 24, 2012 — the celebration of the birth of John the Baptist): Malachi 3:1–4; Psalm 141; Acts 13:13–26; and Luke 1:57–80
… Our world is full of shattered lives
and broken people
and all sorts of broken dreams, ideas, systems, and priorities.
Our world is full of shadows and shades of grey
and situations where every choice is a bad one
Our world is a place where things that are life giving are redefined as dead ends
and things that are deadly are redefined as ways of living.
And of course, being born into this broken world,
we are made broken by it too.
We are taught in this world about success and power and winning
and so we choose sides,
splitting the world into nation states, political ideologies, religions, races,
and so on
declaring winners and losers along the way
claiming the spoils
of being “number one”
while all the while, we each struggle to be part of the group on top …
***
I tend not to post the whole text of my Sunday sermons online; instead, I post an audio file for you to listen to—so, if you click on the play button below the text references, you can listen to me preach the sermon (make sure your browser and plugins are up to date—sometimes the little player doesn’t load if you aren’t up to date). If, by chance, you would like a copy of the full transcript, please feel free to email me (pebblefaith at gmail dot com) and I will be happy to send it to you! Many, many blessings!
Jabbok Dawn 