Claimed, gathered and sent

Worship was just amazing in Bemus Point and Mayville. Every once in a while I get inspired to try something. Well...Sunday it worked! I did a couple of things that were different. The emphasis of the readings and my sermon was on Jesus loving us. It was such an important point to make, that during the passing of the peace, I had the worshippers exchange God's peace, but had them add "Jesus loves you!" People were smiling and seemed to be genuinely touched by this reminder. God is good. This is the gospel text from Sunday, May 10, John 15:9-17.  Immediately after I declared, "The gospel of the Lord and the people responded, "Thanks be to God," this is what they heard. You should have seen the response. Heads were bobbing side to side as everyone sang out, "All you need is love..." Below is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy's and St. Mark's. I don't know if we have any Beatles fans in the congregation, but I couldn't...

This is the message I preached at St. Timothy's and St. Mark's (with one change). The text is from The Message Bible, John 15: 1-8. Have you ever been so hungry that you felt like you were about to faint? You are at a friend's house and you see that on the table in front of you is an inviting, delectable-looking bowl of fruit. It must be there to be eaten, so you grab one of your very favorite fruit--your mouth is watering, you can almost taste it-----and then, much to your disappointment, you discover that it is a piece of wax fruit, the fruit is fake. It may look good, but it is phony.            We are a church that loves to eat, aren't we? We love our  fellowship time with coffee, tea and all kinds of goodies. Food is something we know a lot about. This passage from John's gospel is not some hard to figure out parable. Vines and grapes and branches were very familiar to the disciples, just as they are to us. It was and ...

This is Sunday's gospel text from The Message: John 15:1-8   The Message (MSG) 15 1-3 “ I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn ’ t bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. 4 “ Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can ’ t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can ’ t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. 5-8 “ I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you ’ re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can ’ t produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to a...