Divine Imagination
The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month
Mark 13:6-8
The 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month.
We arrive this morning at the hour when 100 years ago the guns fell silent at the end of the most destructive war the world had ever known: “the Great War” 1914-18.
Nearly 10 million dead or missing, 21.2 million wounded that 4 years earlier had been the pride and hope of their various nations. Armistice Day / Veterans Day.
We also are in a time of “peace” when there is a “mass shooting” on average about every day. Fires. Hurricanes. Floods. Global warming. We feel the trauma, the fragility of life, frustration at injustice, persistence of evil, the desire to know what really matters.
Jesus on the Mount of Olives looking at Herod’s Temple.
The disciples impressed with magnificence. Jesus knows the impermanence. Beware of deception. It is hard to keep clarity in the welter of “great” events. Wars and rumors of wars. Rise and fall of peoples, kingdoms. Famines, earthquakes. Evil, struggle. Things that seem cataclysmic and final aren’t. “Definitely going to happen...”
There is an end, a goal toward which God is moving, but it’s in the hands of God, not humans.
The Great War to end all Wars.
"I wanna see Jesus!"
Mark 5:21-43, Luke 19:1-4
Deacon, Reggie Jackson preaches on Jesus in the Gospel of Mark and Luke.
*Please Note* we experienced some technical difficulties and the recorder stopped recording roughly ten minutes from the conclusion of his sermon. We apologize for the abbreviated sermon.
Action!
Mark 1:9-15
Larry delivers an exciting and engaging lesson on the Gospel of Mark through Mark himself. This narrative sermon immerses the listener into the thinking process of Mark as he tells the story of Jesus.
Fear, Faith, and Love: “Don’t You Care?” - Fear in the Storms of Life
Mark 4:35-41
Can I be Fearless in a World full of Fear?
Our retreat theme starts from the word “Fearless.” What can that mean? Fear has myriad forms. We all experience fear. It’s built into us as creatures (Gen 3:10 “I was afraid.”). Fear touches every scale of life from war and terrorism, to pollution and ferocious weather, to injustice and corruption in society, to unemployment and poverty, to broken relationships and loss of one we love, to our children’s future and our own death, to failure in doing something and peer pressure, to flying and germs, to what friends will think if I wear this. Even the best things bring fear.
You are the only expert in your own fears. The experience of fear is a given. Fear is not a sin. But our experiences of fear teach us that it can be awful and disabling. It distorts reality and often produces bad responses to situations. We want to avoid it and will do almost anything to keep fear at bay. Fear often isolates us, makes us strike out, and see others in the worst light.