Luke 13: 10-17
A Sermon Preached by the Reverend Dr. Howard W. Boswell, Jr.
Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 22, 2010
Kenmore Presbyterian Church
Kenmore, New York
I ran across a sermon on today’s text on the Internet. Chris Glaser preached it at a Covenant Network Conference in 2003. A Christian, an author, a theologian, and a minister, Glaser invited the congregation to stand, if they were willing and able. If you are willing and able, would you please stand now? If you are not able to stand, you may still take part.
Then, he invited the congregation to experience the world as the woman in Luke’s story does by leaning over 45 degrees. I invite you to bend over about 45 degrees. Soon, you will begin to feel a strain in your back and a burden on your shoulders. You see the world differently, don’t you? Being bent over limits what you can see. Glaser comments, “Stooping, you cannot easily look into the faces of those around you; you can’t be on the same level with anyone; you can’t see the whole church.”
He continues to describe the view of the woman in Luke’s story:
- You cannot easily look toward the horizon to see a glorious sunrise or sunset. Vistas of God’s wondrous works on earth in daylight and views of God’s awesome stars at night do not come readily. You are stuck in a humble and humbling position. For the ignorant you are the butt of derision and cruel jokes. The intelligentsia of the day sees you as deformed by sin, by a spirit of Satan. You deserve what you get. In the view of many, you are a disabled human being, rather than a human being with a disability. And yet here you are in a synagogue, worshiping Yahweh anyway, hearing the stories of how God liberated your people from oppression, from being bent by Pharaoh.
Now, before you sit down, I invite you to stand up straight. Lean back a little with your hands on your lower back. I don’t know about you, but it feels a little better, doesn’t it? The knots in your back become a bit unbound, don’t they? Ah, yes, that’s better! O.K. you may sit down again.
In a way, we just experienced a little of what this woman did when she encountered Jesus. Yet, imagine being bent over, not for a minute or less, but for eighteen years! Imagine waking up every morning in pain with nothing to take the edge off. Worse, Glaser got it right: People probably made fun of her, assumed she was sinful, and thought of her as disabled. We don’t know anything about how she became bent over. Scholars suggest abuse of one kind or another could cause this condition. Others offer a variety of chronic illnesses. Yet, professor of preaching at San Francisco Theological Seminary, Jana Childers points out the word is not simply “bent” or “bent over,” but more like “bent together” or “bent with.” Luke makes it clear whatever was wrong went deep inside her and not only pulled her body down, but her soul as well.
Some of us did not need Glaser’s exercise to get in touch with what this woman experienced daily, because we or a loved one live it. We know all too well how chronic physical illness not only pulls one’s body down, but pulls down one’s soul as well. We understand how looking at life through the filter of chronic mental illness has the same effect. Maybe, we don’t have a chronic disease of the body or mind, but somewhere in our life, something caused our souls to stoop a bit. Perhaps, someone told us we weren’t good enough. It could be somebody rejected us because of our race, gender, age, or sexual orientation. Maybe, we even stoop because we believe in Jesus and people poke fun at our faith.
Yes, many of us are a little bent, yet I believe, like the woman in Luke’s story, we come to church looking to be unbound. We come to church, wanting to become whole. We come to church, wanting to be made free. Here and there, now and then, we hear Jesus speak to us. Do you know what he says? “Howard, Diane, Amanda, Alex, Kevin, Nancy, David, you’re free!” He lays hands on us, so that we may we stand straight and tall and give God the glory.
Now, I wish the story stopped right there, but there’s another scene. You remember it, don’t you? The leader of the synagogue sees what happens.Not wanting to confront Jesus publicly, he rebukes the woman in front of God and everyone, saying, as Peterson puts it in The Message, “Six days have been defined as work days. Come on one of the six if you want to be healed, but not on the seventh, the Sabbath.”
Isn’t that the way it remains today? People pursue Sabbath as a gracious time to rest, to heal, and to remember we are free. Yet, sometimes, we religious types make it into a time when rules must be obeyed, wounds remain open and raw to the touch, and we know more of bondage than of freedom. Trust me, if someone received a healing here today in church found themselves released from a life of pain, began to testify, and sing something other than what was scripted, some of us might sound a lot like the leader of the synagogue, citing the Directory of Worship, or simply saying, “Now, now, none of that praise stuff, here, please! After all, we are Presbyterians!”
We are Presbyterians, many of us, and like many of our sisters and brothers in our denomination and in other mainline churches, we’ve forgotten why God gave us the Sabbath. God did not give us this day to punish us. God did not give us this day to ruin our sleep. God definitely did not give us this day to obey rules, to remain wounded, or to stay in shackles. God gave us the Sabbath to remind us we are creatures, not Creator. In Exodus, God commands the Sabbath, because not even God worked every day without a rest, when God made all there is. God gave us the Sabbath also to remind us we are free. In Deuteronomy, God commands the Sabbath, so that we never forget we were once slaves in Egypt, but no more! Now, we are free!
As Lord of the Sabbath, as giver of all liberty and lover of every soul, Jesus answers all our attempts to make this day into a set of rules, a place of pain, and a prison cell. He reminds the leader of the synagogue and us, if we will unbind an animal and give it water, so healing and freedom should flow in praise to God on this day of light and gladness. If you came here today, seeking to be healed from what ails you, looking to be freed from what binds you, stand up straight and start praising God! Jesus announces you are free and his hand rests upon you. He takes away whatever weighs you down, whatever lays you low.
Yet, if you’re still not sure whether such speech is decent and in order, well, I assure you it is and I invite you to receive the freedom our Lord offers to all, who will open their hands and hearts to him. Amen.
©2010 Howard W. Boswell, Jr.
Begin Your Celebration of Independence Day in Worship
Join us on the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
July 4, 2010
For A Service Filled with Patriotic Songs and Prayers for our Nation
Pastor Boswell will preach on Hebrew 11:8-16, “A Bettter Country”
Luke 8:26-39
A Sermon Preached by the Reverend Dr. Howard W. Boswell, Jr.
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 20, 2010
Kenmore Presbyterian Church
Kenmore, New York
The pastor who did my father’s memorial service asked my family and me for things we would remember about Dad. Among other things, I said I can’t listen to Johnny Cash sing and not think of my dad. When we went through pictures, we found one of Dad, all dressed in black! I always thought they looked a little alike. They were about the same age and shared a hard, rural upbringing. I remember watching The Johnny Cash Show with my dad.
Another thing they shared was addiction. Johnny went through rehab more than once. My father nearly died due to alcoholism when I was a junior in college. On American Recordings, Cash included “The Beast in Me,” a song by friend and former son-in-law, singer-songwriter, Nick Lowe. Lowe wrote “The Beast in Me” with Johnny Cash in mind. It captures the conflict Cash knew, a fight my father faced, a struggle with which I wrestle, in different ways.
“The Beast in Me” begins,
The beast in me is caged by frail and fragile bars.
Restless by day, and by night, rants and rages at the stars.
God help the beast in me.
The beast in me has had to learn to live with pain,
And how to shelter from the rain,
And in the twinkling of an eye might have to be restrained.
God help the beast in me.
This song serves as an image of what many endure who suffer from addiction, as Cash and my father did; from depression and co-dependency, as I do; and from emotional distress and mental illness. Many of us understand all too well these words from Paul in Romans chapter 7, verse 15, “I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Some of us sense all too well what Paul means when he writes in verse 24, “Wretched (one) that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” Yet, even amid the dying, we still cry, “God help the beast in me!” and hope to proclaim, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
“The Beast in Me” paints a portrait of the Gerasene demoniac before Jesus came ashore on the other side of the sea. Scholars disagree about the exact location, but all of them agree it was in Gentile territory, outside of the ordinary. When I went to Jordan in 2001, I saw some of the land of the Gerasenes. Its nearly lunar landscape made it easy to imagine the demoniac’s life before Jesus came. No longer fit to live among the living, he dwells in the land of the dead, running around the tombs, naked. Sometimes, for public safety, the residents place him in shackles, but these “frail and fragile bars” are no match for his restless mind. He breaks them and runs to the wilderness, where he rants and rages at the stars.
Most of us may have problems with the notion of demon possession. Some suggest the Gerasene demoniac was bipolar. They imagine with the right medication, with the right treatment, and a little self-control, this poor man could be right as rain. Yet, we need to accept mental illness and addiction still carry a stigma in our society, even within the church. Many of the homeless who wander the streets of our cities, from whom we walk away when we meet them on the sidewalk, suffer from a chronic mental illness or addiction. In our society, we still do not show those who suffer mental illness or addiction the same compassion we show toward those with physical ailments. Even insurance companies do not cover behavioral health at the same levels as they do physical health. We seem to think since it’s all in their heads, it’s not real or that they aren’t strong, like we are.
We may not know it, but we meet people like the Gerasene demoniac every day. They may even sit next to us in these pews. Some quietly suffer. They endure the pain and the added burden of shame we place on them. Others demonstrate their pain in inappropriate ways. We either ignore them or send them packing when they disrupt our calm. Yet, like the villagers, we fear them, but even more we may fear what happens when they become better. When they become whole, we begin to sense how much we need them to be broken. They let us not look at the beasts in us.
I nearly left out the bridge and last verse of “The Beast in Me,” because I believed they didn’t work with the passage, until I realized how they speak to our lack of awareness of or honesty about our own struggles. Yet, now, I see now how well they fit,
Sometimes it tries to kid me that it’s just a teddy bear
And even somehow manages to vanish in the air
And that is when I must beware
Of the beast in me that everybody knows;
They’ve seen him out dressed in my clothes
Patently unclear if it’s New York or New Year.
God help the beast in me.
The beast in me.
Sometimes, we call ourselves to confession with these words from 1 John 1:8-9, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Other times, we use these words, “We cannot come before God unless we are first honest with ourselves about who we are, about the mistakes we make, and about how well or poorly we care for others.” We like to kid ourselves our sins aren’t so serious. We like to pretend we know who we are. We like to excuse our mistakes and explain away our lack of compassion. Yet, in those moments, we must be aware the beast lies within every son of Adam, within each daughter of Eve. Though we were born to bear our Father’s likeness, we mar the resemblance. Though Jesus died on the cross and rose from the tomb to save us, we think it only offers us a ticket to heaven, rather than a way to live lives of wholeness here on earth. Though we received the anointing of the Spirit at our baptism, we fail to listen to the still, small voice that leads us to fullness of life.
We may kid ourselves, but Jesus doesn’t take the many voices that seek our souls so lightly. As soon as he sees the Gerasene demoniac, he commands the unclean spirit to come out of him. When the man cries out, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” and begs him to stop due to the torment he feels, Jesus continues, asking, “What is your name?” He answers, “Legion.” So we grasp what it means: A legion was a division in the Roman Army, composed of three to four thousand soldiers! Yet, Jesus sends this occupying army of demons into the herd of swine, who run into the depths of the sea, which Jesus already silenced as the disciples and he crossed. Only then does the man appear, restored and fully clothed.
Over the last several years, I’ve wanted to preach on this passage, because it speaks to me of my own struggles with depression and co-dependency. Sometimes, I ignore them, thinking they’re just a teddy bear, but I know they are “The Beast in Me.” They keep me from living in joy and peace. Yet, beyond my own struggles, I wanted to preach on this passage, because I know many of you share similar struggles. Some of you speak to me directly about them. Yet, mostly, I see them reflected in your eyes and hear them echoed in your words. Nowadays, many of us listen to Legion, many conflicting voices at work, through the media, in our families, from our friends, who tell us who we are and what we ought to do.
I want to make sure to share the good news in every sermon and I fear I’ve spent too much time on its opposite so far. Yet, if this passage tells me anything, it suggests how sometimes good news and bad news sound a lot alike. All of us contend with “The Beast in Me.” All of us have issues that we would rather not address in our lives. All of us carry around some kind of pain. Yet, Jesus addresses us with authority, invites us to name the demons, and offers to take away, or, at least, lessen the pain. He alone can help “the beast in me,” but only if we place ourselves at his feet, not kidding ourselves about our control, being brutally honest about where we fall short. He will receive us and he will restore us. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
©2010 Howard W. Boswell, Jr.
On Sunday, May 2, we held a Town Hall Meeting following worship. I made a presentation on the results of the second Natural Church Development Survey, which over thirty members and I took in November 2009, and initial reflections on Let Something Good Be Said: The Appreciative Inquiry Interview Project. During Lent 2010, elders and others conducted over eighty interviews with members. This month’s One Block North provides a summary of what was an energetic and inspirational hour.
First, we looked at the results of the second Natural Church Development Survey. To review the basis of this project in which we’ve been involved since 2007, I reminded those present of the theological foundations of Natural Church Development. First, Natural Church Development believes the church is the body of Christ, an image Paul and others use to describe the unity and interdependence of the church. Second, it believes that healthy bodies grow, but third, it acknowledges God alone provides the growth. Finally, our task is to remove the barriers or blockages to the growth God desires.
Developed by Christian Schwartz, the Natural Church Development Survey measures eight quality characteristics:
1. Empowering Leadership.
2. Gift oriented Ministry.
3. Passionate Spirituality.
4. Functional Structures.
5. Inspiring Worship.
6. Holistic Small Groups.
7. Need Oriented Evangelism.
8. Loving Relationships.
This international research project has interviewed millions of Christians in hundreds of thousands of congregations on every continent. The research reveals that a church’s minimum factor poses the primary barrier to growth and must be addressed.
When we conducted the first Natural Church Development Survey in 2007, our minimum factor was Need-Oriented Evangelism. Church consultant, Paul Nixon pointed out to us that our score of 10 was the lowest he’d ever seen, as was our score on the second-lowest factor, Passionate Spirituality, at 14. The Church Health Team and session addressed these two factors through the Forty Days of Purpose Spiritual Growth Campaign last spring.
The second Natural Church Development Survey showed dramatic improvement in Need-Oriented Evangelism, increasing over fourfold to 45 and in Passionate Spirituality, increasing nearly threefold to 36. All other quality characteristics revealed similar improvement. Such results demonstrate the effectiveness of Natural Church Development and the hard work of the Church Health Team, the session, the staff, and others of you.
However, what do we do next? Last summer, I approached the Church Health Team, then the session with the need to begin to develop a strategic plan by which we would address the ongoing health of Kenmore Presbyterian Church. We engaged Dr. Janita Byars, the Poet of Transformation to assist us in this process. Late last year, she suggested Appreciative Inquiry as an approach to develop an understanding of who we are and what we value as a congregation, which are the first steps of any strategic plan.
Each session Ministry Team reviewed and summarized one of the following five questions asked in the interviews:
1. Please tell me about a time in your life at Kenmore Presbyterian Church when you were most excited and/or inspired?
a. What was it about Kenmore Presbyterian Church and its programs that made this excitement or inspiration possible?
b. What did you learn about the church or about yourself from your experience?
2. I was invited to be part of Kenmore Presbyterian Church leadership as an elder because someone saw a “spark” of leadership in me. I would like to learn something about the qualities in you that have helped you become who you are, so please feel free to brag.
a. What are your special gifts that you bring to your work, church, home, or play?
b. What is it that you admire most about yourself?
c. What do you value most about what you do?
3. Please tell me the story of how you came to be a Christian and/or about how you came to join Kenmore Presbyterian Church?
a. Is there anyone else in your family who is a member of KPC?
b. Does your family support your involvement at KPC?
4. The Biblical and Spiritual Foundation of Kenmore Presbyterian Church is based on the Great Commandment: Jesus said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22: 38-39
a. Please tell me about a time when you have seen things or experienced things that you believed needed to be changed in order to “live out” the Great Commandment and you took steps to be the change you wanted to see in the world?
b. What made it possible to take those steps and what happened as a result?
5. What have you learned in your lifetime that you wish you would have known much earlier?
All Ministry Teams reviewed the sixth question: “What hopes do you have for the future of Kenmore Presbyterian Church? Please be specific about what the church might look like and be in the future?”
I reviewed the summaries from each ministry team. It led me to these initial statements of our core values:
1. We value children and youth and want to see them grow into adult Christians.
2. We value one another and believe healthy, loving relationships are important.
3. We value the ability to serve and to lead.
4. We value worship and find music a particular path for the Spirit’s entry.
5. We value lifelong learning and opportunities to go deeper in our faith.
Also, I developed this initial statement of our core purpose: “As sons and daughters of the one who Jesus called, “Abba! Daddy!” this community exists to create relationships with God and one another in which people may grow strong, wise, and grace-filled.” Each ministry team will review these statements and develop goals and strategies for the next three years for their ministry team and for the church.
By the end of June 2010, the session hopes to present to you a strategic plan for Kenmore Presbyterian Church for the next three years, which will include the following components:
1. Statement of our Core Identity
a. Core Values
b. Core Purpose
2. Statement of Mission
3. Statement of Vision
4. Goals for the next three years
5. Specific strategies for accomplishing those goals
We have some people who expressed interest in assisting the session in this work. If you would like to help to shape the future of this church that we love, please contact me. Above all, pray that the Spirit will guide us to discern and do God’s will in this time and place.
John 20:19-31
A Sermon Preached by the Reverend Dr. Howard W. Boswell, Jr.
Second Sunday of Easter, April 11, 2010
Kenmore Presbyterian Church
Kenmore, New York
Recently, I reconnected with members of UP Construction Company, my high school youth group through Facebook. The name came from United Presbyterian Church (USA) (that’s UP), but it also meant building up one another and lifting up the name of Christ, as I recall. On Holy Saturday, Pam posted the first half of a chorus from a song we sang, “Ev’ry morning is Easter morning from now on!” I posted the second half, “Ev’ry day’s resurrection day, the past is over and gone!” Of course, now I can’t get the song out of my head!
While they worked together as Pastor and Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in Port Jervis, New York in the sixties, Richard Avery and Donald Marsh wrote, “Every Morning is Easter Morning.” I hold a special place in my heart for this song. It takes me back to an Easter service in 1974 at Wright Memorial Presbyterian Church on the Seneca Reservation. I remember singing with full confidence and complete joy:
Good-bye guilt, good-bye fear, good riddance! Hello, Lord, Hello, sun!
I am one of the Easter People! My new life has begun!
Ev’ry morning is Easter morning from now on!
Ev’ry day’s resurrection day, the past is over and gone!
As I said, I can’t get the song out of my head. I want to warn you: I intend to place it into yours before the end of this sermon, because this song states how the Resurrection, if we let it have its way, can transform our lives. Last Sunday, we looked at what Easter is—“the feast of victory for our God.” Today, we explore what Easter does: how it forgives us and set us free from fear; how it gives us good news to spread; how it makes life a never ending adventure!
If ever a group needed forgiveness and to be released from fear, it was the disciples on the first Easter evening. I wonder whether we can conceive the thoughts that crossed the minds of the eleven on Easter night. The tomb was empty—that’s all they knew. They were all marked men, because they followed Jesus. If the religious authorities went after him, wouldn’t they be next? Except for the disciple whom Jesus loved, all of them had run. Peter denied Jesus three times and Judas betrayed him. We can imagine the guilt and fear they had to feel, as well as a desperate desire to know what happened to Jesus.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Jesus appears in the locked room and offers the greeting still used in the Middle East today, “Peace be with you.” They cannot believe their eyes, until Jesus shows him his hands and side, almost as if to show the identifying marks by which they would know it is really him! John seems to support what I’m saying, because he says they “rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”
Again, Jesus says, “Peace be with you.” Some scholars suggest this repetition is an insertion, but I believe it’s more, much more. When Jesus repeats his greeting, he gives them the gift of peace. He takes away their guilt and fear and sends them as God sent him. He breathes into them a holy Spirit; a sweet, sweet Spirit; his Spirit; and gives them the power to forgive sins.
Sometimes, I suspect we are more like the ten than we care to confess. Holed up in our sanctuary, safe from the outside world, guilt and fear fill us. We regret what we’ve done and what we’ve left undone as individuals and as a congregation. We wonder whether God really, fully forgives us. We worry what tomorrow holds. Yet, Jesus still speaks to us the same words, “Peace be with you.” Whenever we say it to one another, we breathe in his Spirit, that sweet, sweet spirit, the Holy Spirit from one another. Jesus wants us to become contagious with that Spirit. He sends us out into the world with Good News, great news!
He empowers us to forgive, and believe me, brothers and sisters, people need the power of forgiveness. People are bent over with heavy burdens of guilt. They are weighed down low with even heavier burdens of resentment. We have the power to set them free through learning and, then, practicing forgiveness. It’s like the second verse of “Every Morning is Easter Morning” says,
Daily news is so bad it seems the Good News seldom gets heard.
Get it straight from the Easter People! God’s in charge spread the word!
Ev’ry morning is Easter morning from now on!
Ev’ry day’s resurrection day, the past is over and gone!
Now, I know some of you might say, “Ha, God’s in charge. Can you prove it?” “I doubt it, pastor!” others might offer. Listen: I do understand how it seems all evidence points to the contrary. I know how easy it would be if we could just see some proof, hear some testimony, and feel some hope. For all of us who find it hard to believe the good news to be good, we have a patron saint, Thomas.
John doesn’t discuss where he was on Easter Evening. We only know that he wasn’t there. He hears the good news second hand from the others, “We have seen the Lord!” I understand Thomas’s reaction, don’t you? Haven’t you ever heard a story that was too good to be true and someone finally said, “Well, I guess you had to be there?” Deep down, I wonder whether Thomas felt left out, when he threw down the gauntlet at their feet, saying, as Peterson puts it in The Message, “Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won’t believe it.”
Well, be careful for what you ask for you may surely get it. A week later, on this very night, Jesus appears again to the disciples and announces, “Peace be with you!” Peterson captures the emotion of what happened next, when he writes, “Then [Jesus] focused his attention on Thomas.” Jesus gives Thomas his hand to place his finger. Jesus offers Thomas his side to place his hand. Jesus submits to Thomas the evidence he seeks. Peterson translates what Jesus says next more literally than the NRSV, “Don’t be unbelieving. Believe.” Yet, Thomas doesn’t place his finger where the nails pierced Jesus’ hands. He doesn’t stick his hand where the spear ran him through, because he knows who Jesus is, “My Master! My God!”
We make too much of “doubting” Thomas, especially since the word doesn’t actually appear in the Greek. I’ve said it before: Doubt is not the opposite of faith, fear is. If anything, Thomas shows us what it means to have no fear. He asks for what he needs. When Jesus comes to Thomas, it shows how far he will go for us to have faith in him. If we ask him, he will reveal himself, if we’re willing to open our eyes.
We sang another song in that youth group long ago, “Have You Seen Jesus My Lord?” The singer-songwriter, John Fischer focused on the wonders of nature and the grace of the cross as places where we can see Jesus. We only need to ask for eyes of faith, because as the chorus said,
Have you seen Jesus my Lord? He’s here in plain view.
Take a look, open your eyes. He’ll show it to you.
I apologize for what may seem to be my trip down memory lane, but you see, I wouldn’t be here today, if it weren’t for those songs and the people with whom I sang them. At fifteen, I came to faith in Jesus Christ through the love of that group. In many ways, the third verse of “Every Morning is Easter Morning” describes my life before that day and on many days since,
Yesterday I was bored and lonely; But today look and see!
I belong to the Easter People! Life’s exciting to me!
Ev’ry morning is Easter morning from now on!
Ev’ry day’s resurrection day, the past is over and gone!
While I may wander away from that reality at times, I continue to find my way back again and again to a belief that the Resurrection makes life an adventure. If we remain bored and lonely after Easter, then we haven’t really gotten the word! Easter makes everything possible. It takes away the guilt and fear that holds us hostage. It gives us good news to share. I can’t get this song out of my head,
Ev’ry morning is Easter morning,
Ev’ry morning is Easter morning,
Ev’ry morning is Easter morning,
From now on!
©2010 Howard W. Boswell, Jr.
Easter 2010 Video
(on a PC Right click link above and select “Save Link – or Target As” and save to your computer)
Last year, after worship on Passion/Palm Sunday, a member wondered what happened to Palm Sunday. I appreciated this person’s question and I approached Worship Ministry Team and session with an idea. Beginning this year, our worship would alternate between Palm Sunday and Passion/Palm Sunday. This year, on Palm Sunday, March 28, we celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Sunday. Worship will begin with a processional with the palms. All of our choirs will provide music for this day. Our youth will have a drama and I will preach on the events of that first day from Luke 19:28-48, “A Day in the Life.”
During Holy Week, on Monday and Wednesday, we will have a brief service of Evening Prayer at 7:00 p.m. On Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. the Discipleship Ministry Team will have a Seder meal. Please watch your bulletin for more information about these worship experiences.
On Maundy Thursday, April 1, our liturgy will come from Lyn Reith, a pastor in the United Church of Christ. She writes, “This service was designed to be a full service of Word and Sacrament. It was also designed to allow worshipers to share in the intimacy Jesus experienced with his disciples through foot washing and during the meal in the hours prior to his arrest and crucifixion.” While the ritual of foot washing will only be shared by one other person and me, it will raise a question whether there may “Another Sacrament?”
Finally, on Good Friday, April 2, our worship will come from Mary Kortman and Daniel Mouw. Mary serves as worship director at South Grandville Christian Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan, where Dan is pastor. “Beneath the Cross” uses first person narratives from Judas, Simon of Cyrene, a Soldier, Mary, the dying thief, and the Centurion to tell the story of the Passion of our Lord.
Continue reading about Holy Week Worship at Kenmore Presbyterian Church
Women Keeping the Message Alive
On the Third Sunday in Lent, March 7, our worship will celebrate the gifts of women, using resources from Horizons Magazine, the publication of Presbyterian Women. Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday honors women who contribute their gifts to the church and community, and lifts up issues of women’s rights. March 7, 2010, is Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday, the day before International Women’s Day on March 8.
This year’s theme is “Women Keeping the Message Alive.” From Eve, the mother of all living, through the tears of Esther, through an angel to Mary, through Mary and Martha at their brother’s death, through the women who came to the tomb, through Priscilla during the time of Pentecost, through women in the church today, God’s word is kept alive. From sermons preached to lessons taught, from emails sent to text messages received, from inscriptions on papyrus to internet blogs, the message is still being sent and received by women. We rejoice in and celebrate God’s message to women, along with the way women continue to keep God’s word alive.
We will welcome to our pulpit our own Marilyn Koszarek, who serves as Moderator of Presbyterian Women in the Presbytery of Western New York. Women will provide leadership in every facet of worship, except for the celebration of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
Continue reading about Celebrate the Gifts of Women Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 10:00 a.m.
Rejoice in the Glory of Christmas!
On Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, Kenmore Presbyterian Church will have two worship services.
- At 6:00 p.m. our worship will be a Service for the Child in Us All. This family friendly worship service includes the reading of the lessons appointed for Christmas, the singing of familiar carols, and the traditional Candlelighting Ceremony to conclude worship. Pastor Boswell will read the children’s book, Mortimer’s Christmas Manger by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. Our children and youth choirs and ringers provide the music for this worship service.
- At 10:30 p.m. Diane M. Green will offer a recital of Christmas music on our historic Schlicker organ.
- At 11:00 p.m. our worship will be a Christmas Communion Service. While traditional in structure, this worship will include drama and dance, as well as music provided by our adult choir and ringers. It includes the reading of the lessons appointed for Christmas, the singing of familiar carols, and the traditional Candlelighting Ceremony to conclude worship. Pastor Boswell will preach another sermon in the Cracking the Christmas Code series, looking at the central symbol of Christmas Eve, “The Manger.”
Yet, Christmas does not end on December 25th! We have two more worship services during Christmastide, which lasts until Epiphany on January 6th!
- On the First Sunday after Christmas, December 27 at 10:00 a.m. we welcome Lindsey Phillips Williams to our pulpit. Lindsey is a candidate for the ministry of Word and Sacrament under the care of our congregation and the Presbytery of Western New York. Lindsey received her Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia and a Master of Science in Patient Counseling from Virginia Commonwealth University. In August, Lindsey married to Roy Williams and began work as the community food program coordinator for Quin Rivers, a nonprofit, regional community-action group based near Fredericksburg, Virginia. Lindsey will preach on “Joy to the World!”
- Worship begins in the New Year with the conclusion to Pastor Boswell’s Cracking the Christmas Code sermon series. On the Second Sunday after Christmas, January 3, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. we will use the lessons appointed for Epiphany of the Lord, which falls on January 6: Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72: 1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; and Matthew 2: 1-12. All of these texts speak of God’s glory, which God will reveal to all people. The symbol of this glory is the star and the characters who most represent God’s plan are the Magi, who visit the toddler Jesus and his mother with gifts. Join us this Sunday to celebrate the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, which reminds how people will come from north and south, east and west, and set at table in God’s kingdom.
Continue reading about Rejoice in the Glory of Christmas at Kenmore Presbyterian Church!
A Christmas Carol in 3D is showing at Regal on Elmwood at 1:40, this Saturday the 14th. We will meet outside at 1:20, so that we all have plenty of time to get tickets and find our seats. After the movie is over, we can all come back to the church for cookies and hot cocoa. Please call Nancy Fuster at 873-4832 to RSVP. See you then!
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