Come/To/Believe
The Redheaded Preacher chose to preach out of the ending of John’s Gospel, about coming to believe, but breaks it down into those three words almost as three stages: coming, coming to, and coming to believe in someone’s journey of faith.  The Church plays a key role!  It’s a briefer homily because St. Peter’s U.C.C., Skokie, celebrated Communion that Sunday.

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Come / To / Believe

This morning’s sermon is guided first by a question of Jesus in today’s Gospel of Luke (24:36-38) and later by the opening verses of the First Letter of John, Chapter 3. The Redheaded Preacher thus starts out talking about why we might have doubts about our God or our faith, how we are children of God by grace, and not only the ‘now’ but the ‘not yet’ future.  Those who do the right things, John says, are the righteous, and that is the final point of hope in dealing with doubt.


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Why Do Doubts Arise..? The Now And The Not Yet

This Sunday is often called “Good Shepherd Sunday” since the readings include the 23rd Psalm and some of John 10. That’s the chapter where Jesus says of himself, “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” He talks more about that, and the sermon spends time with his laying his life down for the flock, and also his taking it up again! With a wee bit of a deep dive into the laying down and taking his life up again, we spend time with both the Gospel and First John 3, the epistle reading which adjures believers to lay down their lives for their brothers and sisters following the pattern of their shepherd.  We end with an image of resurrection!

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Loving Shepherd, Loving Flock

Drawing on Biblical historical context for how to interpret First John 4, using an end-of-sermon true story from psychology to emphasize abiding in Christ through community, and leading us through a discussion of pruning, abiding, and bearing good fruit before that, our Redheaded Preacher has what we trust is an interesting, and little-bit-different-than-usual sermon for the listener!  

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The Fruitful Vine Of Love

The Redheaded Preacher departs from the Revised Common Lectionary for Mother’s Day by picking only Isaiah 66:10 -14 from its suggested readings; he went to passages from First Samuel 1 and 2, and Mark 10:13-16 for other aspects of motherhood, children, and characteristics befitting the Body of Christ on earth as we relate to children.  Hannah giving up her son Samuel to the priesthood offers a different perspective to moms who think their children belong to the parents and not also to the Lord; Jesus shows us warm compassion to kids and points us to what a ‘mothering’ church can look like today.

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Hannah, Jesus And Mothering Church

Today we celebrate the Day of Pentecost. Our Scriptures are from Ezekiel 37:1-14, selected verses from John 15 and 16, and, of course, Acts 2:1-21.  Rev. Lanford gives an overview of the baptism of the Spirit and what happened in the streets as the once-fearful disciples brought the good news to Jewish pilgrims in languages they could understand. What are some ways the Church might try to talk people’s language today? How about the challenge that lots of people don’t have the desire or the time for church, let alone be able to intentionally form communities of caring?  We hope you find this message both challenging and encouraging!

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The Church In The Power Of The Spirit 2024

This is Trinity Sunday and the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend in the U.S. Our Scriptures are mostly from the lectionary: John 3:1-17, Romans 8:12-17, Isaiah 6:1-8, and John 15:12-17.  Rev. Richard Lanford focuses on Romans primarily, after asking what spirit leads our lives, reports that Paul expects Christ-followers to have received the Spirit of God, making us children of God, belonging to God and God’s family. Moreover this means we have the Spirit of God’s love in and around us, leading us how to live, including love’s frequent consequence, sacrifice and even suffering, for the good of the beloved. Can we be so led as Jesus was? 

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Spirit Received, Spirit - Led

Jesus faced a lot of opposition from the Jewish religious establishment in Jerusalem, and here they clash verbally over Sabbath law interpretations in the field, and Jesus tries to take them to school over the same subject while preparing to heal a man’s withered hand in a synagogue. That was also on a Sabbath, perhaps the same day as in the field!  Rev. Lanford lifts up at the end how the opposition faced by Jesus has a parallel in our discipleship through the world making it hard to be a person devoted to agape love, forgiveness, justice and compassion. The Spirit in Jesus taking on the Pharisees lives on in His followers facing hardship, thanks to God. Listen in!

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Nevertheless: Jesus

This homily is inspired in part by the fact that we are celebrating an infant baptism in between the Scriptures and the homily, and by the readings.  Those are Psalm 138, Mark 4:30-34, and Philippians 1:3-11.  There is a theme within them of God’s purposes and them being fulfilled (by God). Yet do we not also have a role in them being fulfilled, as in by cooperating with God?  And what neat thing can the mustard seed parable tell us about God’s purposes and our lives?  Tune in and be encouraged!

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Purposes Begun, Purposes Fulfilling

This homily is guided not by the fact this Sunday is Father’s Day, but by the choice of Rev. Lanford to offer the Service of Healing within the worship time on more time before he retires on June 30th.  Thus, he explores the halting healing of Mark 8:22-36 within its narrative context, as well as briefly touching on why Jesus used saliva as something to put on a man’s eye.  The key Scripture is Mark 8, but listeners will also hear the healing in Mark 2:1ff., and Acts 3:1-10 at the Beautiful Gate at the Temple.  Our apologies to fathers hoping for a message intended for them!

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Thanks for listening!!

Here's Spit In Your Eye

Reverend Richard Lanford is the Pastor of St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Skokie.

Hannah, Jesus And Mothering Church

The Redheaded Preacher

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