SermonStudio

Note: This installment is still being edited, but for purposes of immediacy we are posting it for your use. Please excuse any errors or omissions. We'll have it cleaned up soon.

For April 29, 2018:

• Two Conversations by Dean Feldmeyer -- The gospel shouts an inclusive, accepting, reconciling, affirming word to all those who have been marginalized by the faith community.

Contents
“Vows” by David O. Bales
“Helena’s Touch” by David O. Bales


Vows
by David O. Bales
Psalm 22:25-31

“I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (v. 5)

Hello boys and girls,

Welcome to worship today. Thanks for joining me. I have a special children's message for you this morning (and for adults too).

Acts 8:26-40
Policies and procedures are sometimes the bane of a pastor’s existence. There are those, in some churches and denominations, who think that only church members should have their children baptized. I get it. Churches are concerned about members and about the time and energy their pastors utilize. But how can anyone turn away someone who seeks to be welcomed into the family of God?

“If you don’t know where you are going,” says an ancient source, “any road will get you there.”

To live in a different way requires some goals that pull us toward the narrow path that leads to the Kingdom of God. Goals don’t have to be big or outlandish or extravagant. They must, however, be important. In the preface to his magnificent novel Moby Dick, Herman Melville says, “To write a mighty book you must have a mighty theme.”

Some years ago I baptised a beautiful child. She was nearly three, so a little older than most children who are brought for baptism. She had golden curls and blue eyes and the sweetest smile you could wish to see. But she was unable to sit or stand unaided and she was unable to speak, for she had suffered brain damage at birth.

What is a preacher to make of a parable or extended allegory about a vine in an urban and industrial culture? If you are living in a small town or a rural area, people might know something about growing grapes. They might know about the need to prune back old growth since the grapes only form on the new growth. But how many in a large city would know about cultivating a grape vine so that it produces a good crop? For them grapes are something you buy in the produce section of the supermarket.