The Kirk

October 23, 2016 ~ “Where Your Heart Is: A Caring Heart” from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.

Where Your Heart Is: A Caring Heart

A sermon preached at The Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on October 23, 2016.

When you read the book of Joel
You realize pretty quickly that it’s not exactly a happy story,
At least not at first.

Like much of the literature from the Hebrew Prophets
Joel is written during a time of communal stress
External pressure
A locust plague or two
more than a normal helping of community angst.

We may not read Joel very often.
He’s considered a minor prophet,
Not because his words are unimportant
But because it’s a relatively short book
And so its tucked here towards the end
With the other shorter prophecies
Like Hosea and Obadiah and Nahum.

We may not read Joel very often
But this vision that Joel casts,
About half way through his prophecy
After heartache and hunger and community wide mourning
Well, this vision is the stuff of hope.

O Children of Zion
Be glad
Rejoice in the Lord our God
For God has given you rain
Early rain, for your vindication
Abundant rain

To this agrarian people decimated by insects who’ve destroyed their crop,

Joel speaks this word of hope:
The threshing floors shall be full of grain,
The vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

I will repay you for the years
The swarming locust has eaten

You shall eat in plenty…
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel…

Then afterward, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams
And your young men shall see visions
Even on the male and female servants,
In those days, I will pour out my spirit…

///
Some of that language may be familiar to you
Even if you’ve not been flipping through the prophets
For some light bedtime reading.

According to the Acts of the Apostles,
It was this text in the second chapter of Joel
That prompted Peter to preach to the crowds on Pentecost

The very speech that some people thought
Was inspired because the people
Were filled with new wine…
Wine potent enough, apparently
To give imbibers the ability to speak
And to hear
in a multitude of foreign languages.

Pentecost…the day the church was born.

But Peter knew differently.
Peter knew the PROMISE of the Holy Spirit
The promise of the abiding, animating, healing presence of God
Moving among God’s people
That promise was for everyone [Read more…]

I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re getting tired of hearing my voice.

Its been a week of firsts: first logo launch, first public radio appearance, first experience being interviewed for a podcast. I didn’t expect all that to happen around the same time, but it did. I wrote earlier this week about the logo launch, which was revealed to our community during a hospitality forum. That blog entry talked about some of my own attempts to theologically unpack and reclaim the notions of “Growth” and “Marketing” which are behind our Growth and Marketing Team, the people who hosted that forum and created that logo. It also explained some of the theological significance behind the logo itself.

Then on Tuesday I was a guest on Up to Date on KCUR, our local NPR affiliate. Last month the Pew Research Center on Religion and Public Life released results of its most recent survey on american religious affiliation, and I joined Atlantic managing editor Emma Green and host Steve Kraske of the Kansas City Star to discuss the results of the survey and how it relates to my ministry as Pastor of The Kirk.

I spoke a lot about the decline in people who call themselves Christian, the rise of the unaffiliated “nones,” reasons for the changes and ways in which churches should be adapting, including some hopes I have for how we’re doing that at our church.

You can find that podcast on itunes here, or you can go to their webpage about the show and listen directly there (sorry, I can’t figure out how to embed their audio here on Kairosblog).

Might not be able to embed the interview, but I can embed the pic

Then I went back to the office and settled in to talk to Rocky Supinger, associate pastor at Claremont Presbyterian Church in Claremont, California. Rocky started a podcast several weeks ago over on his yorocko.com blog, chats with people doing exciting things in ministry. For some reason, he decided he wanted to talk to me too. It turns out that Presbyterians Today, a monthly magazine that has experienced a renaissance of sorts, has asked Rocky to join with them in their Reimagining the Church series. So my conversation for Rocky’s Podcast ended up being the inaugural podcast for Presbyterians Today too. So fun.

You can see that entry on their webpage, or over at the yorocko podcast page.

Or you can listen here:

All in all, its time for me to be quiet for a while. But its been a fun and full week.

Sermon: Where Your Heart Is–A Caring Heart

Talking Church Stuff