theology

February 28, 2016 – Looking for Reasons from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.

A sermon preached at The Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on February 28, 2016.

I don’t mean to be a downer. Really, I don’t.
But just open the newspaper,
turn on the television,
glance at your twitter feed,
pull up your favorite news website any given week
and it probably bears some bad news for you.

It seems like the narrative is the same,
and only the locations change.

Tornados.
Floods.
Earthquakes and Tsunamis—
all of them wrecking havoc and altering lives.

Such are the stories that make the headlines,
because that’s what sells papers, perhaps,
but if our eyes are open even a little bit
we also might become aware of the less heralded
but no less dramatic or consequential
tragedies of our day
like the roughly 20,000 people who died this past Wednesday of hunger
many of them children
roughly the same number who died on Tuesday, and Thursday
and every other day too, every day of the year
according to the United Nations.

The difficult part is so much tragedy is all too real.

Millions around the world don’t have access to safe drinking water.
Or all the shootings.
This week close to here, at Excel Industries in Hesston, Kansas.

In every one of these situations,
families and loved ones grieved…in every one.
And at some level,
every one of those grieving people probably asked the same question
“Why?”

It just doesn’t seem fair.
Why would God let such a thing happen?
What had anyone done to deserve such tragedy?

///
In Jesus’ day, there was no question about fairness.

The assumption just was there that disease and violence
suffering and death bore a direct correlation with human sinfulness:
the greater the sin, the more likely the misfortune.

We call this Just Deserts: you get what you deserve.
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January 17, 2016 – "May Your Saucer Be Full" from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.

A sermon preached at The Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on January 17, 2016.

I Corinthians 12:1-11
and John 2:1-11

On Friday, Nora and Tessa and Brook
had the day off…a rare treat.
And they decided to make the treat a sweet one
by taking in an honest-to-goodness Afternoon Tea
at the Clock Tower Bakery in Overland Park.

I saw pictures, so I know its true.
There were savery treats. There were sweat treats.
And there was tea. It was oh so delicious. Lucky girls.
They had huge smiles on their faces. Lots of fun.

It reminded me that I heard once
about how some African-American faith communities
have a marvelous expression they like to share:
May your saucer always be full.[i]

You remember saucers, don’t you?
–Those little plates we use with a tea cup or a coffee cup?

Even though coffee these days, at least in my office,
is mostly consumed straight from a mug
or sometimes, worse, from cardboard cups with plastic sippy lids
and corrugated cup holders,
we can sometimes see saucers with cups of tea.

I even have a few in my cupboard.

Just in case there’s anyone here who is etiquette-challenged,
the whole point of a saucer is to catch whatever liquid happens to slosh over
the rim of the cup.

The fuller the cup, the more likely one is to slosh.
Hence the expression: May your saucer always be full.

May your cup always be full. So full, its OVERFLOWING.

///
This is an appropriate blessing to offer to a couple who is about to marry, I think.

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Sermon: Looking for Reasons

Sermon: May Your Saucer Be Full