theology — Page 7

September 28, 2014 ~ “Emptied” from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.

A sermon preached at John Knox Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on September 28, 2014.

Matthew 21:23-32
and Philippians 2:1-13
(Click above link for the Scripture texts upon which this sermon is based)

Way back in the 1950’s, Sao Kya Seng

was the prince of 34 independent Shan states in northeastern Burma,

a part of the world currently embroiled in all sorts of turmoil.

But in the 1950s, this prince came to Denver, Colorado to study agriculture.

Sao Kya Seng was cautious.

He wanted to experience what it was like to be a student in the US,

without his status influencing everything.

Have you seen the Eddie Murphy movie “Coming to America”?

This is something of a real-life, not nearly as funny version of that.

So he kept his identity secret.

No one, not even his professors, knew who he REALLY was.

One of his fellow classmates was Inge Sargent,

herself a foreign born student from Austria.

She suffered horribly in World War II.

Both of them being exchange students,

Inge and the Burmese prince quickly found

that they had a lot in common

and they started to spend more and more time together.

Their friendship grew into love

but the Burmese prince decided that, still, he would not let on his true identity

even though they were dating.

He did not want Inge’s decision to date him

to be colored by the fact that she could marry into royalty.

So when he finally proposed,

with an engagement ring of ruby and diamond,

Inge still did not know who he was.

Inge said yes and they got married, just as any other couple might, here in the US.

For their honeymoon, Sao Kya Seng took Inge to his homeland,

to Hsipaw

so that she could meet his family and see where he was from.

Now, as their ship approached the shores of Burma,

hundreds of people were waiting at the harbor.

Many of them had gone out in small boat, holding up welcoming signs.

A band was playing and some people were tossing flowers at the ship.

Surprised at all this excitement Inge turned to her husband,

and asked whose arrival they are celebrating.

“Inge,” he said, I am the prince of Hsipaw.

These people are celebrating our arrival. You are now the princess.”[i] [Read more…]

A sermon preached at John Knox Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on September 14, 2014.

Romans 14:1-12
and Exodus 14:19-31
(Click above link for the Scripture texts upon which this sermon is based)

Ed. note: as mentioned in the sermon copy, the majority of this sermon is from a draft of Marci Glass‘s sermon “Speed of Trust,” for Southminster Presbyterian Church of Boise, preached on September 14, 2014. Grateful for Marci’s willingness to share her ideas with me and, in this instance, to allow me to adopt and adapt her words for my context. All good credit, of course, belongs to her.

Ancient Stories.

We’ve examined so many of them, it seems,

during this rather quick dash through Genesis and Exodus

that we began way back in June:

Abraham, Hagar and Ishmael,

framing our story as one of trust in God

even when we see bears all around us…

Then Isaac, being bound and then set free

and the promise of a family, a future…

The birth of the twins Esau and Jacob

and Jacob’s conniving, sneaky efforts

to secure both a birthright and a blessing…

Jacob and God wrestling at Penuel, where

Jacob is renamed Israel

the one who wrestles with God, and lives!

Jacob and his eleven boys,

including Joseph, sold to Egypt

master of the harvest, of dreams,

of redemption…

And now once in Egypt, this story of the forming

of not just a family but of a people, a nation

by the God who hears the cries

of the oppressed and alienated.

Maybe its fitting to conclude our focus

on these ancient stories right here,

with Moses and Aaron and the people

on the verge of the wilderness, their future before them

at the Red Sea.

Now, I had been reading and pondering this story all week

how Moses warned Pharaoh: let my people go

and he didn’t, and so God ratchets up the pressure

and in a divine tête-à-tête with the King of Egypt

God forces Pharaoh to send the Hebrew people away

and away they go, 600,000 of them, the menfolk at least

and many more women and children

and cattle and dogs and cats and all the rest

so many more than a million people and their stuff

middle of the night, they’re off.

And Pharaoh is stubborn. Man, is he stubborn.

Because even after ALL of the plagues, all the humiliation

he can’t let them go. He just can’t.

He’s going to make them pay, and so he goes after them

with all his chariots and his things of war.

And so we are here, in something of a final confrontation

since the Passover wasn’t enough. Apparently.

I was pondering this story

when my friend and fellow pastor Marci Glass

sent me her reflections on it

and I think she has just the right words for us today,

an important thing for us to think about

as we transition away from these stories:[i] [Read more…]