RLC-Sunday-Blast 12-18-2022 Advent 4. This is the last Sunday in the season of Advent. We read Luke 1:46-56, and are in awe of Mary’s response to being chosen by God to bear the Messiah in her famous song the “Magnificat.”
RLC-Sunday-Blast-12-11-2022-Advent-3. For this week’s Advent theme – Joy – we look at Luke 1:39-45, the scene where a pregnant Mary visits Elizabeth who is pregnant with John (the Baptist). In this piece of scripture we see Joy demonstrated, by both Elizabeth and unborn John. The word “Joy” seems out of place these days. Maybe it is “too old,” “too stiff,” “too trite.” Frankly, I can’t remember the last time the word “joy” came from my mouth! For me, I think it has lost some of its meaning, its intent and intensity.
RLC-Sunday-Blast 12-4-2022, Advent 2. As you may remember we started these recorded videos during the pandemic, when many people could not attend an in-person gathering in their faith communities. Thankfully, we have passed that time and can now gather in person.
However, several people have commented that they watch the evening prayer service during the week, when they feel the need for some quiet time. That is a great idea!
This week’s service is adapted from “Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals,” and the reading is the lyrics to the Advent hymn “O Come Emmanuel.”
RLC-Sunday-Blast 11-27-2022, Advent 1. Today begins the Advent season, the season of expectant waiting for the birth of Christ. For this Advent season and Christmas our “Sunday Blast” will look at different prophetic voices in the first two chapters of Luke’s gospel: Zechariah, the angel Gabriel, Elizabeth, Mary, Simeon, and Anna. Each week we will see how these prophetic voices express a theme, represented by the candles of the Advent wreath: hope, love, joy, and peace; and on Christmas, the Christ candle. For this first week we will hear about the angel Gabriel’s visit to Zechariah in verses taken from Luke 1:5-25, the birth of John the Baptist is foretold. May the spirit of the season be with you and may you have a blessed Advent!
we draw near the end of the Chapel’s summer season I want to thank all of you for being a part of our community!
RLC-Sunday-Blast 8-21-2022 This week’s Sunday Blast continues in the Letter of James focusing on 3:1-18.”Taming the Tongue.”
RLC-Sunday-Blast 8-14-2022 This week’s Blast requires some imagination, as we continue working through the Letter of James. Tomorrow’s Chapel sermon will expand upon what the “Second Letter of James” might have to say about the topic of Faith and Deeds. (Some of us grew up knowing this as Faith and Works).
RLC-Sunday-Blast 8-7-2022 Our Sunday “Blast” focuses on the introductory chapter of James, especially 1:1-12. It can be challenging reading, but some suggest that in this first chapter we have a look at the different topics James’ letter will be touching on in more detail.
RLC-Sunday-Blast 7-31-2022. This week we turn back to scripture for a few weeks to examine “The Letter of James” as wisdom literature. As always, please continue to pass along your thoughts, questions, and prayer requests!
RLC-Sunday-Blast 7-24-2022. This “Blast” leads us back to the topic of wisdom, especially contemporary wisdom, and how it reinforces (or doesn’t) Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. That will be the focus of Sunday’s sermon.
RLC-Sunday-Blast 7-10-2022. I attached this week’s Sunday Blast which asks the question “What is Wisdom Worth?” In the next few weeks we will be looking at “conventional wisdom,”where it comes from, and what kind of Biblical Wisdom is its basis.
RLC-Sunday-Blast 7-3-2022. This week we renew the tradition of the Sunday Blast. As many of you know, it’s intention originally was to highlight possible themes for the upcoming preaching in church. And we are restoring that idea, along with following our look at scriptural Wisdom. On Sunday July 3 we will be celebrating The Lord’s Supper per Chapel tradition to gather for Communion on the first Sunday of the month. Some of us call it “Communion” or “The Lord’s Supper” or “Eucharist” or “The Great Litany.” This Sunday’s sermon and scripture (and this “Blast’) will touch on how Communion was practiced in the early church.An underlying theme can also be “commensality,” the act of eating together. Common or communal meals are important for several reasons: eating together supports social cohesion, order in our interactions with each other, and our individual and communal spiritual health and well-being. It will be of no surprise, then, when we see the wisdom of the early church appearing and congealing to encourage and facilitate communities made up of divergent groups, especially faith communities, bringing them together at The Lord’s Table. Today we can learn how applicable early Christian wisdom is applicable to us when we face arguments and friction between and among diverse groups. We find that Paul helps us find a balance between individual and community liberty.
RLC-Sunday-Blast 5-1-2022. This week’s Sunday Blast looks at the last chapter of John’s Gospel, Chapter 21. I recommend that you to read the whole chapter, due to its unique treatment of the disciples’ encounter with the risen Christ while they are out fishing. This is a very familiar story, but I would encourage you to look for the deeper meanings present.If Chapter 21 were a play, we would say there are three scenes, learn more in this weeks blast
RLC Sunday Blast 4 10 2022 – You may have experienced both of these, as different churches have approached tomorrow differently. I land on the side of “Palm Sunday” as I think it’s important to take each day of Holy Week one at a time and the events of those days as they occur.
RLC-Sunday-Blast 3-20-2022. Here is this week’s “Blast” highlighting both the wisdom of the Psalms and their ability to act as prayer.
RLC-Sunday-Blast 3-6-2022. This Blast will be our final look at Ecclesiastes and what “the Teacher” has told us based on a long and full life. If you have not read all the this book of Wisdom, I would recommend you at least take a look at a few short passages on important topics: Ch 5:1-7 “advice about religious observances” and Ch 5:10-20 “wrong and right attitudes towards wealth.” During the next two weeks we will look at two (or more) additional Psalms of Wisdom.
RLC-Sunday-Blast 2-27-2022. This week’s Sunday Blast continues with Qoheleth’s thoughts in chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes. The first eight verses in chapter 3 are some of the Bible’s most popular. But there’s more….
RLC-Sunday-Blast 2-20-2022. Meet the Teacher! (“Qoheleth”) as we will continue our Wisdom studies with the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible.In some Bibles this book is called “Qoheleth” and sometimes “On the Preacher.” The Hebrew term for the title of this book, Qoheleth, is not a proper name, but a common noun that is often translated as “teacher” or “preacher.” While one of the shorter books in the Bible, it can be hard to read through Ecclesiastes as it explores the search for wisdom in life, wandering from topic to topic and sometimes repeating itself with the opening lines: “Vanity of vanities … All things are vanity!” And that is a key phrase!
