From Luke 1:39-42, 46-56
We all have those songs that define a moment or a season. Those songs that transport us back in memory, or that focus and excite us toward some goal or event in the future.
But what about a song that names a promise? What about a song that claims hope in the face of trial? What about a song that offers a future for the forgotten? What about a song named and still can spark a revolution?
In week 3 of Advent, listen to Mary’s Song as Luke records it in his Gospel account…yes it is the song of an expectant mother, but it is also the song of a faithful follower…one who longs to see God’s Kingdom become a reality on this earth. Imagine what could change, if you took up this song!
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 10:38-42
We are conditioned, many of us, to compartmentalize our lives as a means of surviving the pace at which we tend to operate. We can call it self-preservation, and while it might help us feel like we are keeping our heads above water, when that mentality creeps into our spiritual life it becomes dangerous.
Without realizing it, it means that define what is at the center of our lives by determining what Christ can touch and what He must leave alone. We set aside time to connect with Him, and often in doing so, try to decide the parts of us that He gets to connect with.
What if everything we do is meant to be an act of worship, and act of placing and keeping Christ at the center of who we are?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 1:26-56
How do you navigate the unexpected interruptions that come in life? The phone calls, the turn of events, the changes that sometimes come without any warning? Do you just get through them, try to survive until you get to the other side?
What if it were possible to navigate those unexpected interruptions and challenges faithfully rather than just trying to get through them? What if God could change your worry into willingness or your pain into possibility?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 7:36-50
Do we have any hope of reclaiming the adage, “They’ll Know We are Christians…by our LOVE?”
Christians are known for a number of things today…is love…the love that Christ offers us, the love that Christ modeled for us, and the love that Christ calls us to one of them? Or are we known for our hypocrisy? Are we known for our self-centeredness? Are we known for our exclusivity, or our neglect of those not like us?
What if the church came to be known as a place for those no one else wanted? What if all of the, “wrong people,” showed up? How beautiful it might just become.
But how is that possible?
Only by allowing Jesus to re-order our lives…
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 12:13-21
Is enough enough?
It seems like a simple enough question…perhaps even a bit ridiculous, but when you consider what you really need for this life…is enough enough?
On top of that, when you consider what you have been so freely given in the sacrifice of Jesus so that you might have life…what more do you need?
When does abundance become greed? When does blessing become excess? In Jesus’ parable in Luke’s Gospel, he challenges our tendency to want to “store away” for a future…a future that God has already secured.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 24:36-53
Paul promises in his 2nd letter to the Corinthians that if anyone is in Christ then they are a new creation…he goes on to say that the old has gone and the new has come (from 2nd Corinthians 5).
That is quite a promise for those desperate for change. It is a promise that is full of hope that things don’t have to continue to be as they are…that the struggles we currently have we might just be able to lay down, right? Well, yes…sort of.
What if the change that is promised does not have anything to do with your circumstances, but you within them…or your perspective about them?
We tend to get frustrated when we don’t see the change we long for as followers of Christ, but perhaps we are looking for change in the wrong place.
What if the reality were you were just few adjustments away from experiencing the change you long for in Jesus…change that sets you loose on this world as one who can shape it for God’s Kingdom?
Things change when things have changed.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 24:13-35
It is not uncommon for significant change in life to be met with confusion, self-doubt, unrest about how it affects both the present and the future.
Encountering Jesus can be no different. If you’ve given your life to following Jesus and welcoming Him as Savior, then what happens once the novelty wears off? What happens when the music stops, when the weekend is over, when life creeps or crashes back in? Doubt. Fear. Uneasiness. Confusion.
When these feelings start to creep in, guilt is not often far behind.
Take heart…for it is right in the midst of their confusion and fear and doubt that Jesus met the Emmaus road travelers and journeyed with them through it.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 24:1-12
Whether you’ve grown up in church or not, the story of the Resurrection is at least mildly familiar. Each year the church looks to an empty tomb and proclaims the Hope that walked out of it…but by the end of the week is the hope still a reality, or have we allowed life to dull the song of salvation and cloud the light of a new dawn?
How is it 2,000 years later the Resurrection might still have the power to transform, the power to call us to life, the power to break the chains that bind us, and the power to send us into the world?
Perhaps it is time, like the first disciples, to allow ourselves to be surprised…maybe even confused by the Resurrection again. Perhaps it is time to stop stopping short at an empty tomb and look for the One Who walked out of it.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 4:1-13
How do you handle interruptions to your plans? What do you do when it seems that things are starting to run off the rails? How do you handle those obstacles?
What about the obstacles and interruptions in your relationship with Jesus? How do you handle giving in to temptation?
The moment you decide to make a new beginning in Christ is the moment the enemy will begin working against you. May you find strength and comfort and hope for the rest of the journey in knowing that Christ allowed himself to be tempted on your behalf…so that you would find grace and strength when you face those things that get in the way.
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 5:1-11
What if the confidence you find in your new beginning has nothing to do with what you have accomplished and secured for yourself, but everything to do with the One Who has secured it for you?
In week 4 of our “New Beginnings” series, we look at the invitation, not to membership, but to mission; not to program, but to passion; not to safety, but to sending.
w/ David Hockett
from Luke 3:15-18, 21-22
You often look at the start of a new year as an opportunity to examine your life and make changes toward becoming the person you really want to be…
Whether that is to be a healthier person, a kinder person, a more patient person, a more prompt person, a stronger person…whatever the case, a new year tends to mean a fresh start…a chance to make a change.
The question becomes, why is making a change so important? Why do we spend so much time and energy and money toward making these change? Because for so many people, identity is found in how one performs, how one perceives self…how one is perceived by others. The problem is, this can be an exhausting roller coaster of self love and self loathing, of being sure of who one is and in the next moment have more questions than answers when it comes to self.
The reality is, we are all a mess…and yet there is a truth we find and embrace in baptism that calls us to the end of our search for identity…because in baptism, you are invited to embrace the truth that before you acted-good or bad, you are the beloved of God.
*NOTE-in this week’s recording we have chosen not to edit out the invitation to baptism and remembrance of baptism. Normally, the audio would not include the invitation to respond (be it to prayer, communion, or in this case-baptism), as it is to receive something tangible for those who are gathered on Sunday morning. However, it seems appropriate given the message to include the invitation…it is an invitation to all, to remember that you are the beloved of God, or to embrace for the first time the truth that you are the beloved of God…may you find your identity in that hope!
If you would like to speak with one of our pastors you may do so by finding us online at www.booneumc.org
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 2:22-40
How do we reconcile the anticipation and promise of hope and joy and peace that we are immersed in during Advent with the harsh reality that is a hurting and broken life or this broken world in which we live?
In Luke’s account of Mary and Joseph’s encounter with Simeon and Anna in the temple, we find that Simeon (and as a result, Mary) is very much in touch with long suffering and pain…and we find that perhaps it is not something we are meant to explain away or shy away from.
What if, like Mary, we embraced God’s hope for our lives…both in the good and the bad…and in embracing it find that we are able to point the world around us to the hope we find in Christ?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 1:57-80
Have you ever thought of yourself as a tour guide? While you may not make a living directing sightseers, you are living a life that people are watching.
With that said, the question becomes: what is the life your living pointing to? In the way you spend your time, energy, finances…the passions you pursue…what does your life point to as being of utmost importance? Is it truly worth pointing others to?
What if, in this Christmas season, you began living a life pointing to Jesus?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 1:26-38
God will act. Things will change. This is the hope of Advent. But have you ever stopped to consider HOW God initiates and brings about this change in the world?
Have you ever considered that God might just ask YOU to be a part of His kingdom breaking in to the world…in to LIVES around you?
Many of us would shy away from such an invitation because we are convinced that there is nothing in us that would qualify us for such a task. What it as long as you thought such a thing…that meant you were right where God wants you to be…poised to change the world around you?
w/ Vern Collins
from Luke 4:1-13
Life is full of transitions. Transitions in work. Transitions in relationship. Transitions from one stage of life to another. They are simply part of the rhythm of life.
When transitions in life go smoothly, they are little more than one thing ending and another beginning. When transitions become difficult, however, they can begin to feel more like an interruption or a road block to whatever may be coming next.
As we begin this new series on transitions, we find from the story of Jesus’ time in the wilderness, that not only is can we find purpose in transition, but that God is faithful in the midst of them.
w/ Vern Collins
