Slow is when someone laps you in the hundred yard dash.
‹anonymous›
Atlantis: the domain of the Stingray
25Mar
2012
Sun
22:18
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
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Fifth Sunday in Lent

Mark 10:32-45

Lent 5B 2012 Wordle
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What is glory? Or, perhaps to put that into terms that make more sense, to interpret “glory” for a corrupt and sinful generation, what is greatness? You’ll hears answers like power and popularity, prestige and honor, possessions and property. To the world, these are the defining marks of greatness—of glory.

It has been the bane of humanity for countless ages and generations. “You’ll be like God,” the serpent told Eve, so she took some fruit, ate of it, and gave some to her silent husband standing beside her. (Genesis 3:5-6) And so began this downward spiral of man trying to be like God, man reaching for glory and greatness, man defining glory and greatness by his achievements.

11Mar
2012
Sun
23:25
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
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Third Sunday in Lent

John 2:13-25

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house, And the place where Your glory dwells,” the Psalmist wrote. (Psalm 26:8) To confess this is the confess a specificity to the locatedness of the Creator of the Universe. There is a place where God is, a place in His creation. There is a location that you can point to and know that God is there.

To confess as much is also more than an acknowledgment of this locatedness of God, but also an earnest desire for it. “LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house, And the place where Your glory dwells.” It is to say, “I love that You are among us, O God, that there is a place I can go to to be in Your presence, that there is a refuge where You are where I can approach you to seek respite from this weary world and forgiveness for all of my sins. In this, this place and in the forgiveness of sins, is where your glory dwells.”

And so the Psalmist also wrote, “[Z]eal for Your house has eaten me up.” (Psalm 69:9a) This locatedness of God among man is something to be treasured, to be zealous for. There, in God’s presence is sanctuary and relief. There, in God’s presence is forgiveness and life. And this place was the Temple of YHWH in Jerusalem, the center of all worship for the Hebrews and the Jews who would follow, and the place that would ultimately be summed up and reduced to the flesh and blood of the Son of God, Jesus the Christ. Who would not hold such a place in high esteem?

4Mar
2012
Sun
22:01
author: Stingray
category: Sermons
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Second Sunday in Lent

Mark 8:27-38

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Who do men say that I am?” Jesus asked His disciples. It’s a fair question. The identity of this carpenter’s son from Nazareth had largely been kept a secret throughout the region, and especially as they neared Caesarea Philippi, perhaps as far away from Jerusalem as He had been in His ministry. And the report comes in: “John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.”