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"Consider the Ravens" Rev. Tricia Petraven
Psalm 139:1-12
Luke 12:22-34
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"Contradictions of the Heart"
James 3: 1-12
Romans 7: 14-25a
“And the tongue is a fire,” James observes. “The tongue is placed among our members as a
world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire
by hell.” Wow! That’s pretty strong and vivid language. Yet every one of us can nod shamefully,
almost laughingly through our embarrassment, because we know that what James says is spot on.
Who of us have not said things we’ve regretted the instant we said them? I know I have. We all
would like to delete from our hard drives the vicious words we may have hurled in rage; at loved
ones, friends, work associates, acquaintances, people we don’t know. Just over the past week, we
may remember having said some things in anger, malice, or simply carelessness we’d like to take
back; or some things we’ve texted or tweeted……
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“COMMUNION AND PEACE IN CHRIST”
Ephesians 2:11-22
John 17:20-26
This morning, the theme of our worship service is built upon two important and interrelated
principles. The first principle is communion. Communion is defined as the sharing and exchange
of intimacy on a spiritual level. For the church of course, communion is enacted by our coming
together at the Lord’s Table to partake of the elements of bread and juice, representing the
broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ.
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"Being the GODLY PEOPLE"
Psalm 25: 1-9; Philippians 2: 1-13
Matthew 21: 23-32
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"Will God Provide Our Deepest Needs?"
Exodus 16: 2-15
Philippians 1: 21-30
Matthew 20: 1-16
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"Bridges Over The River Kwai"
John 20: 19-23
Psalm 32: 1-5
One of the greatest post-World War II sagas was written by French novelist Pierre Boulle in 1952.
Its title: The Bridge Over the River Kwai. Five years later, Sam Spiegel produced a film version of the
novel which featured actors Alec Guinness and William Holden. This masterpiece chronicled the
work of a group of soldiers forced by their Japanese captors to build a railway bridge across a very
difficult mountain range between Burma and Siam. Eric Lomax, a British soldier who was captured
while stationed in Singapore, was a real-life survivor of that group of prisoners.
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"Tableside Sermons and Passing It On"
2 Timothy 1:3-7
Proverbs 4:1-9
In our age of mass mobility, it seems few adults settle in the town of their upbringing. In the
near twenty years I’ve served this church, hardly any of the children of this church family whom
I’ve been privileged to baptize, confirm, and/or marry still remain in this area. It would probably
be safe to say that many of the grandparents listening to this morning’s message are separated
from their grandchildren by many miles. In my own case, six of my eight grandkids live some
distance away. I thank the Lord every day that two of them live just minutes from me.
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"When You Wish Upon A Star"
Colossians 1: 1-14
Psalm 46: 1-7
This morning, I’d like us to begin by focusing our attention on two particular little words; words
which are often used interchangeably in our present generation’s looseness with the English
language. Those words are hope and wish.
What comes to mind when we think of the word wish? Wish list? Wishing well? “When you
wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are? Some of us may wish we knew then what we
know now. Some might wish that I preach a short sermon today. Two of my favorite little scenes in
the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” are when George Bailey – in both his youth and early adulthood –
walks up to that cigar lighter in Mr. Gower’s Drug Store and flicks it while making this wish: “I wish I
had a million dollars.” Both times, it lights. And do you remember George’s reaction? “Hot dog!”
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"Of The Vance Avenue Gang And God's Outstretched Arms"
Luke 14: 16-24
Isaiah 56: 3-8
I don’t remember exactly the year. It may have been 1964 or 1965. But I do remember the
names of the members of the Vance Avenue Gang. There was me, Kristine Dinell, Gino Lalama
[who, believe it or not, was not a blood relation], Martha Whitney, Karol Waite, David Colarossi,
and Arlene Gault. We ruled the ten hundred block of Vance Avenue….. at least as well as a gang
of eight and nine year-olds could, or until Arlene’s older sister Gail or Karol’s older brother Karey
would chase us away]. Otherwise, we established and held fast our borders and boundaries. If
another kid wanted to ride their bike, or sled ride, or play catch, or flip baseball cards in the ten
hundred block of Vance, they had to get the okay of our Vance Avenue Gang. Actually, if they got
the approval of Kristine Dinell, they were fine, because Kristine could easily beat the tar out of any
of the rest of us in a wrestling match. And how well one wrestled determined one’s authority in
the gang’s pecking order.
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"Mirror, Mirror On The Wall"
Luke 18: 9-14
Psalm 25: 6-12
“Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” How could we forget these words
refrained over and again by the queen of vanity in the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves?
On one level, these words remind us of this parable of Jesus about a righteous Pharisee and an unrighteous tax collector………
or is it perhaps the other way around?