Were you at the synagogue in Capernaum today? I’m not sure whether I saw you there, and it was amazing. … It’s as though, right then and there, Jesus took the borders of the chosen people and pushed them wider, wider, wider — wider than any of us had ever seen. And I swear it seemed as though God’s own self was doing it.
“If you or I desire the transformation that gives healing and hope — the first step is believing that transformation is possible.” That takes practice. Stories from scripture are exercises in believing.
We’ve become so used to a diluted way of practicing faith, and so accustomed to an seriously unjust society, that we don’t always notice just how deep the problem runs. Or just how startling it will be, to become fully alive.
A sermon on the baptism of Jesus, by John A. Nelson
... for all of us who know that God acts inside human history -- for all of us who know that God is somewhere close at hand -- we don’t mark just a new year. With Jesus, it’s a new age. A new age that is as close as our next breath.
Mary is made whole not by God’s overwhelming intervention in her life but by the nature and grace of who she is. Here is the truest annunciation: from another woman whose dream has come true and from the baby in her belly.
To be faithful, this Advent season strive your utmost to do nothing new. Let as many greetings and even gifts be something precious to you that is re-used, recycled, re-gifted. After all: if re-gifting is good enough for God, could you or I possibly do better?
A sermon for the second Sunday of Advent by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
Advent gives us the strange gift of remembering aloneness, and the deep aching desire for release. For companionship. For liberation from the mess that human beings have made of this planet. For the peace we keep praying for to finally come.
Who knows why that person needed to take the thanks out of Thanksgiving? Maybe it was a protest against the rampant commercialization of our holidays. If anything is a threat to the celebration of God’s abundance it’s relentless shopping, as though we can actually buy our way into happiness or holiness.
A sermon for pledging and Thanks-giving, by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
Jesus is actually saying, "Leap before you look." ... I don’t know where Jesus is calling you. On a mission trip, maybe, or into a new kind of service, or to a new depth of giving, or a new level of trust, or to a renewed discipline of prayer, or to carrying God’s nourishment to someone. I don’t know where Jesus is calling you. But I do know he is calling. Get out of the boat!
A sermon on Matthew 14:22-33 by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
Some things are complicated, like buying food that is actually food. But some things are magnificently simple, like following God by looking into our community and our world for any chance to give some nourishment to someone who might need it.
A sermon on God’s nourishment, by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
The more we practice loving God and loving neighbor, the more we learn to trust in the life-changing power of God. This is why I give my own energy and time and spirit and money to this church. Every bit of giving makes more space in me for trust.
A sermon on Matthew 22:34-40 by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
We sing a life together. Each voice is a treasured part of the whole, where harmony and equality prevail, and together we practice becoming the body of Christ, several times each Sunday.
Second of two sermons on our favorite hymns, by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
A hymn is a song of praise. Will you accept that I have that definition correctly? Now if you accept that a hymn is a song of praise, why do some of you sing them so quietly? Believe me, God does not particularly care if you can’t hold the tune, as long as you aren’t the featured soloist.
A reflection on hymn singing by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
With God’s vision, we have something to live for and labor for: to restore a reverence for life, the fullness of life in all creatures and all creation. The loss of reverence is killing us — but we have a vision that leads us to life.
A sermon for River/Ocean Sunday in the Season of Creation, by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
For any of us who bear the name of Christ, there are deeper reasons to lament like the prophets of old at the loss of wilderness. What God created and called “good” is being decimated, spoiled, polluted, exploited without regard for any chance of recovery. Believing in our Creator God means believing that all created things are our kin -- our siblings -- made of the same essence as we and equally deserving of fullness of life.
A sermon for the season of creation by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
“Why?” is a question that can hang us up in a descending spiral of hopelessness and powerlessness. But God created us precisely to be vessels of hope and power. To find our way into God’s embrace, try asking “What?” What are we to do? One good thing is....
A sermon on Genesis 4:8-16 and Luke 19:37-40 by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
"If God’s great work is the creation itself — filled with fertility and variety, fecundity and decay, life and death — then our great task of faith is remembering. Remembering means putting together the members that were taken apart: healing what has been broken, for God’s sake."
A sermon on Genesis 2 and Acts 17 by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
Bargaining is a perfect picture of this world — and it actually prevents us from even perceiving God’s world. God’s world is just about giving. Everything. God gives everything for life, holding nothing back. If we wish to live inside God’s gracious rule, we find the way there by giving all allegiance to God, holding nothing back.
A sermon on Romans 12:1-8 by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
"Hope by itself won’t feed a hungry child, and hope by itself won’t pay the mortgage. But God’s gift of hope will allow us to get up in the morning when there seems little to look forward to. God’s promise of reconciliation will keep us going long enough to make one more effort to get food on the table."
A sermon on Genesis 45:1-15 by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
"If we want to secure independence-from-tyranny, whether the tyranny outside our country or the tyrannies inside our country, we do so through the mutuality of interdependence, pledging ourselves to one other and giving to one another as though our lives and fortunes and honor depended on it, and relying on God above all."
A sermon for July 4th by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
"When we read the Bible, we are not reading a description of things that happened and a history of the way things were in the old days. We are reading about the way things are. This story takes some of the fears that live inside every person, and holds them up for us to see.
"But the end of the story has the most amazing, astonishing truth...."
A sermon on Genesis 22:1-19 by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
"Why does God’s Word give humans the gift of dominating or subduing, but only in relation to those things that human beings cannot actually dominate or subdue?
"First, we learn confidence in our capacity. Then, just as importantly, we learn reverence for all other created things."
A sermon on Genesis 1 - 2:4 by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
"’Lord, are you going to reestablish the kingdom of Israel now?’
"Do you hear the longing in that voice? The desire for knowledge or security or status can open up vulnerability to demonic forces in our world. Knowledge is power, and a lot of us want it. But the desire for knowledge and power can be corrupting. It opens a way for evil to enter in: real evil, claiming people’s lives."
A sermon on Acts 1:6-14 by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
Jesus, introduces us to a powerful, life-changing reality: a relationship with God so close we could call the creator of all that exists by the familiar name, Poppa. Because we know Jesus, we know God. Though we face the fear of illness and death, we can make it through because we are one; we are not alone. Though the tornadoes come and devastate whole communities, already the churches of which we are a part, UCC and UMC, are sending people and prayers and blankets and food. We are one: the reality of life with Jesus.
A sermon on John 14:15-21, by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
The church is not the guardian of the truth; the church is but a gathering of faithful who seek to follow the truth, imperfectly as that may be. For us, there was one who was truth incarnate and so we follow him. Along the way we find any number of persons following other visions of God’s truth. We have nothing to fear, from those who are discovering the source of love and justice and righteousness through other messengers.
A sermon on John 14:1-14 by the Rev. Dr. John A. Nelson
The disciples knew what reality meant: high unemployment; low wages; enormous gap between the haves and the have-nots; no social safety net beyond what your family could provide. But another reality existed, for which the evidence was hidden in plain sight -- in the words of the scripture, and in a shared meal.
A sermon on Luke 24:13-35 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
The loveless worldly powers thought that the force of arms and doctrine and conniving had won them a victory! Evil itself must have been cackling gleefully at the death of the Messiah. But the Devil did not have the last laugh then: God did; and laughter is one of the great divine gifts to us.
A sermon for Eastertide by the Rev. John A. Nelson
All that is needed for the crucifixion to mean the victory of seemingly powerless love over the loveless powers of the world, is for us to tell the story. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
A sermon on Mark 16:1-8 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
On Friday Jesus’ his last week, the religious leaders at him not only with hired thugs wielding clubs and swords. No, now they pull out the heavy artillery. They come at him with lies. They stage a rigged trial before the religious authorities, followed by a stunt trial conducted by the Roman governor consulting with a crowd whipped into a frenzy. Why?
Jesus comes teaching the truth of God-with-us. But Mark’s gospel describes another reality, one infinitely more sad: sometimes, the truth of God-with-us can be so dangerous that others will try to stamp it out.
A sermon on Matthew 14:43-50 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
Sometimes, even things that are good to do are not what’s important. That’s what the unnamed woman knew, and the disciples still did not get. Yes, that money would have been well used for the poor and hungry. But sometimes, when you have discovered the depth and height and breadth of grace, and you are in the presence of that grace — in those very rare times — it is better to spend your last dollar on a fragrant handful of flowers than on food.
A sermon on Mark 14:1-11 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
Tuesday of the last week, in which Jesus further provokes the religious gatekeepers by spurning the temple system and its adherents — and is surprised by a religious leader who is convinced by Jesus new formulation of faith. A sermon on Mark 12:28-34 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
An appreciation of Luther’s "Mighty Fortress," arranged and performed by Richard Schenk
A Powerful Choice (13 Mar 11)
And for all who are willing to take the risk, there is a new possibility of a meaningful life and the peace that only God can give, not the bullies who like to call themselves God.
A reflection on Mark 1:1-11 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
Some stories become like a holy place: the ones that resonate deeply and even become a guide through the vicissitudes of life. There’s Moses on Mount Horeb, called there by God. For us the mountain becomes a constant reminder that there are meeting places on earth, where human beings actually encounter the Creator God who steps into human life with power to save what is good and undo what is evil.
A sermon on Matthew 17:1-9 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
"Amen" means "to be trustworthy, to support." Mammon means, "riches, something to rely on." Jesus says, don’t go saying "Amen" to "Mammon"! They sound like they mean the same thing, but they do not.
A sermon on Matthew 6:24-34 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
Sometimes I think we get Jesus wrong by overly focusing on his gentleness and humility. He was all that, but he was also an astonishingly shrewd and insightful teacher, with the street savvy of a community organizer. Jesus taught that when the powerful are pressing you down, you don’t have to take it and you don’t have to respond in their terms. There is a third way.
A sermon on Matthew 5:38-48 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
With Jesus as our guide, it’s up to us to be the choosing people: choosing forgiveness especially when our bellies are full of anger; choosing to do the hard work of building relationships especially when our urges pull us in other directions.
A sermon on Matthew 5:21-37 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
When salt has its true nature, it is salty. When we have our true nature, we are giving, caring, growing, willing to take on the suffering of others, a word of praise for God on our lips at all times. But so much pulls us away from our worth, our own saltiness.
A sermon on Matthew 5:13-20, by the Rev. John A. Nelson
A good practice for any faith community would be to ask a couple of simple questions every time two or three are gathered together — for worship, or for a committee meeting, or for a social time. We could ask: "Would someone who is grieving the loss of a loved one find spiritual nurture here?" We could ask: "Would someone whose relationship with God is on the skids find support and guidance here?" We could even ask: "Am I finding a deeper relationship with God here?"
Good questions to ask, even if we’re afraid of the answers.
A sermon on Matthew 5:1-12 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
Jesus invited Simon and Andrew, James and John, on a great adventure. There was a high cost, because it meant taking sides against all the institutions that put profits over people or the governments that are willing to sacrifice even one person’s well-being. But it also meant getting a taste of heaven on earth.
A sermon on Matthew 4:12-23 by the Rev. John A. Nelson.
Who speaks for us? Do the pundits and politicians seeking media attention speak for us? Do the radio talk shows that steadily deepen the partisan bickering speak for us? Do our elected representatives speak for us? Do the titans of banking who control the fate of our economy speak for us? Does the church speak for us, when it often has more of the character of human failings than of God’s fullness? Who speaks for us?
A sermon on Isaiah 49:1-7 by the Rev. John A. Nelson
God gave water that with it and through it, we could revere God: not turn a profit. What God gives freely must remain free, or else we turn ourselves into gods and idolators....
A sermon on the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:13-17) by the Rev. John A. Nelson (see below for video)
It’s so wonderfully unexpected: a blended family, an adoptive father who listens to the voices that come in the night, a young woman who conceives by the Holy Spirit, an infant boy, pure vulnerability, who is the most perfect expression of all God’s power. God entered Joseph’s life. You can be quite sure that God’s doing the same with you.
A sermon on Matthew 1:18-25, by the Rev. John A. Nelson (see below for video)
"God’s alternative vision is entirely unrealistic. That’s the point! It’s extra-ordinary enough to pull us out of whatever muck we’re in; strange enough to unite irreconcilable opposites. God’s alternative is a new story that will transform every life.
The Bible pulls no punches, in declaring that the present time is full of hardship and ambiguity. But that’s not the whole story. A church in Harlem keeps on witnessing and working for the betterment of the community, despite little sign of progress. Why? "Because we read the Bible," says the pastor. "And we know how it ends."
"Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up" -- so how do we respond? We can’t get ourselves organized enough: it’s not humanly possible. But God has a way for us.
"With God, caring becomes compassion. That means a willingness to share suffering, to lighten the load. In Hebrew the word for compassion is "wombs": when we care, we unite ourselves with the One who is giving the world new life." A sermon on 2 Corinthians 5:16-20, by the Rev. John A. Nelson (see below for video)
Jeremiah said that God would write the teachings of life on our hearts. Which reminds me of a novelist writing, "Those who trust us educate us." God trusts us enough to entrust us with all that is richest in life.
A packing list is liberating and reassuring. Once we are off and on our way, we want to be prepared. But sometimes preparing ourselves gets in the way of following Jesus, and keeps us from experiencing God’s realm.
"The Bible takes us into the territory of one of Israel’s implacable enemies: the kingdom of Aram. Not just anywhere in Aram, but right into the house of the leading general. This man — whom we can only think of as a powerful foe — this man, Naaman, has been brought low by a skin ailment." A sermon on 2 Kings 5 by the Rev. John A. Nelson (see below for video)
"It’s clear that the rich man paid no attention to the suffering of Lazarus, and ended up paying the price. It’s equally clear to me that none of us is in the position of the rich man. So we are in the enviable position of spectating: and what a spectacle!"
A sermon on Luke 16:19-31 and Genesis 17, 18, by the Rev. John A. Nelson (see below for video)
"As much as we might want to get back something that’s gone missing -- God has that same desire, that same longing. Only God gets that way when we ourselves go missing...."
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Niantic
Community Church | 170 Pennsylvania Avenue, Niantic CT 06357
Voice: (860) 739-6208 | Email: NianticCommChurch@sbcglobal.net
