Archived Sermons
from Revs. Janet and Jerry Duggins
From"Bible 101, part 4: Trouble with the Law?" based on Isaiah 1:10-17, Matthew 22:34-40, and Romans 7:7-25 - Rev. Jerry Duggins ~ June 28, 2009
I
don’t expect that everyone will be rushing to read Leviticus this afternoon;
but if you should, remember these things:
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Not all parts of the law are equally authoritative. The law covers many aspects
of life including religious ritual, personal ethic, moral conduct and
especially life in community.
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You will discover that much of law applies to a culture and a time that is very
different from our own. Very few individual laws have a universal application
to all times and place.
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In those texts that seem most irrelevant, you will want to uncover the story
behind the text. Sometimes you will find connections in the story that suggest
a way to reframe a law for our time and place.
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As Paul points out, most of the time the law just serves to show how bad we
are. This is a good thing to know, but just knowing doesn’t automatically make
us better people.
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For that we need the love, the love we have seen demonstrated in the life,
death and resurrection of Jesus. The bottom line of the law is the call to love
and that we are enabled to do only by the grace of God.
"Bible 101, part 3: Reading the Bible as Story" based on Deuteronomy 26:1-10a and Luke 14:1-24 - Rev. Jerry Duggins ~ June 21, 2009
...we
have to ask: “What does this story have to do with the story I’m currently
writing with my life?” Whose story line will you follow when you finish with
the text? Will you hear the challenge to the Pharisees and consider a different
line? Can we return to our roots and remember that once we were the poor, the
blind and the lame? Can we remember that once we cried to God from our distress
and God answered? Can we remember that we came from wandering in the wilderness
with no place to rest our head, no food to place on our table? That story fills
the Bible, and is part and parcel of our lives; but can we remember to tell it?
Can we remember to offer to God the first fruits of our labor from the ground
that God has given us?
From "Bible 101, part 2: Understanding the Bible" based on Matthew 5:38-48 and Matthew 19:1-9 - Rev. Janet Duggins ~ June 14, 2009
I believe that we can read the Bible and understand it. I believe it has something for us, and that through it, God somehow speaks. We ought to approach it with that confidence.
"Bible 101, part 1: Bible Basics" based on Genesis 1:1 -2:3 and James 1:17-25 - Rev. Janet Duggins ~ June 7, 2009
Many, many people revere the Bible. They honor it as “holy scripture,” call it the Word of God, and say they believe everything in it is true. They profess to follow its teachings and are sure the world would be better if everybody did. They love to hear the sound of its words because they associate them with holiness. They even get angry if someone appears to be questioning something in the Bible.
But an awful lot of those people are simply putting the Bible on a pedestal – not really seeing it for itself, as it is, not noticing the variety contained within its pages, not making an effort to really understand it … sometimes not even actually reading much of it at all. A closed Bible on a pedestal is still a closed Bible. And a closed Bible is not of any use at all.
From "Engaging the World" based on John 17:6-19 - Rev. Jerry Duggins ~ May 24, 2009
As I read more I realize that I had the emphasis all wrong. John’s community wasn’t wrestling with how to be different from the world. They wanted to get away altogether. Not belonging to the world was the given, their problem was continuing to be “in the world.” The issue isn’t as the epistle of James puts it, “to keep oneself unstained by the world”, but how to engage the world. This little section of Jesus’ prayer ends with, “As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”
We call this place a sanctuary, a place of safety from the trials and hardships, the dangers and threats of life “out there.” We sometimes feel like we are escaping for a brief time, a much needed rest from the struggle. We worship here but this is not the most important place that we practice faith. It has always been tempting for the church to practice its faith away from the world. We find our sense of community, of a faith community in the church, and yet Jesus prays for us to hold that community in the world. Not to separate ourselves out; but using the bonds of love that exist between us to engage the world.
From "Connecting with the People of God" based on John 15:9-17 - Rev. Janet Duggins ~ May 17, 2009
I always remember what a former pastor of mine told a bunch of us as we were preparing to lead a summer program for inner city kids from the projects. He said, “The kids may not remember things you taught them or stories you told them about Jesus, but they will remember that an adult who loved Jesus Christ also loved them.”
Isn’t that just as true with anybody we might work with,
talk to, help or encourage? They might
not remember our words or advice, the details of a sermon, the meal we brought,
or how we finally decided to run the
From "Connecting with Christ" based on John 15:1-8 - Rev. Janet Duggins ~ May 10, 2009
It is this need for connection with God, I think, that Jesus is describing in this talk with his disciples we read from this morning. The imagery is all vines and branches but he’s trying to get them – and us – to think about what it means to have that deep, vital, and life-giving connection with the divine.
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From "Laying Down Your Life" based on John 10:11-18 and 1 John 3:16-24 - Rev. Jerry Duggins ~ May 3, 2009
Laying down one’s life is what the disciple of Christ does… daily. And yet, to say what this looks like in any one follower’s life, may be impossible. I have struggled this past week wondering what it might look like in my own life. And I can’t say that I have any answers. I know that to follow Jesus is to lay down my life, but I don’t know precisely what that means.
I’ve been working my way through Taylor Branch’s three volume history of the Civil Rights movement during the King years, and I have been impressed by the courage of many people who put their lives on the line to end the injustices of segregation, to secure voting rights for African Americans, and to establish a more level playing field in the arena of economic opportunity. Many did in fact die in the struggle. And many of those understood their efforts in the context of living out their faith in Christ Jesus.
As we prepare to welcome into membership a new confirmation class, it occurs to me that I’ve thought about a lot of things since that day of my confirmation. Had I written a faith statement, I think I would find a core that held true for me even today, but so much has changed. It’s changed because I’ve met a lot of people since then, read a lot of books, had a lot of experiences. There were friends, teachers, professors, preachers, mentors, supervisors. There were formative events that visibly shaped my thought and life and more subtle happenings that invisibly nurtured me to become who I am today.
I make no claim to perfection, no claim to having a lock on the truth, but the people I’ve met, the places I’ve been, the experiences I’ve had, the prayers I’ve uttered, the thoughts I’ve encountered have all shaped me and will continue to shape me into the future. We have all been fed and nurtured in faith by others. This reality reminds me to adopt a listening posture in life.
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How easy it is to go from day to day, feeling all the while that no one is really paying attention. This feeling can become quite crippling, leading not just to a cynical view of life, but to a determination to remain there. … Is anyone out there listening? Isn’t this the question of our times?
This is the mood that dominates
the women as they approach Jesus’ tomb. Mary
Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome, what a ride they had with
Jesus! Teaching that reminded people of
their responsibility for one another, always speaking up for the poor, the
oppressed, those on the underside of life. There he was, welcoming children,
refusing to judge sinners, feeling compassion for those who came to them. And
let’s not forget the miracles and the healings. Let’s not forget the humility
that made him so approachable, the passion for speaking the truth. Can you
imagine being a witness to all that? But then suddenly, it’s all gone; taken
away by jealous leaders, insecure politicians, made possible by a fickle crowd.
The world didn’t want him. Wasn’t anyone listening?
From "The Importance of Being Humble" based on John 12:12-19 and 13:1-15 ~ Rev. Janet Duggins ~ April 5, 2009 (Palm Sunday)
The two stories we read
today from John are something of a contrast… in one, Jesus is being
celebrated like a rock star, and in the other he is behaving like a servant,
actually washing his friends’ dirty feet.
Note that we never
see Jesus being less than who he is… there is no
false or put-on humility about Jesus. On the other hand, we don’t
see him asserting power over others or seeking popularity, either. When
the crowds of people who’ve come to
From "Forgiveness and Grace" based on
Mark 2:1-12 ~ Rev. Jerry Duggins ~
March 29, 2009
We
say, “To err is human, to forgive, divine,” but I think this story is
suggesting that the practice of forgiveness belongs to all who would follow
Jesus. To forgive is not usurping divine authority, it is rather extending the
mercy that we have experienced in Christ to the brokenness we see in the lives
of others; if only we will turn around and look out beyond ourselves instead of
hoarding the grace of God for ourselves.
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