GRATITUDE AND GRACE A Community Thanksgiving Service of Worship Tuesday, November 26, 2013 7:00 PM First United Methodist Church of Hurst 521 W. Pipeline… Read More »A Community Thanksgiving Service of Worship, Nov. 26, 7 p.m.
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2 Kings 2: 1-2, 6-14 * Psalm 77
Galatians 5:1, 13-26 * Luke 9: 51-62
June 30, 2013
Rev. Dr. Warner M. Bailey
Over the last few weeks billions of cicada grubs have awakened from 17 years of subterranean slumber to emerge into the bright sunshine of America’s Mid-Atlantic states.[i] Their strange cycle brought vast swarms of males swirling above the trees who created a tremendous racket in the hope of mating, frantically, then to die, unlamented, leaving behind eggs that will hatch in another 17 years.Read More »LET’S MAKE THE CHURCH TOGETHER
Isaiah 40.27-31 Psalm 130 Colossians 3.1-17 John 15.1-11
August 12, 2012
What do Christians have in common with frogs, snakes, turtles and seals? Certain frogs, snakes, and turtles are amphibian as are seals, able to live both on land and water. Christians, as Paul tells the Colossians, live on earth; however, we must set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Christians must live in two worlds—the earthly world and the not earthly world, described metaphorically as the place where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, meaning the world where Christ reigns in the power of God. Read More »YOUR LIFE IS HIDDEN IN CHRIST[i]
SHOWING UP IS NOT ENOUGH
Matthew 22.1-14
Warner M. Bailey
Isn’t this just the wildest story you have heard in the Bible?
Why would those invited to the marriage feast have refused—two times—the gracious offer of the king? How could they have had the effrontery to spurn the king’s invitation, even to kill his messengers?
Why would the king have repeated over and over his invitation, patiently explaining all his lavish preparations, tempting, luring, beseeching, pleading for his guests to come?
And when it came to dealing out judgment, why would the king have punished an entire city for the actions of a few uncouth and unruly guests? It seems as if the king’s wrath as well as his graciousness have no bounds.
I am surprised that the king then would have sent out his servants into the streets to fill his banqueting hall with ruffians, street people, passers-by, shopkeepers, artisans, children, none of whom would have thought in their life-time ever to see the inside of a palace.
But the wildest aspect of this story is the final scene where one hapless fellow gets kicked out of the hall into a very dangerous punishment because he didn’t have on his wedding clothes! After all, the king’s wedding feast for his son had not been entered on his social calendar.
Here’s just the case where knowing something about the times in which Jesus lived helps us understand this parable better.Read More »Showing Up is NOT Enough
There were times, I’m sure, when Jacob must have agonized with regret over his showing to his other sons that he loved Joseph more than all of them. Yes, I can appreciate that when a man approaches old age, he treats any proof of his virility with extra special love, and certainly Joseph being a child of Jacob’s old age would qualify for that kind of attention. Yet, any of us here who has an ounce of wisdom in us can see the makings of a terribly dysfunctional family system in the household of Jacob and his twelve sons. Joseph had all the makings of an imp, a pipsqueak, a pest, a callow lad filled with all the narcissistic self-absorption that any 17 year old boy with raging hormones could inflict on his family. Jacob was the doting sugar-daddy. His older brothers could not even say, “Good-day” or “Hello” to him. Perhaps the Bible is describing a family you know well.Read More »FATHERS, TRUE; BUT ALWAYS SONS Genesis 37.1-11
WHERE THE WAVES ARE
Genesis 37.1-4, 12-28 Psalm 105.1-6, 16-22, 45b Romans 10.5-15 Matthew 14.22-33
Seeing is not always believing, especially when you look out into the teeth of a storm. Seeing is not always believing, especially when our heart is full of bitterness, anger, rage, and that sinking feeling of absolute helplessness. The disciples of Jesus had been with him many months, perhaps a couple of years, and they had witnessed his mighty power many, many times. They knew his face like the back of their hands, and yet when they saw him coming to them over the boiling waves, their last ounce of courage evaporated in the face of the storm. The whole boatload of them convulsed into the despair of overwhelming horror. They thought he was a ghost, the grim reaper, come to take them to their watery graves.Read More »Where the Waves Are–Dr. Warner Bailey, Preacher
