Rev. Doug Floyd Palm Sunday Rev. Doug Floyd Mark 15:1-39 Today marks the beginning of Holy Week. The Gospel today is sort of an overture for the whole week. The lectionary gives us the option of reading a shorter reading that includes Mark 15:1-39. If we choose the longer reading, we begin in Mark 14 and continue through vs 47 of 15. This reading takes us from Jesus and the disciples to the betrayal to the trial before the chief priests and eventually to the cross. It’s like a preview of our coming week. Today we combine two services. We started with the Triumphal Entry of Christ into Jerusal ..read more

Rev. Dr. Les Martin Lent 5 2024 Rev. Dr. Les Martin John 12:20–36 For I know nothing among you but Christ Jesus and him crucified in the name of the living God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today is a preview of Passion Sunday, when lent begins its painful and dramatic conclusion. By focusing on the final trials, sufferings and acts of Jesus, it’s kind of a peek ahead into the days of Holy Week, and especially to the theological meaning underneath Good Friday. It’s a peek ahead into a very hard time. Let’s look at the context like I like to do our reading today. Jesus has be ..read more

Rev. Doug Floyd Lent 4, 2024 Rev. Doug Floyd 2 Chronicles 36:14–23, Psalm 122, Ephesians 2:4-10, John 6:1–15 During Lent, our readings have invited us to an extended reflection on the Temple. We started with a reflection on Noah and the Ark. The ark is a portable Tabernacle through the waters of the flood. Throughout history the church has been called “The ark of salvation.” Last week, Fr. Les invited us to consider the cleansing of the Temple. The moneychangers expanded into the court of the Gentiles, and as Fr. Les said, “There was no room for the alien, the stranger, the sojourner, to come ..read more

Rev. Dr.Les Martin Lent 3 2024 Rev. Dr. Les Martin Exodus 20:1–21, Romans 7:12–25, John 2:13–22 I am determined to know nothing among you, but Christ Jesus and Him crucified in the name of the living God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. We are back at the temple today. Just about one month after I preached about the temple on Candlemas. Just about one month after Jesus presentation as an infant. The lectionary now provides for us to see him as an adult. And he is not a silent character this time, one over whom words and prophecies are spoken. He is the actor here and he is angr ..read more

Rev. Doug Floyd Lent 2 2024 Rev. Doug Floyd Genesis 22:1-14 Abraham is called to “Go Ye Forth.” Lech Lecha. Some rabbis call him Lech Lecha, “Go Ye Forth.” Lech Lecha appears twice in Scripture. In Genesis 12 when Abraham is called to “Go Ye forth,” leaving behind is country, his family and his father’s house. This phrase appears a second time is in Genesis 22, when Abraham is called to “Go Ye Forth” and sacrifice his son Isaac. His life is defined by this call. Think about the first command in Genesis 12. “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s h ..read more

Christ in the Wilderness by Ivan Kramskoy (1872) Lent 1 2024 Rev. Dr. Les Martin Mark 1:9-13 Did we in our own strength confide our striving would be losing. Were not the right man on our side, The man of God’s own choosing Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he and he must win the battle. This year marks my 37th Lent since I became a practicing Christian. And if I’ve learned one thing in those 37 years, it’s that having a holy Lent can be really tricky. For those of you who are new to liturgical Christianity, it does well to remit for us to remember that Lent is that season of 40 d ..read more

The Transfiguration  Lodovico Carracci 1594 Last Sunday of Epiphany Rev. Doug Floyd Mark 9:2-9 On the last Sunday of Epiphany each year, we return to the story of Transfiguration. Mark tells us that Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain. And He was transfigured before them. His clothes became radiant. Moses and Elijah appeared with Him, talking with Jesus. The disciples were terrified and in some accounts they fell to the ground. A cloud overshadows them, and they hear a voice saying, “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.” Luke will tell us that the disciples saw his glo ..read more

Rev. Dr. Les Martin Candlemas 2024 Rev. Dr. Les Martin Luke 2:22–40 In the name of the living God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Man. It was known as the Second Temple that they came to that day. The first Temple built by Solomon in the year 1000, had been destroyed by the Babylonians in the year 586. And they did what they could. But it was smaller. And there were items missing most notably the Ark of the Covenant. In fact, it was so much smaller, so much less grand that it is said that many wept when they beheld the temple and how diminished it was. But the temple was still the c ..read more

Rev. Dr. Les Martin Baptism of Our Lord Rev. Dr Les Martin Mark 1:4-8 In the name of the living God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Why was Jesus baptized? We read about it at least once a year. But do we really think about it? I mean, what was his baptism for? What’s your baptism for? Doesn’t seem like that would apply to Jesus does it? Maybe. John asked what Jesus was doing. In Matthew, chapter 3:14, the cognate verse two, the one we’re reading in Mark, when Jesus shows up at the river, Jordan, John’s not so sure about this, he refuses at first, he says, I need to be baptize ..read more

Rev. Doug Floyd Epiphany Rev. Doug Floyd Matthew 2:1-12 For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”[1] In today’s Gospel, wise men come from the East. They saw his star. They came to worship. Since that time millions of Gentiles follow in their steps. In some sense we are worshipping today in their steps. Today we celebrate this movement. They saw. They came. The worshipped. Though properly speaking, many of our churches are primarily made up of Gentiles, we might think of people in churches in two groups. One group is born into the covenant family. In one way or another ..read more