Welcome to Pastor Jack Buckley's weekly blog and podcast.
You have three ways to hear his weekly message:
- Read Pastor Jack's GODblog.
- Listen now to an audio of the scripture reading and Pastor Jack's sermon.
- Listen anytime. You choose the time and place. Download Pastor Jack's GODcast to your MP3 player.
Thursday, September 02, 2010
God's Deal With Dropsy
Jeremiah 2:4-13; Luke 14:1-6
"Forget God's deal," you'd be justified in saying, "Tell me about Elizabeth's deal with dropsy!"
Elizabeth Campbell, our youth ministry leader, preached last Sunday while I comfortably wrapped up a week's worth of vacation. Her chosen passage from the Gospel of Luke involved Jesus healing a man who suffered from a disease called -- you guessed it -- dropsy.
When I was a kid my mother might occasionally loose her grip on some silverware or a magazine, and she'd pick it up saying "Oops, now I've come down with the dropsy." So I naturally imagined the sickness made you drop things. Until I studied the Bible years later and found out differently.
C'mon, Jack, tell us what it means! Nope. I'll let Elizabeth do that, and in the bargain also tell you why you should know about it. Aaand, by the time she's done, you'll be grateful to know the down-to-earth difference it makes for faithful living right where you live.
Listen to the GODcast!
posted by Jack Buckley at
5:08 PM
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
The Word of the Lord
Psalm 71:1-6; Jeremiah 1:4-10
Our guest preacher on Sunday, August 22 was Gail Doering, who serves as pastor of Clayton Valley Presbyterian Church and will be our teaching leader at this year's All-Church Retreat. While Gail delivered her "audition" sermon here, I gave the sermon at her home church. It was fun for us to trade places that way, and both our congregations enjoyed a fresh point of view spoken in a different voice.
To hear for yourself what Gail had to say about Jeremiah's call to prophetic ministry way back when and its meaning for faithful living today...
Listen to the GODcast!
posted by Jack Buckley at
5:10 PM
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
People, Get Ready
Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23; Luke 12:32-40
So people of a certain age wondered, when they read my sermon title, how in the world I was going to bring Curtis Mayfield and the Gospel of Luke together on that recent Sunday morning. (If you say "Curtis who?" then I've got some explaining to do.)
In 1965, soul singer Curtis Mayfield wrote and recorded what became an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. Its popularity eventually spread far and wide enough that it was recorded by scads of singers as diverse as Rod Stewart, Petula Clark, John Denver, and Ziggy Marley.
When Mayfield wrote the song, American society was trembling with not only racial tensions, but also the beginnings of conflict in and about Vietnam, and the energetic Counter-Culture Movement. It felt as if our country was on board a speeding train hurtling faster and faster down its tracks towards a sure and sad derailment.
So Curtis Mayfield caught us all by surprise when he sang, "People get ready, there's a train a comin'/ You don't need no baggage, you just get on board..." Line by line, that awesome steel machine turned out to be a Chariot of God picking up bodies and souls destined for the Promised Land. "All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'/ Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord."
Why you'd think Brother Curtis had been reading Luke 12:32-40!
I sure had, and my sermon that day was a modest attempt to unpack its message in the plainest English I could find. And, to wrap it all up, I went back to that old song -- with some special help from a songbird by the name of Eva Cassidy.
Listen to the GODcast!
posted by Jack Buckley at
4:25 PM
|
