To view a video of the Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello’s sermon, click HERE.

Acts 9:36-43; Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30

When I was a Clinical Social Worker, a client once said to me, “You know, Jeff, I spend a lot of time up in my head. And that’s not always a good neighborhood for me to hang out in.”

I’ve never forgotten that wisdom, and I’ve heard it from many sources since.

Of course, when the client said it, it was true for me as well, as it is now, as it is for most of us. We spend a lot of time up in our heads, and that’s not always a good neighborhood for us to hang out in.

Sticking with the metaphor of our minds as a neighborhood, I wonder why it isn’t always a good place for us to spend time. And I think of who the neighbors are in the community of our minds. I think of the voices that are opening windows and yelling at us as we pass by.

There is the house that fear lives in. They are always yelling to watch out, to be careful, not to trust others.

To view a video of the Reverend Jeffrey W. Mello’s sermon, click HERE.

Isaiah 65:17-25; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; Luke 24:1-12

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

The Lord is Risen, indeed! Alleluia!

Why do you look for the living among the dead?

This is the question the two angels ask the women who had come to complete the burial rituals they had not had a chance to do when Jesus had been placed in the tomb.

I imagine them standing there, spices and oils in hand, looking around the empty tomb, devastated that Jesus’ humiliation, begun at trial, followed him even after death, assuming someone had stolen the body they came to honor.

Why do you look for the living among the dead?

To view a video of the Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello’s sermon, click HERE.

Hebrews 10:16-25; John 18:1-19:42

Therefore kind Jesus since I cannot pay thee, I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee. Think on thy pity, and thy love unswerving, Not my deserving. - Johann Heerman, “Ah, Holy Jesus” Hymnal 1982 #158

We are a culture obsessed with deserving.

We spend a great deal of time and energy trying to determine whether or not someone deserves something coming their way, good or bad.

Did that celebrity deserve that award? Were they that good? And after what they did?

Does that person in need deserve my assistance? What have they done for me? Why can’t they get it together like I did? Is there someone in greater need?

Did my loved one deserve the pain they are enduring? Did that person, so young, so kind, deserve the tragic events they endured?

To view a video of the Rev. Jeffrey W. Mello’s sermon, click HERE.

Isaiah 43:16-21; Psalm 126; John 12:1-8

We have a banner that sometimes hangs on the front lawn. It reads, “Love God. Love your neighbor. Change the World.”

We know that, according to the Jewish Shema from Deuteronomy, quoted by Jesus, and recited at the start of our worship this morning, the two great commandments are to love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

I wonder, if you had the choice, would you rather do something to show your love of God, or something to show your love for your neighbor?

To view a video of the Ven. Pat Zifcak’s sermon, click HERE.

It was not too long ago that I preached on this parable in Luke. There was a father who had two sons. My focus was firmly on reframing the story to help us to place our empathy and understanding on the father and not, as so often happens, on the sons, especially the older. Fine, welcome him home if you must, but does he have to have an elaborate party, too? That is where the resentment lies. We could easily stay right there with the older son, feeling sorry for himself and angry with his father and definitely not ready to welcome and celebrate the return of his younger brother.

To view a video of the Rev. Elise A. Feyerherm’s sermon, click HERE.

The readings from Hebrew Scripture, both last week and today, invite us into unsettling encounters. Last week, the word of the LORD comes to Abram in a vision, promising to give Abram many descendants. This mysterious word – mysterious because it is still not at all clear how this will come to pass – prompts Abram to offer sacrifices, giving bodily expression to the radical change that is occurring in Abram’s life.

And if that were not enough, Abram falls into a deep sleep, and, we are told, “a deep and terrifying darkness descended upon him.” The presence of God slices through Abram’s sacrifices in the form of a fire pot and a flaming torch, signaling the start of a new relationship, a covenant between this human being and the Most High God.

This week, one of those descendants of Abram has his own unsettling encounter, seeing a bush that blazes but is not consumed, and hearing the voice of God call him by name – Moses, Moses! Like his ancestor, Moses comes into the presence of the God who is beyond understanding, whose word brings unimaginable and unsettling changes in one’s life. Like Abram, Moses will never be the same again.