August 29, 2010

Exodus 20:1-17

Summer Sermon Series:  Walking with Moses:  Stories from the Book of Exodus - Part 6

Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, Willow Grove Presbyterian Church, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honor thy father and thy mother," she asked "Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?" Without hesitating, one little boy answered, "Thou shall not kill."

August 15, 2010

Hebrews 12:1-2; I Corinthians 9:24-27

Guest Preacher:  Rev. Jeffrey Cochran-Carney, Parish Associate

Willow Grove Presbyterian Church, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

August 8, 2010

Exodus 14:5 – 31

Summer Sermon Series:  Walking with Moses:  Stories from the Book of Exodus - Part 5

Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, Willow Grove Presbyterian Church, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

The parting of the Red Sea.  It is one of the most famous stories of the Bible.  Even those who don't know the Bible well have probably heard reference to it.  And you may remember  Charlton Heston as Moses in the movie “The Ten Commandments” directed by Cecil B. DeMille.   The image, the music, his voice, were epic.   I have seen the scene where Moses holds out his arm and parts the Red Sea.  It certainly was impressive in the 1950's. 

August 1, 2010

Exodus 13 (selected verses)

Summer Sermon Series:  Walking with Moses:  Stories from the Book of Exodus - Part 4

Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, Willow Grove Presbyterian Church, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

We live in the presence of God. I make this statement on faith. This is also a reality that I can quickly and easily ignore. I can become immersed in the demands of daily life and lose touch with the rhythms of God's love and grace. As soon as I listen to the radio in the morning or go on line to see what is happening in the stock market or housing market or school districts, I can be swept up in worries or questions or frustration.  Before I know it, I have lost touch with a way of life that connects Creator and creation, work and rest.  I can think more about calendars and Joshua's basketball schedules or scheduling Jackson's wisdom teeth surgery or how the Yankees did the night before. (That will affect Jeffrey’s mood for the day!).  I will start thinking about the events on the church's calendar.  Even in the midst of doing many religious things,  I will sometimes find myself wondering: Where is God in all of this? 

The Israelites must have wondered that so often in all the years they were slaves in Egypt.  They suffered. They were oppressed. They had no hope.  But finally Moses, who thought he had retired in Midian, is called by God to return to his people and lead them to freedom.  Two weeks ago I preached about Pharaoh and his hardness of heart.  God sent plagues to show Pharaoh who had power and to force him to let the people go. 

Finally in today's passage, after the plague of the death of the first born, Pharaoh gives in.  The story of the Passover is such a difficult story, a story of death and yet a story of rescue and urgency. As the night unfolds for their escape from slavery, God's promise was unfolding, although not in the way they might have expected.

July 25, 2010

I Corinthians 12:12-31

Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, Willow Grove Presbyterian Church, Scotch Plains, New Jersey

In Paul’s letter to the new church in the city of Corinth, he writes about how being a follower of Jesus makes you part of a bigger picture.  He uses the analogy of the human body. 

Listen for God's Word from  I Corinthians 12:12 - 31.  This is from the translation called The Message.       

12 You can easily enough see faith and spiritual gifts work by looking no further than your own body.   Your body has many parts - limbs, organs, cells - but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ.

13 By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.)  Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain - his Spirit - where we all come to drink.  The old labels we once used to identify ourselves - labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free - are no longer useful.