Alex's Weblog tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2008-02-07://2 2010-09-02T17:56:38Z Movable Type 4.1 Worship Notes and Scripture for Sunday September 5 tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.237 2010-09-02T17:55:04Z 2010-09-02T17:56:38Z THE FIRST LESSON Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 14:25-33 SERMON "The Porcupine Whose Name Did Not Matter" Worship Notes In our worship this morning we consider the question of the cost of discipleship particularly in light of Luke... John http://www.westminstermadison.org THE FIRST LESSON Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 14:25-33 SERMON "The Porcupine Whose Name Did Not Matter" Worship Notes In our worship this morning we consider the question of the cost of discipleship particularly in light of Luke 14 where Jesus speaks of the priority of our relationship with God and the necessity of carrying one's cross. The Call to Worship and Prayer of Adoration are taken from the psalm of the day, Psalm 139, and celebrates the truth of God's ever present grace. The Opening Hymn "Lift High the Cross" communicates this commitment to proclaim the love of Christ and our Prayer of Confession reflects how often we fail to live out our faith. The sermon this morning is a little different than normal as we primarily engage the text through a story told by the preacher. Jesus used stories to communicate his message encouraging the disciples to "live" in the story to better understand the kingdom of God. While there will be some exposition in the sermon, you are encouraged to think of the connections between the story and the biblical text particularly as you consider the natural cost of being in relationship. Since this is the first Sunday of the month we will be taking communion. All are invited to partake of this gift of God's love whether one is Presbyterian or not. It is Westminster's practice to hold the bread when you receive it until all can eat together signifying our communal unity in Christ, while the juice is drunk when you receive it symbolizing our personal relations to God's Spirit. Worship Notes and Scripture for Sunday August 29 tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.236 2010-08-26T20:41:53Z 2010-08-26T20:44:58Z THE FIRST LESSON Hebrews 13:1-8,15-16 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 14:1, 7-14 SERMON "Invitation to the Kingdom of the Lame" Worship Notes The central text for this morning comes from the gospel of Luke where Jesus admonishes his followers to not... John http://www.westminstermadison.org "Evangelism will have to be understood not as an adventure in "winning friends and influencing people" but as a fundamentally subversive activity, born out of a posture of eccentricity and out of the cultivation of such deviant practices as sharing bread with the poor, loving enemies, refusing violence, forgiving sins, and telling the truth." Bryan Stone]]> "Grace and Sanity: Being Bent" Sermon Audio tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.235 2010-08-23T16:03:59Z 2010-08-23T16:08:09Z This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, August 22, 2010. MP3 Download (7.12 MB) RealAudio Download (4.30 MB)... John http://www.westminstermadison.org MP3 Download (7.12 MB) RealAudio Download (4.30 MB) Worship Notes and Scripture for Sunday August 22 tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.234 2010-08-19T20:47:54Z 2010-08-19T20:50:31Z THE FIRST LESSON Jeremiah 1:4-10 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 13:10-17 SERMON "Grace and Sanity: Being Bent" Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we... John http://www.westminstermadison.org THE FIRST LESSON Jeremiah 1:4-10 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 13:10-17 SERMON "Grace and Sanity: Being Bent" Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we sustain a purposeful focus on God's gift of the Holy Spirit and on its presence at work within and through us. In worship today, we focus on God's call on our lives and God's healing presence among us. In the gospel lesson, we read of Jesus' actions to heal the woman on the Sabbath and the reaction of church leaders to this "rule-breaking" decision. The music through which we worship this morning is chosen to reflect these themes of healing and call. We join in prayers of thanksgiving for the leadership of our Summer Sing participants in the worship service this morning. In the spiritual life, freedom is for nothing other than love. Human beings exist because of love, and the meaning and goal of our lives is love. In Christian understanding, every-thing that is authentic in the spiritual life points toward the increasing fulfillment of the two great commandments: To love God and other people in a completely unfettered way. Liberation from attachment is only a means to this end. Gerald May "Fire in the Hole: Passion for the Kingdom" Sermon Audio tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.233 2010-08-16T03:24:48Z 2010-08-16T03:29:28Z This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, August 15, 2010. MP3 Download (6.10 MB) RealAudio Download (3.68 MB)... John http://www.westminstermadison.org MP3 Download (6.10 MB) RealAudio Download (3.68 MB) Worship Notes and Scripture for Sunday August 15 tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.232 2010-08-13T18:25:37Z 2010-08-13T18:27:25Z THE FIRST LESSON Isaiah 5:1-7 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 12:49-56 SERMON "Fire in the Hole: Passion for the Kingdom!" Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the... John http://www.westminstermadison.org THE FIRST LESSON Isaiah 5:1-7 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 12:49-56 SERMON "Fire in the Hole: Passion for the Kingdom!" Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we sustain a purposeful focus on God's gift of the Holy Spirit and on its presence at work within and through us. In worship today, we attempt to open our eyes to the divisions and separations that exist between God's people. We reflect on our role in perpetuating those divisions and consider whether, in exercising our responsibilities as faithful disciples of Christ, we are called to societal conflict and separation. The music through which we worship today reflects our struggle to live in a world in which the fullness of God's kingdom has not yet been realized. The prelude and postlude are settings of hymn texts that describe Christ as the one rock or foundation on which we are called to build our lives and our church. The opening hymn, "The Church's One Foundation," describes a unity that does not yet exist within the Christian community but is one for which we still work, hope, and pray. In response to God's word, we sing about the costs of discipleship that we encounter when we are willing to "take up our cross" and follow Christ. As our service ends, we sing Hymn 434, which reminds us of all that is involved in our call to follow Christ and serve as disciples. In worship today, we also hear from our youth who participated in the mission trip to St. Paul, Minnesota earlier this month. The youth will be sharing music, "affirming their faith" by describing their experiences serving others, and leading our prayers "Consequential faith has risks. The love of Christ is love worth dying for. Congregations are far more reluctant to ask this kind of faith of teenagers than teenagers are to respond to it. Churches help young people develop consequential faith best when they focus on who Christ is calling young people to become as his envoys in the world." Kendra Creasy Dean "Lets Get Ready to Rumble: The Probelm of the Kingdom of God" Sermon Audio tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.231 2010-08-09T01:27:30Z 2010-08-09T01:31:56Z This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, August 8, 2010. MP3 Download (7.19 MB) RealAudio Download (4.33 MB)... John http://www.westminstermadison.org MP3 Download (7.19 MB) RealAudio Download (4.33 MB) Worship Notes and Scripture for Easter Sunday August 8 tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.230 2010-08-06T03:56:42Z 2010-08-06T03:58:40Z THE FIRST LESSON Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 12:32-40 SERMON "Lets Get Ready to Rumble: The Problem of the Kingdom of God" Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost. During these... John http://www.westminstermadison.org THE FIRST LESSON Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 12:32-40 SERMON "Lets Get Ready to Rumble: The Problem of the Kingdom of God" Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we sustain a purposeful focus on God's gift of the Holy Spirit and on its presence at work within and through us. Today we wrestle with the question of the kingdom of God. Is the kingdom something in the future or is it available now? Do we prepare ourselves for the kingdom? Our central story this morning is Jesus' encouragement to be ready for God's kingdom. The image of light plays a central role in the text. This is reflected in our hymn choices and responses this morning. Worship Notes and Scripture for Sunday August 1 tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.229 2010-07-29T17:35:20Z 2010-07-29T17:37:01Z THE FIRST LESSON Colossians 3:1-11 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 12:13-21 SERMON "Affluenza: The Problem of Abundance" Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we... John http://www.westminstermadison.org THE FIRST LESSON Colossians 3:1-11 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 12:13-21 SERMON "Affluenza: The Problem of Abundance" Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we sustain a purposeful focus on God's gift of the Holy Spirit and on its presence at work within and through us. In worship today, we reflect on the abundance of God's grace, which affords us with everything we need. Our response to that abundance, and how we choose to use the spiritual and tangible gifts entrusted to us by God, involves an act of faith. Yet it is God's great faithfulness that always acts first through grace and it is that same grace that unites us together around the Lord's Table in the sacrament of communion. In our central text this morning Jesus points to the difficulty of seeing the world in terms of scarcity, rather than abundance. As our first hymn states, "Father, whose bounty all creation shows..."; and our second hymn goes, "God whose giving knows no ending, from your rich and endless store." You are invited to reflect on the abundance of God's love and grace today! "Who Closes the Door?" Sermon Audio tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.228 2010-07-25T22:11:49Z 2010-07-25T22:15:14Z This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, July 25, 2010. Delivered by Alex Thornburg MP3 Download (7.19 MB) RealAudio Download (4.33 MB)... John http://www.westminstermadison.org MP3 Download (7.19 MB) RealAudio Download (4.33 MB) Worship Notes and Scripture for Easter Sunday July 25 tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.227 2010-07-23T00:05:48Z 2010-07-23T00:09:09Z THE FIRST LESSON Colossians 2:6-15 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 11:1-13 SERMON "Who Closes the Door?" Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we sustain... John http://www.westminstermadison.org THE FIRST LESSON Colossians 2:6-15 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 11:1-13 SERMON "Who Closes the Door?" Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we sustain a purposeful focus on God's gift of the Holy Spirit and on its presence at work within and through us. In worship today, we focus purposefully on the act of prayer. In the gospel lesson, Jesus teaches us how to pray and frames that if we seek, we will find, if we knock, the door will be opened to us. The music through which we worship today is chosen to evoke a particular spirit of prayer that leads to and culminates in the Prayers of the People, which follows the sermon and the Affirmation of Faith. We welcome the musical leadership in worship today from our Handbell Week participants, who will offer a setting of the familiar hymn, "Sweet Hour of Prayer," as our offertory. The text of this hymn creates a meaningful framework for our prayerful experience in worship. Two stanzas of this hymn, which were written by William Walford and published in 1861, are as follows: Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! That calls me from a world of care, And bids me at my Father's throne Make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief, My soul has often found relief, And oft escaped the tempter's snare, By thy return, sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer! Thy wings shall my petition bear To Him whose truth and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul to bless. And since He bids me seek His face, Believe His Word and trust His grace, I'll cast on Him my every care, And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer! Worship Notes and Scripture for Sunday July 18 tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.226 2010-07-16T01:12:56Z 2010-07-16T01:18:05Z The First Lesson Colossians 1:15-28 The Second Lesson Luke 10:38-42 Sermon "Sitting At Jesus' Feet" Pastor Kathleen Owens Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost... John http://www.westminstermadison.org The First Lesson Colossians 1:15-28 The Second Lesson Luke 10:38-42 Sermon "Sitting At Jesus' Feet" Pastor Kathleen Owens Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we sustain a purposeful focus on God's gift of the Holy Spirit and on its presence at work within and through us. In today's gospel lesson, we hear the story of Mary and Martha and consider the central importance of corporate worship in our daily lives. We reflect on the act of worship that occurs within these walls each Sunday and empowers us to go forth and do God's will outside these walls during the week. The music through which we worship God today is chosen to reflect our focus on the act of worship. The gathering hymn, "O For A Thousand Tongues" is a hymn of praise that well describes the wide scope of our worship of God. The anthem, "Come and Find the Quiet Center," describes the centering effect of worship in our lives. As we respond to God's Word, and to the commissioning of participants in the Triennium Conference, we sing the hymn, "Lord, Speak to Me that I May Speak," which describes how God acts through us in worship to empower us for service. The offertory anthem is an African-American Spiritual, "Set Down Servant," which describes the joy experienced by those who worship and serve God unceasingly. As our worship ends, and as we prepare to go forth in to the world, we sing "I'm Gonna Live So God Can Use Me," which reflects our commitment to live, work, pray, and sing in service of God. "Who is Your Neighbor?" Sermon Audio tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.225 2010-07-11T17:58:32Z 2010-07-11T18:02:17Z This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, July 11, 2010. Delivered by Kathleen Cook Owens. MP3 Download (6.62 MB) RealAudio Download (3.99 MB)... John http://www.westminstermadison.org MP3 Download (6.62 MB) RealAudio Download (3.99 MB) Worship Notes and Scripture for Sunday July 11 tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.224 2010-07-08T17:30:13Z 2010-07-08T17:34:15Z THE FIRST LESSON Colossians 1:1-14 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 10:25-37 SERMON "Who is your neighbor?" Pastor Kathleen Owens Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost... John http://www.westminstermadison.org THE FIRST LESSON Colossians 1:1-14 THE SECOND LESSON Luke 10:25-37 SERMON "Who is your neighbor?" Pastor Kathleen Owens Worship Notes Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we sustain a purposeful focus on God's gift of the Holy Spirit and on its presence at work within and through us. In worship today, we hear the story of the Good Samaritan and reflect on the lessons it teaches about our unity, our mission, our servant hood, and our trust of God to empower us to act in care for others even in those times when we may feel particularly challenged so to do. The music through which we worship today reflects these lessons of trust, servant hood, and mission. Our opening hymn, "God is Here!" speaks to the presence of God in all we do. The response hymn, "Who is My Mother? Who is My Brother" serves to remind us that we are all one when we are gathered "around Jesus Christ." Finally, our sending hymn, "The Church of Christ in Every Age" articulates God's call that we must strive to care for those across the world and across the street. "The Presbyterian Rebellion" Sermon Audio tag:blog.westminstermadison.org,2010://2.223 2010-07-04T23:04:35Z 2010-07-04T23:07:13Z This is the lesson and sermon from Sunday, July 4, 2010. Delivered by Sam Buffat. MP3 Download (8.16 MB) RealAudio Download (4.92 MB)... John http://www.westminstermadison.org MP3 Download (8.16 MB) RealAudio Download (4.92 MB)