Sermons by Rev. Joel Lynn

  Below are some scattered thoughts on the new Barbie movie (spoiler alert):                 The movie begins by noting girls used to have to play with baby dolls only until the invention of Barbie. The play thus shifted from play focused on how to care for another to play focused on imagining who one might be and how one might act when they grow up. And while there is good progress in this as a woman’s role on this earth can surely not be reduced to simply mothering, one must note that this change took place in the midst of the larger cultural transformation taking place of thinking of life less in terms of duties to others and thinking of life more in terms of self-actualization. And whereas it is in many ways good to be asking questions of identity, we must nevertheless be cautious of the culture we swim in that more often encourages us to ask, “Who do I want to be?” and less often causes us to ask, “Wh...

  "For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ... their end is destruction, their god is the belly , and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things." -Philippians 3:18-19        In Philippians 3 I came across  a verse that just really jumped out at me, a verse I’d somehow never really heard before, where Paul accuses some people of idolatry by saying that their god is their belly.  What does he mean by this? I don’t think we see many people going around literally worshipping their bellies. Indeed, in our culture, if anything, we are typically trying to get rid of our bellies, not venerate them. So, clearly Paul is using an analogy here. But what kind? Is this simply a verse speaking out against the sin of gluttony? I think that’s partially the case. But I think Paul has a wider scope in mind here. I think Paul is using this term to refer to all the appetites of the flesh. I think this because at the end of this verse ...

          In Philippians 2:6 it says that  Jesus did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited. The word here for exploited is difficult to translate, but most literally it is used when referring to something being seized by force. So, if Jesus had regarded equality with God as something to be exploited, as something to be seized by force, I imagine it would’ve looked like this: I imagine it would’ve been Jesus having to showboat his power and majesty so as to get the respect and praise that he deserved as God Almighty. It would’ve looked like Jesus demanding respect, commanding respect.      I’ll illustrate with a story about Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan demands respect, he takes any insult personally; anything that would diminish his status concerns him greatly. One day he was visiting his alma mater, North Carolina, and their basketball team. And one starting player on that UNC team dared to tell him that he thought ...

      On Pentecost we saw that the Holy Spirit united many believers from different ethnicities and nations as one. A major work of the Holy Spirit is uniting us across diversity, working towards that day when those from every nation and tribe and language will stand before the throne of God in worship (Revelation 7:9).  The Spirit wants to open wide the doors of the church and welcome in people from all sorts of diverse backgrounds:  diversity of age, of skin color, of nation, of gender, of socioeconomic status, of education level, of political affiliation, etc. We believe that God intentionally created His world with vast diversity because he knows that creation is more beautiful when it encompasses all the many colors of the rainbow. Diversity of mountains and valleys, land and sea, desert and rainforest, it all adds to the beauty of God's world.       Often when I preach from the Bible I have to talk about how what the Bible teaches is co...

                   The other day I stumbled across the Facebook page of a megachurch from a few states away, and a few things struck me. The first was, “Where are all the old people?” Nearly every picture featured people in their 40s and younger. As I kept scrolling and digging and searching, I was able to see just a couple scattered faces in the pictures there of people who may have been in their 50s or 60s, but it was rare. And I saw none in their 80s or 90s.                 Now, this is a question you don’t hear asked very often. No one is asking, “Where are the old people?” Because, by and large, the church has done a much better job retaining membership and belief among older adults. The question on everyone’s mind is thus, “Where are the young people? How can we get them back in church?” And so, the megachurch, that statistically is likely to have 70% of i...

  In our town’s newspaper this past week an article was published from a member of the ministerial alliance, of which I am a part, that said that if you believe in evolution or that the earth is older than 6000 years, you are disbelieving God’s word and picking and choosing what you want to believe or disbelieve from the Bible. While I have much respect for this person, I disagree theologically. And I want to list a few reasons why, because I am concerned that some might read the article and think, “Well, science on the old age of the earth is pretty convincing to me (between the fossil record, the carbon dating and radiometric dating, and so forth), so I guess I can’t believe the Bible. I guess I have to pick and choose between either accepting the Bible or science.” Basically, I’m concerned the article will be more likely to push people away from thinking they can believe in God than draw any in to think that belief in God could be rational and logical. Can we hold to both bibl...

            Today is Maundy Thursday, a day that commemorates all the events that happened the day before Jesus was crucified. And a lot happened that day: Jesus washed his disciples feet, Jesus taught about the need to be servants and to love one another, Jesus led the disciples in celebrating the last supper together, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was arrested through the betrayal of Judas, Jesus was interrogated by the high priest, and Peter denied Jesus three times; all of this happened on Thursday before morning of the next day when Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate of Rome.             So there are a lot of different events that one could focus on today. But I want to begin by focusing on the betrayal of Jesus that happened this day. And he was betrayed in diverse and varied ways. First, he was betrayed by the religious officials of Israel and J...