Sermons by Rev. Joel Lynn

        Isaiah 9:1-7: " But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. You have multiplied exultation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. For the yoke of their burden and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian . For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders, and he is named "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, ...

            Our guiding assumption in this age where people increasingly choose online church is that all that really matters is hearing the content of a sermon. But if all that mattered in good pastoring was sharing content, well, we could downsize the process significantly. Instead of paying thousands and thousands of pastors in America each year, we could instead downsize to the ten or twenty best and brightest, and everyone could pick which one to tune in and listen to on the radio or podcasts or YouTube or Facebook. Why don’t we do this? Because Jesus modeled a different way of teaching. Jesus called his twelve disciples and said, “Follow me.” In so doing, he did not just invite them to come and listen to a lecture for an hour or two each day and then go on home. No, they were called to live life with their teacher, for years. A discipleship model of learning recognizes that instruction, at its best, is more than just expository teaching; instru...

                 I cannot speak for all Christians, but I think can speak for quite a few of us when I say, “We’re sorry.”             A large number of people who don’t believe in Jesus or who don’t attend church cite a reason why being the hypocrisy of Christians. Understandably, the sincerity of our belief in a God of love can be questioned when we at times act so unlike the God we profess to believe in. Some people may cynically wonder if even those in the church really believe; and if not, why should they? An oft cited hypocrisy is some of the problematic alliances made between politicians and certain religious groups or leaders when those very politicians seem to act or legislate in various unchristian ways. I’m sure many, many examples from American politics might be springing to your mind, but a particularly egregious example I thought of is how the Russian Orthodox churc...

            You would think that it would be a more common occurrence to find people who just really don’t like Jesus. It’s an interesting phenomenon: there are plenty of people who are ready to speak badly about the church or religion or even the apostle Paul or the Old Testament, but no one seems to have anything bad to say about Jesus. The common refrain from people seems to be that they think that Jesus was a great moral teacher. Even many who aren’t Christians claim to be inspired by his ethics of love, service, and sacrifice.             One possible conclusion to draw from this is that if so many people still like Jesus, even as they dislike the church, then the reason more aren’t going to church is because the church is not acting enough like Jesus. And there is certainly a lot of truth there. The church’s witness is harmed greatly by its hypocrisy and sin. But another conclusion that we ...

                              Have you ever wondered what God’s will for your life was? Perhaps you have wondered at various points things like what job does God want me to work? Where does God want me to live? What college does God want me to go to? What cause should I donate to? Who should I marry? There are lots of times in life when we face decisions that are both extremely difficult and yet extremely important and momentous. And so we worry if we’re making the right choice, because a wrong choice could have big consequences. And so we pray to God for discernment. We ask for God to show us the way, to reveal to us what decision to make. But here’s the problem… if you’re like me, God’s will is not always so obvious in my life.             Paul in Acts 16:6-10 though, he has God’s will made obvious for him. Paul is out on a missionary journey an...

  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 ...