Occasional Sermons

Are You a Little Icon? Colossians 1:15-28 Christian Community Presbyterian Church, Bowie Maryland July 17, 2022 Y ou are all familiar with logos, aren’t you? They are symbols that represent a company or group. When you see the multi-colored stylized peacock, you know that it is NBC. The same is true of the CBS eyeball. The red dot within a larger red circle means Target. MLB stands for Major League Baseball. Those of us who use electronic devices all the time know the logos on our screens (icons in computer-speak). Each one stands for an application (app for short) and when you click on one, the app opens and you can do whatever that app is intended for: send email, take pictures, write a letter, do your taxes, play music, check your bank balance, order pizza, count your steps, just to name a few. The word icon can also describe a person or thing that is the epitome of whatever they do and are revered or idolized. We could say that Elvis Presley was a cultural icon of mid-20th...

Unexpected Neighbor Luke 10:25-37 Christian Community Presbyterian Church, Bowie MD July 10, 2022 O h no! Not another sermon about the “Good Samaritan”! How many sermons have you heard preached on this parable? More than your fingers can count, I imagine. I can’t think how many I have heard or read. This will be the sixth sermon I’ve preached directly on it and I’m sure I referenced it many times in other sermons. We know the parable forwards and backwards, don’t we? You and I can recite it in our sleep. What more could any of us possibly learn from it? Bear with me while we navigate this well-worn Jerusalem-Jericho road once again. The parable is multi-layered. It is more than a variation of “Be helpful when you come across people in trouble.” Jesus wasn’t planting a little conscience thought-bomb to make us feel guilty when we ignore a homeless person, a panhandler, or someone in obvious distress. Commentator James Wallace says that the parable “lays down a big challenge but makes an...