Meet the Lord in the Air

Rev. Dr. David D. M. King The Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 27A1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 In the section of the first letter to the Thessalonians that Janet read for us this morning, the three authors—the apostle Paul and his associates, Silas and Timothy—respond directly to a specific concern of the Christians in Thessalonica. And it … [Read more…]

November Messenger

The month starts with a continuation of our focus on Paul’s first letter to the Thessalo- nians. Having heard Paul in October describe himself as a mother to the Thessalonian Chris- tians, we now hear him describe himself as their father. We get a glimpse of Paul’s vision of life beyond death, and we hear … [Read more…]

Blessed Are Those

Rev. Dr. David D. M. King All Saints SundayMatthew 5:1-12 I know that I am supposed to be in the middle of sermon series on First Thessalonians, but I couldn’t find much to say about the passage assigned for this week. So we’re taking a quick break from Paul’s first letter and turning instead to … [Read more…]

Like a Mother

Rev. Dr. David D. M. King The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 25A1 Thessalonians 2:1-8 In this second week of our exploration of Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, we come to its second chapter. This is the oldest book in the New Testament, the earliest of Paul’s surviving letters. We noted last week that … [Read more…]

Perseverance the Comes from Hope

Rev. Dr. David D. M. King The Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24A1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 Starting today, I’m preaching a five-part series on the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians. We choose our scriptures for Sunday mornings using something called the Revised Common Lectionary. It’s a cycle of assigned readings that repeat every three … [Read more…]

Idol Talk

Rev. Dr. David D. M. King The Nineteenth Sunday after PentecostExodus 32:1-14 Last week, we considered the ten commandments, as presented in Exodus 20. This week, we will explore what happens twelve chapters later in Exodus 32. What happened in between? Well, you might remember that at the end of last week’s passage, the people … [Read more…]

White Fragility

On October 11, Early Church is beginning study of White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk about Racism by Robin DiAngelo. You can join in Sunday mornings at 8:30 via Zoom. Use the link bit.ly/earlychurchfg. You might also find this reading guide helpful.

Thou Shalt Not

Rev. Dr. David D. M. King The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 22AExodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 This text from the second book of the Torah, the book of Exodus, describes a key moment in the formation of the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. God, acting through Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, has just liberated the … [Read more…]

October Messenger

As we continue in the liturgical season of Ordinary Time in October, we will consider scriptures from the Book of Exodus and the first letter of Paul to the Thessalonians. We revisit God’s gracious giving of the law at Sinai in the Ten Commandments. We see how, even from the beginning, God’s people had trouble … [Read more…]

Kenosis

Rev. Dr. David D. M. King The Seventeenth Sunday after PentecostPhilippians 2:1-13 Early Christian communities in the first century have two significant problems. The first is that they have quite a lot of internal division and disagreement. This is a new religious movement, made up of people from all over the known world, people from … [Read more…]