In the Spirit. In Christ.

Their attempt to solve their own problems on their own without God ended in disaster. Now, after messing up their lives, they were questioning who they were. They were even questioning God. You know people like that who wander away from God chasing after green pastures. Then, when disaster strikes, blame God for it. Their lives are like the dry bones in the valley.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
Promises Made, Promises Broken

While Paul uses the story of Abram and Sarai to talk about faith – they were willing to leave home based on a promise. He does gloss over parts of it to make his point. That point is the promise that God has given to us through Jesus. The promise of faith. Faith is knowing that God will not abandon God’s people.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
A Gift of Grace

God did not sit Adam and Eve down in the garden and tell them what not to do. The story is much greater than that; God gave them the garden, permission to take care of it, and a command (“do not eat…”) to protect them. To view any of this in a negative light is to miss the beauty and majesty of God. Could you have imagined God putting us down in a desert, giving us nothing to do, and leaving us to our own devices?

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
Reconciled to Righteousness

While our world may not be as violent and ruthless as Paul's, we see the same symptoms of a world that is full of selfish individuals who only look out for themselves. No need to follow traffic laws. No need to worry that my actions cause harm to others – they have the same chance as I do! We are just like the Corinthians. And like the Corinthians we need to hear Paul admonish us.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
Not Myths, but Spirit Led

While the world calls us to individualism and, in the end, selfishness, God calls us into community. While the world tells you that the most important person in the world is you, God tells us that it is the poor, hungry, imprisoned, and refugee, and God calls us to share our gifts with them. While others claim that their community is only those people who look and think like them, God calls us into the community that knows no boundaries.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
Nobody but God

With horrible news every day of violence and death, surrounded by people in a hurry, and confronted by anger that seems to come out of nowhere, we often forget our call to love others and instead, succumb to our own dark feelings. I am not saying that we should not get angry. Jesus did. It is what we do with our anger (and other emotions) that matters. Instead of reacting as the world, we are called to react as Jesus did, with love.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
Down-to-Earth Faith

While it would be nice to receive all the knowledge we need to live our lives at one time through some secret initiation rite, we know that’s impossible. We have learned, and are still learning, how to live our lives in the world today through experience. What we need instead of specific knowledge is a guide that will help us make decisions in our pilgrimage through life.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
True Gift

If not the Television it is social media or peer pressure from others that keeps calling you. While we do need things of the world, we should remember that they do not make us who we are.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
United in Christ

Paul’s letters to the Corinthians were a call to them to get along with each other. Faith was not a contest. NO one was better at it than another. All had been given gifts of the Spirit. Those gifts were not for self-improvement but were to be used in the world to share God’s love with others.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
In Jesus' Name

While there are people who seem to think that only certain people can be Christian or that Christians need to gather only with themselves and let the world go where it will go, that is not God’s intent nor Jesus’ call to pick up your cross and follow him.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
Memories

Like all memories, those of Christmas are a mix of joy and sadness. They are not always an accurate account of what really happened. Nor are they complete. That is true of the first Christmas – Mary had memories of that first Christmas. Luke tells us she “treasured these words and pondered them in her heart.” Yet, it was not always an easy memory to have. She still had to raise Jesus and his siblings. There was also a time when she went to bring him home after hearing from others that he was acting crazy. Then there is the time she stood at the base of his cross. 

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
Live in Love

Christmas is a time of many rules. Children are threatened with them. Adults are haunted by them. We all want this time to be a joyful time. Sometimes we, in that attempt, make it a time of depression.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
Live in Harmony

Paul is not telling us that we will not (or cannot) have disagreements. He is telling us that we handle the disagreements differently than the world does because we handle them with love. He also is not saying that we are not to get angry. He certainly got angry. So did Jesus. But, again, he is telling us that we are called to use our anger for positive things.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins
All to Serve

Look around you. We seem to be living in a selfish age. Just turn on the television and listen to the advertisements. There you are constantly being told that you deserve what you have and then more. (Although it is only someone trying to get you to give them your money.) We hear those words so often and desire it so much that we begin to believe that what we have is ours and ours alone. It is not. All that you have is God’s. God has gifted you with it so that you may take care of it and use it to share God’s love with the world.

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SermonThe Rev. John M. Cawkins