Scriptures and Sermons for November, 2020

“While We Are Waiting” Series

A four-part series on what we are to do as we await the Parousia. Waiting for Christ to come again. Waiting for our allotted span of years to be completed. Waiting for our own Easter. Ours is an active waiting, starting with the imperative to “Follow me”. Then, we are told to stay awake in our faith, trimming our wicks and having plenty of oil, even as Christ tarries. Third, we can’t get lazy and fearful. We put our G-d given talents to work in the Kingdom. And finally, as we began, we finish in being obedient. At the Parousia, we are subject to being judged for how we bided our time.

November 1, 2020

All Saints Sunday

End Daylight Savings

Message: “Follow Me”

Scriptures: Matthew 5:1-12; 1 John 3:1-3; Mark 2:14; Revelation 7:9-10,13-14,16-17

Preview: Jesus says, “Follow Me”. It is a matter of obedience and faith. Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “Discipleship” focused on obedience. Costly grace. And then Bonhoeffer points to the Sermon on the Mount to show us the cost of grace in who we are, as well as the blessedness of that grace in whose we are. In this All Saints Sunday, we recognize the obedience and blessedness of those who have gone before us.

November 8, 2020

Message: “The Old Lamp Lighter”

Scriptures: Matthew 25:1-13; Luke 12:35.

Preview: The second in our “While We are Waiting” series. While we are waiting, we keep our lamps trimmed and filled with oil, because we do not know when the Parousia will be.

November 15, 2020

Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30

Message: “Playing it Safe”

Preview: This is the third in our “While We Wait” series. Jesus taught a hard parable about our using what G-d has given us to do his work in the Kingdom, and the perils of disobedience. We are told to work and be fruitful, not fearful and unproductive.  Not just playing it safe.

November 22, 2020

“Christ the King” Sunday

End of the Christian Year

Thanksgiving Week

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46

Message: “Christ the King”

Preview: The last of our “While We Are Waiting” Series. The waiting is over. After all is done and Christ the King calls us to account; when grace, justification and forgiveness have had their day, we are left standing before the King.  An apocalyptic drama plays out and we know that what happens is just and right. For the faithful, this is a time when blessedness reaches its culmination in all that we have done for least and the lost. When Christ the King ascends his throne and we inherit the Kingdom.