Discipling Life

 “Not My People” to Children of God: the Story of Hosea & Gomer Sunday, July 27, 2025 – Ebenezer UMC & Black Creek UMC Proper 12, Ordinary 17 – Hosea 1:2-10 The Image of the Church as the Bride of Christ The Bible is full of symbolic language. God often uses metaphors to make understandable spiritual truths with vividness. For example, The image of the church as the Bride of Christ is found in several scripture verses, including Ephesians 5:25-27, which describes Christ loving the church and presenting her as holy and blameless. Also, Revelation 19:7-9 celebrates the marriage of the Lamb, indicating that the church has made herself ready for this union. Ephesians 5:25-27 (NRSVue) 25  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her  26  in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word,  27  so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or...

  An Unshakable Life: Holiness in a World of Distraction Amos 8:1-12, Colossians 1:15-28, Luke 10:38-42 EUMC & BCUMC, July 20, 2025, Proper 11c An important theme in today's texts is Staying Focused on Priorities – Staying Focused on the Moment. Today's Gospel text – the story about Martha and Mary – is often unfairly and incorrectly used to say devotion to Christ is more important than service. That's not what's happening here. Jesus values service and action – remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan that comes right before this – context is important. The Greek word used here is diakonos (meaning “servant” or “minister”) and it embodies the Christian calling to live out faith through service. It reflects the church’s mission to care for others through acts of charity, compassion, and justice. This sacred responsibility takes many forms: humanitarian aid, working for social justice, and outreach to vulnerable communities. Diakonia, this service) isn...

  July 13, 2025 – EUMC & BCUMC – Proper 10, Ord 15 Deuteronomy 30:9-14 and Psalm 25:1-10, Colossians 1:1-14, Luke 10:25-37 Alan Swartz Have you ever wondered if good is good enough? I think of myself as a good person. I imagine all of us here today think of ourselves as good people. Isn’t that what God wants? I know I am a much better person than Adolph Hitler, or Joseph Stalin, or Jeffrey Dahmer. I mean, these were notoriously evil people. That is an easy comparison. Maybe I need to look around and see how I compare with others more like myself. I could check the social media feeds of other clergy or good Christian people that I know and see how I stack up. Ah, but the problem there is that I start to look and act an awful lot like the Pharisee who went to pray in the temple and seeing the sinner praying next to me I could plead, “Lord, I thank you that I am not like him!” (Luke 18:11) What am I to do? Bishop Gwinn encouraged pastors and church leaders to read the bo...

  Who Invited You? – Sermon at Lebanon UMC – October 15, 2023 [You may watch this sermon preached on Facebook] Let us pray… Our first lesson today comes from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians, the fourth chapter, beginning with the first verse. 1  Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. 2  I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.  3  Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my coworkers, whose names are in the book of life. 4  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  5  Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.  6  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known...

  The Rock – August 27, 2023 – Lebanon UMC — by Alan Swartz Proper 16 Year A — Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost See the video of the sermon I preached at Lebanon UMC on August 27, 2023 Romans 12:1-8 (NRSVue) 1   I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, on the basis of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable act of worship.  2  Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. 3  For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.  4  For as in one body we have many members and not all the members have the same function,  5  so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individua...