St. John's Franklin Podcast

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Efficiency Versus Love” on  for The Fourth Sunday of Easter on April 26, 2015. The challenge of the efficiency vs love is that it always take place in the midst of our finitude—we are creatures in time and space—we have limited power, resources, energy, time—so efficiency and love are always required—but we need to practice regular discernment, both in our lives and in our church, that efficiency is always in the service of love.

 

The Fourth Sunday of Easter 

Acts 4:5-12

Psalm 23

1 John 3:16-24

John 10:11-18

 

Direct download: EfficiencyVsLove.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Kids Will Be All Right” on  for The Third Sunday of Easter on April 19, 2015. This past Sunday we celebrated a baptism in our service. I took the opportunity to discuss the importance of the Sacrament of Baptism for the nurture and formation of our children’s faith. Below is a quote I refer to in the sermon:

 

“Young people leaving the faith” books are the home security commercials of the church. You know what I mean: those television advertisements for residential alarm systems that prey upon our anxieties, tapping into our reptilian instincts. They extort us by leveraging both our fears and our loves: our love for family—and for stuff, let’s be honest—and fear that some intruder will break in to plunder both…

 

If you look past the headlines and fear-mongering book titles, you’ll find that a more complex, nuanced, even hopeful picture emerges. Consider, for instance. a recent study based on multi-generational data compiled by the National Institute of Mental Health. The study confirms something both ordinary and revolutionary: when it comes to passing on faith, what matters is how you relate to your children. Authoritarian constriction doesn’t help (zealots only produce rebels); but neither does a hands-off, laissez-faire, let-the-kids-decide approach…proclaim the faith to your children, immerse them in the practices of the body of Christ, model the faith for them, and give them room to question it—the sovereign Spirit will do the rest.

James K.A. Smith, Comment

 

The Third Sunday of Easter 

Acts 3:12-19

Psalm 4

1 John 3:1-7
John 24:36-48

Direct download: KidsWillBeAllRight.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:00am CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Life as Participation”  on 1 John 1:1-2:2 for The Second Sunday of Easter on April 12, 2015. In Jesus Christ—by humbly taking our flesh and becoming a Man, God Himself condescends to share our creatureliness and finitude and weakness, in order to lift us up in relationship to Him, to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. By allowing us to share in his life in Christ, we participate with Him, with each other, and with his Creation

 

The Second Sunday of Easter 

Acts 4:32-35

Psalm 133

1 John 1:1-2:2
John 20:19-31

Direct download: Participation.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:00am CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Do You Believe This?” for The Resurrection of the Lord on April 5, 2015.  John wants us to know the Resurrection was inconceivable. Mary, Peter and John had no idea of what to expect as they arrived at the tomb. The curious way the grave cloths lay; the linen wraps and the neatly folded face cloth, was the first evidence that the inconceivable had happened.

 

The Resurrection of the Lord 

Acts 10:34-43

Psalm 118:1-2,14-24

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

John 20:1-18

Direct download: Easter2015.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:00am CDT