St. John's Franklin Podcast

Danny Bryant preached a sermon entitled Celebrating Christmas” based on Luke 2:41-52 for the First Sunday after Christmas on December 30, 2012.

First Sunday after Christmas
1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26
Psalm 148
Colossians 3:12-17
Luke 2:41-52

Direct download: Celebrating_Christmas.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled A Joyful Meetingbased on Luke 1:39-55 for the Fourth Sunday of Advent on December 23, 2012. Mary and Elizabeth rejoice in their encounter with each other and give testimony that God remembers and acts for those who recognize their need for Him.

Fourth Sunday of Advent
Micah 5:2-5
Luke 1:46-55
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45

Direct download: A_Joyful_Meeting.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled The Realism of Advent” for the Third Sunday of Advent on December 16, 2012. In a culture that overly sentimentalizes the holiday season, the realism of Advent can be a shock. But it helps us realize that the roots of Christian joy—sunk deep in the gospel; in the death and resurrection of Jesus, allow it to transcend even the evil, suffering and death we experience in this world.

The involvement of the church in the suffering of mankind must never be allowed to stifle that supreme note of resurrection triumph or to smother the eschatological joy at the astounding events that have broken into history and pledged for mankind the final day of regeneration. The church must learn to take into its mouth the Good News of the resurrection and new creation, for that must be its primary note, one of limitless joy and thanksgiving. 

T.F. Torrance      

Third Sunday of Advent
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Isaiah 12:2-6
Philippians 4:4-7
Luke 3:7-20

Direct download: AdventRealism.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled Holding Fast to Hope” from Luke 3:1-14 for the Second Sunday of Advent on December 9, 2012. God did not leave us to figure him out, to feel up toward Him, but rather He speaks to us, reveals Himself to us through Scripture. As we keep His word, our Trinitarian God comes to make His home with us. (John 14:22-23.

The collect for 2nd Advent is one of my favorites. It is an original composition of the English Reformer, Thomas Cranmer, and reflects the recovery of the primacy of Scripture at the time of the English Reformation:

Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen

Second Sunday of Advent
Malachi 3:1-4
Luke 1:68-79
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-14

Direct download: Holding_Fast_to_Hope.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled Come, Lord Jesus!” from Luke 21:25-36 for the First Sunday of Advent on December 2, 2012. The Ascension establishes a “pause” in the Jesus story, in which the church lives and works, proclaiming the Gospel to all nations and ages. During this time, God graciously allows the history of mankind to run its course so that the world may be given time to repent and believe. In this tension between the first and second coming, we are called to watch, to stay awake, to keep vigil and stay alert as we wait for His return. What does it mean to live in awareness of the Second Coming?

First Sunday of Advent
Jeremiah 33:14-16
Psalm 25:1-10
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-36

Direct download: Come_Lord_Jesus.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled He Made Us to Be a Kingdomfrom Revelation 1:4-8 for Christ the King Sunday on November 25, 2012. What is unique and characteristic of the church is its identity conferred by Jesus Christ and its common life brought into being by the Holy Spirit. A church only has being in relationship to Christ. The church is a colony of heaven and a eucharistic community.

Last Sunday Before Advent-Christ the King
Daniel 7:9-14
Psalm 93
Revelation 1:4-8
John 18:33-37

Direct download: HeMadeUstoBeAKingdom.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Rod McLain preached a sermon entitled The God Who Remembers based on 1 Samuel 1:4-20 for the Second Sunday before Advent on November 18, 2012. While it may seem that God has forgotten us in the midst of times of suffering and confusion, he hasn't. God remembers us and works on our behalf.

Second Sunday before Advent

1 Samuel 1:4-20
1 Samuel 2:1-10
Hebrews 10:11-25
Mark 13:1-8

Direct download: TheGodWhoRemembers.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled Put Not Your Trust in Princes” for the Third Sunday before Advent on November 11, 2012. God's providential covenant with and care for the whole of Creation forms the backdrop for our understanding of His care and love for His people. Unlike power arrangements of this age, which are fleeting, and fickle, and unable to help, the God of the bible is the God who makes, who keeps, who initiates, who gives...

Third Sunday Before Advent

1 Kings 17:8-16

Psalm 146

Hebrews 9:24-28

Mark 10:46-52

Direct download: Put_not_your_trust_in_princes.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled The Gospel Travels Through Human Relationships” for All Saints Day on November 4, 2012. The history of God’s saving purposes is supremely a personal history focused on the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. We are part of a larger family, the communion of saints; a family of those who have embraced the story of Jesus, a family seeking to be shaped and transformed by those events, a larger family through whom the Gospel has been past down to us…and it has changed our lives.

All Saints Day
Isaiah 25:6-9
Psalm 24
Revelation 21:1-6
John 11:32-44

Direct download: AllSaints.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Brian Goodwin preached a sermon entitled Shining Light In Dark Places based on Mark 10:46-52 for the Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost on October 28, 2012. Just as Christ brought light into Bartimaeus' darkness, so He did and continues to do for us. We are called to bear this light to the dark places of our world.

May we who share Christ's body live his risen life;

we who drink his cup bring life to others;

we whom the Spirit lights give light to the world.


Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost

Job 42:1-6,10-17
Psalm 34:1-8 19-22
Hebrews 7:23-28
Mark 10:46-52

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

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled Grace From the Whirlwind based on Job 38 for the Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost on October 14, 2012. Job was confused and angry. Crying out to God, he wanted an explanation or vindication—presented with a bill of indictment with specific charges so he could defend himself or a verdict from his Judge, which he fully expected to be a declaration of innocence...so God’s response was absolutely unexpected.

Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost
Job 38:1-7,34-41
Psalm 104:1-9,24,35
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45

Direct download: Grace_From_the_Whirlwind.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled Where Is God? based on Job 23 for the Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost on October 14, 2012. How do we live when our experience of suffering or loss causes our moral universe to collapse? In the theological economy of Job’s former world, before his catastrophic loss, the suffering of a genuinely righteous person was mathematically impossible. But it had happened…An anguished, deeply confused, and angry Job engages with three friends (Eliphaz, Bildad,and Zophar), a youthful bystander (Elihu), and finally with God. Job teaches us what it means to lament, to trust God in the midst of suffering and loss.

Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost
Job 23:1-9, 16-17
Psalm 22:1-15
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:17-31 

Direct download: Lament.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled Fidelity As A Sexual Discipline based on Mark 10:2-16 for the Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost on October 7, 2012. In the Gospel reading for today, the Pharisees are trying to trap Jesus in legalities about divorce, but he refuses to bite, instead taking to them to Genesis 2 and God’s intent for marriage, grounding the institution of marriage within the fabric of creation itself. Life in our bodies, especially as it relates to our sexuality, requires cultivation if it is to flourish. Fidelity is the necessary practice or discipline that allows for the flourishing of our sexuality.

(In this sermon, I refer to an extended quote by Wendell Berry. You can download it here.)

Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Job 1:1, 2:1-10
Psalm 26
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16 

Direct download: Fidelity.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 8:29am CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “How the Christian Life Is Like Jazz Music” based on Colossians 3:18-4:6 for the Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost on September 30, 2012. Improvisation describes how Christians find ways of remaining faithful in constantly changing circumstances and environments. Most of the Christian life is faithful preparation for an unknown test.

Eighteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22
Psalm 124
Colossians 3:18-4:6
Mark 9:38-50

Direct download: XnLifeLike_Jazz.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “An Invitation to the Dance” based on Colossians 3:12-17 for the Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist on September 23, 2012. In our epistle reading for today, Paul let’s us in on the fact that Christian community is vital for our spiritual health and central to the church’s true life. Christian community is both training and participation in the dance of God.

St. John's celebrated our 2nd anniversary this week.

Almighty and ever living God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for the St. John’s family. Strengthen us in our faithfulness, arouse us in our apathy, and grant us the gift of repentance. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

Exodus 33:12-23
Psalm 92:1-4, 11-14
Colossians 3:12-17
John 1:1-18

Direct download: Invitation_to_the_Dance.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 5:38pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “How to Maintain Spiritual Vitality” based on Colossians 3:5-11 for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost on September 16, 2012. Spiritual vitality requires a lifestyle of repentance. The lifelong process of mortifying sin, or putting sin to death involves a gradual detection process where we are made aware of the particular forms in which sin expresses itself in our lives and those areas are brought into the light for forgiveness, healing, and restoration.

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Proverbs 1:20-33

Psalm 116:1-9
Colossians 3:5-11
Mark 9:30-37

Direct download: LifestyleofRepentance.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Christ Our Life” based on Colossians 3:1-4 for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost on September 9, 2012. The resurrection and ascension of Jesus has set the Gospel in motion. Paul is clear that everything necessary for the Christian life is now completed and activated in us because we are “in Christ.”

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 35:4-7
Psalm 146
Colossians 3:1-4
Mark 8:27-38

Direct download: Christ_Our_Life.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 7:45am CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Jesus, Our Creator and Redeemer” based on Colossians 1:15-23 for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost on September 2, 2012. This poem underlines the Jewish belief in God as the Creator who enters into covenant with all He has made (Jeremiah 31-33, Psalm 104)—but in a radical new way, identifies Jesus Christ as both Creator and Redeemer.  The inseparable link between creation and redemption in the poem brings into focus the cosmic significance of the redemption accomplished in Christ.

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Deuteronomy 4:1-9
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:15-23
Mark 7:24-37

Direct download: Creator-Redeemer.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Key to Human Flourishing” based on Colossians 1:1-14 for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost on August 26, 2012. The Gospel is a living power continues to grow in us and renew us throughout our lives as we understand its greatness and implications deeply.

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
1 Kings 8:22-30, 41-43
Psalm 84
Colossians 1:1-14
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Direct download: Gospel_HumanFlourishing.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Gospel and Eucharist, Part 4” based on John 6:60-61 for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost on August 19, 2012. According to St. Augustine, the constant renewing of desire is a necessary condition of being creatures in time. Desire is not negative, desires are what get us out of bed every morning. The problem now with our desires is that they continually attach themselves to objects that fail to satisfy. Augustine’s insight was that the Fall and sin meant that are now disordered. Consumer culture creates a promise of desire it can never fulfill, but in Christ our seemingly endless spiritual hunger and thirst are absorbed into the lavish abundance of God’s grace in the Gospel.

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Psalm 111
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:60-71

Direct download: Gospel_and_Eucharist_4.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Gospel and Eucharist, Part 3” based on John 6:41-59 for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost on August 12, 2012. Jesus gives us a central practice—the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, Holy Eucharist. The celebration of the Eucharist connects us with God—God accommodates Himself to our capacity in the Sacrament in order to make the Gospel real to us.

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
Psalm 130
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:41-59

Direct download: Gospel_and_Eucharist_3.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 7:57am CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Gospel and Eucharist, Part 2” based on John 6:1-21 for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost on August 5, 2012. In the second of a four part series on John 6, we examine one of the the most powerful systems of formation in the contemporary world, consumer culture. Jesus invites us to participate in a different kind of liturgy, and a different kind of consumption. 

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a
Psalm 51:1-12
Ephesians 4:1-16
John 6:22-40

Direct download: Gospel_and_Eucharist_2.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:44am CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Gospel and Eucharist, Part 1” based on John 6:1-21 for the 9th Sunday after Pentecost on July 28, 2012. The reading, reflection, and preaching of the Scriptures and the practice of Holy Communion have been the Church’s two central acts of worship down through the centuries. John 6 has been a central text in shaping both of these acts. In the first of a four part series, we examine the pattern of the Lord's SupperTake, Bless, Break, Give—and discover the shape of the liturgy is the shape of the Christian life.

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

2 Samuel 11:1-15
Psalm 14
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21

Direct download: Gospel_and_Eucharist_1.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Danny Bryant preached a sermon entitled “A Different Kind of King” based on 2 Samuel 9 for the 8th Sunday after Pentecost on July 21, 2012.

Scriptures for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 9
Psalm 89:20-37
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

Direct download: Different_King.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Danny Bryant preached a sermon entitled “A Different Kind of God” based on 2 Samuel 6 for the 7th Sunday after Pentecost on July 14, 2012.

Scriptures for Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 6:1--19
Psalm 24
Ephesians 1:3-14
Mark 6:14-29

Direct download: Different_God.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “A Different Kind of Hero” based on 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost on July 7, 2012. The biblical story is constantly inviting us to see issues of power and weakness in a different way.

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10
Psalm 48
2 Corinthians 12:2-10
Mark 6:1-13

Direct download: Another_Hero.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Jesus Welcomes Sinners” based on Mark 5:21-43 for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost on June 30, 2012. The healing of the woman with the issue of blood was a part of Jesus' total ministry, the open welcome of sinners, that went with the inauguration of His kingdom.

Scriptures for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost:

2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27
Psalm 130
2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Mark 5:21-43

 

Direct download: Jesus_Welcomes_Sinners.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Brian Goodwin preached a sermon based on Mark 4:35-41 for the 4th Sunday after Pentecost on June 23, 2012.

Scriptures for Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
1 Samuel 17:32-49
Psalm 9:9-20
2 Corinthians 6:1-13
Mark 4:35-41

Direct download: Trust.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “A New Way of Seeing” based on Mark 4 for the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost on June 16, 2012. In the Kingdom of God, reality is always more than we can see. Our imaginations need to be renewed and trained to see in a new way.

Scriptures for the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost:

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13

Psalm 20

2 Corinthians 5:6-17

Mark 4:26-34

Direct download: A_New_Way_of_Seeing.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “We Have This Treasure in Clay Jars...” based on 2 Corinthians 4:7-5:1 for the 2nd Sunday after Pentecost on June 9, 2012. ·       The Corinthians wanted resurrection without the cross, but Paul rules out this distortion of the Gospel. We can be people who embody the Gospel of Jesus Christ only if we are people who go through suffering, danger, difficulty and failure. The shape and rhythm of the Christian life is patterned after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Direct download: Clay_Jars.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “For Christ Plays In Ten Thousand Places” for the Trinity Sunday on June 2, 2012. The events of salvation history--Creation, Fall, Incarnation, Cross, Resurrection, Ascension, Penetecost, and the life of the church itself--give us a historical map of the Trinitarian life of God, for it is the only way we as humans can observe it--in space and time; in history. In Christ, we become who God meant us to be as we participate in His life, as the poem "As Kingfishers Catch Fire," by Gerald Manley Hopkins so beautifully portrays.

As Kingfishers Catch Fire…

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;

As tumbled over rim in roundy wells stones ring; 

like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s

Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name; 

Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:

Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;

Selves―goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,

Crying What I do is me: for that I came.

I say more: the just man justices;

Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;

Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is―

Christ―for Christ plays in ten thousand places,

Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his

To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

Direct download: Christ_Plays.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The First Fruits of the Kingdom” based on Acts 2:1-21 for the Day of Pentecost on May 26, 2012. With Pentecost, the church was birthed and given its mission—nothing less the regeneration of all mankind. The Holy Spirit enables the Gospel to travel through relationships and to take root in geographies. The Spirit also enables the church to live in th eschatological tension of the cruciform life.

Direct download: Pentecost.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “He Ascended Into Heaven” based on Acts 1:1-11 for Ascension Day on May 19, 2012. Our Scriptures today tell us that after 40 days of appearing to the disciples after the Resurrection, Jesus departed from them as to His physical presence, passed into heaven as a fully human, embodied and yet fully divine person.  He will remain there until His second advent, the second coming. What does this mean for us today?

Having ascended into heaven…he enriched His own people, and daily lavishes spiritual riches upon them. He therefore sits on high, transfusing us with His power, that He may quicken us to spiritual life, sanctify us by His Spirit, adorn His church with diverse gifts of grace, keep it safe from all harm by His protection, restrain the raging enemies of the Cross and of our salvation by the strength of His hand and finally hold all power in heaven and earth.

John Calvin

Direct download: He_Ascended_Into_Heaven.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 8:10am CDT

The frequent complaint of boredom in the midst of a society with seemingly endless options for entertainment and amusement seems peculiar.  In spite of the beauty and diversity of God’s creation, and in spite of the tragic brokenness surrounding us, many whom we meet are bored with their existence.

In Patricia Spacks’ fascinating book. Boredom: A Literary History of a State of Mind, she finds the word was first used in the English language in the 18th century. Before the 18th century, the word sloth or acedia, one of the seven deadly sins, was used to describe the state of boredom.  The difference?  Boredom says the problem is outside of me; the world outside of me fails to interest me.  Sloth, on the other hand, says the problem is within me; I have a spiritual problem.  Why is my heart not moved by the True, the Good, and the Beautiful that surrounds me?

Join the conversation as we explore the causes, consequences and cure for boredom.

P.S. I recommend downloading the PDF outline, as it has the quotes that are used in the lectures, as well as an extensive bibliography. 

Direct download: The_Spiritual_Roots_of_Boredom.mp3
Category:Lectures -- posted at: 8:44am CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Experiencing the Eternal Kind of Life Now” based on John 17:6-18 for the Sixth Sunday of Easter on May 12, 2012. Eternal life is something that begins now, it involves no less than experiencing personal transformation and the redemption of everyday life. But we must enact counter-measures to overcome one of its chief enemies, the deadly sin of sloth, whose effect on our soul is to deaden it, rendering it difficult to respond to God. We need to cultivate habits of receptivity and obedience to God.

Direct download: Eternal_Life_Now.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Abiding Life That Comes from God” based on John 15:1-8 for the Fifth Sunday of Easter on May 5, 2012. The Triune God has given us a vital union with Himself, call us into a life of dependence, and promised to make us fruitful. We are in the intermediate stage—between the resurrection of Jesus and the renewal of all things that God promises in the future.  In this intermediate stage, God is at work, renewing human beings—you and I—in our own lives, here and now.

Direct download: The_Abiding_Life.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Good Shepherd” based on John 10:7-18 for the Fourth Sunday of Easter on April 21, 2012. This week, I combined some instruction in things Anglican with the sermon, and used the collect of the day to structure my sermon on John 10:

Almighty and everlasting God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people; Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Jesus, our Good Shepherd, comes to us where we are, and He brings us the life we hunger for.

The Collects are essential elements in the flow of the liturgy, and one of my favorite parts of the Anglican liturgy.  The Collects, which in our worship at St. John’s we pray following our opening songs of worship, help “gather” or “collect” the prayers of the community at the beginning of worship. To read more about them, see my blog here.

Direct download: The_Good_Shepherd.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Light and Life” based on 1 John 1:1-2:2 for the Third Sunday of Easter on April 21, 2012. The Word through whom all things were created is now the Word who, through the power of His death and resurrection, all things are being recreated, being made new. This new life is secured for us by Christ's finished work, but to experience this light and life we have to be honest about sin, honest about its presence and depth, both as individuals and as a community.

Direct download: Light_and_Life.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Danny Bryant preached a sermon entitled “Re-Storied Imaginations” based on John 20:19-31 on April 14, 2012. The resurrection is the beginning of the New Creation, creating a context for grace and beauty.

Direct download: Re-Storied_Imaginations.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “God's New World” based on 1 Corinthians 15 for Easter Sunday on April 8, 2012. For Paul, the resurrection is the lynch pin, the center of God’s plan to redeem, renew and restore all that He has created.

Direct download: Gods_New_World.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Imitating Jesus” based on Philippians 2:5-11 for the Palm Sunday on March 31, 2012.

Direct download: Imitating_Jesus.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Art of Dying” based on John 12:20-33 for the Fifth Sunday of Lent on March 24, 2012. As we take up our crosses and follow Him, Jesus promises us what from our cultural vantage point can only seem like a paradox, the promise that self-denial leads to satisfaction in God, that repentance leads to fruitfulness and not emptiness and loss.

Direct download: The_Art_of_Dying.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Ancient-Future Worship” for the Fourth Sunday of Lent on March 17, 2012. Ancient-future worship is the common tradition of the church’s worship in Word, Table, and song, practiced faithfully and communicated clearly in every context of the world (Robert Webber). What stands at the center of the common tradition of worship is Word and Sacrament—Liturgy of the Word and Liturgy of the Table. What contextualizes worship more than anything else is its music. Hymns and songs help us proclaim God’s story, but nowhere in Scripture or in the history of the church have hymns and songs ever been seen as a replacement for Word and Table.

Direct download: Ancient-Future_Worship.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Church is a Stumbling Block...and a Miracle” based on 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 for the Third Sunday of Lent on March 10, 2012. Church is a stumbling block…and a miracle. We need sustained effort and a renewed imagination if we are to embrace the church.

Almighty and ever living God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for the St. John’s family. Strengthen us in our faithfulness, arouse us in our apathy, and grant us the gift of repentance. Grant us all things necessary for our common life, and bring us all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Direct download: ChurchAsStumbling_BlockandMiracle.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Freedom of God and Christian Hope” based on Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 for the Second Sunday of Lent on March 3, 2012. When we seem to be at a dead end or a stuck place, the freedom of God is the source of our hope. The freedom of God means that He is not bound by how the world defines what is possible.  The freedom of God redefines how we see the present, i.e., the present is always provisional and open, open to God changing, rearranging, or transforming our life.

Direct download: Freedom_of_God_Christian_Hope.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Desert Experience in the Christian Life” based on Mark 1:9-15 for the First Sunday of Lent on February 25, 2012. Most often, desert experiences are not something we choose, but something chosen for us, a place God brings us to…The desert is a place of abandonment, of deprivation, hostile to living things, itself cutoff, a place that seems to threaten our sense of flourishing. The desert is the environment where idols are least likely to survive, a place where we need moral courage to survive.

“Unnatural changes in the most basic rhythms of life signal that God is rearranging structures in the deepest layers of existence.”

Direct download: The_Desert_Experience.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Journey of Lent” based on 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:10 at a joint Ash Wednesday with Christ UMC on February 22, 2012. We never lose sight of the Resurrection, His revealing himself to us, but in the journey of Lent, we acknowledge our human and spiritual weakness. The real question of the Lenten season is: Where in my life have I gotten away from God and what are the disciplines that will enable me to find my way back? Lent is the embrace of humility, and the undertaking of spiritual practices that increase our spiritual awareness, preparing us to receive a fresh and joyous grace from God.

Sorrow for sin is indeed necessary, but it should not involve endless self-pre-occupation.  You should dwell also on the glad remembrance of the loving kindness of God--Bernard of Clairveaux.

Direct download: The_Journey_of_Lent.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “God's No, God's Yes in Jesus” based on Mark 8:31-9:9 on February 18, 2012. At the heart of the Christian faith is the paradigm of Cross and Resurrection. God’s No in Jesus—the ascetic dimension to the Christian life—trains us in self-denial, in learning to say no to our appetites, impulses, whims, and desires, and makes room for Father, Son, and Spirit. In God’s Yes in Jesus—the aesthetic dimension to the Christian life—God reveals His glory, His beauty to us.

Direct download: Gods_No_and_Yes_in_Jesus.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Transformation in Everyday Life” on February 11, 2012, on the need for a theology of ordinary life.  Parenting, marriage, friendship, our work—all of these are all paths to God, not diversions or distractions to our devotional and spiritual life…Like the cell of the monk or nun, they are the context and framework of our journey to God. The main measure of our devotion to God is not our devotional life; the main measure of our devotion to God is simply our life.

Direct download: Transformation_in_Everyday_Life.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “The Gift and Paradox of Work” on February 4, 2012.  Work is a pervasive part of our everyday experience—a good part of our waking hours are given to it.  Theologians describe work as a creation ordinance, one of the fundamental aspects of God’s created order. He has made us to work…One the one hand, work is a gift and responsibility created and ordained by God at Creation; On the other hand, as a result of the Fall in Genesis 3, we know that work was cursed by God, thorns and thistles (literally and metaphorically) are promised to follow our work.

Direct download: The_Gift_and_Paradox_of_Work.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “With Gladness and Singleness of Heart” on January 28, 2012.  Motivation is an issue that concerns each of us.  Why do we get out of bed each morning?  The Christian understanding of motivation is expressed most fully in the biblical understanding of vocation.

The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done...The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.

Frederick Buechner

Direct download: With_Gladness_and_Singleness_of_Heart.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “For the Sake of Others” based on Jonah 3:1-10 on January 21, 2012.  God does not save us for our own sake alone, but also for the sake of others—we are called to be channels of God’s grace as well as recipients of it—He calls us to participate in his plan to redeem the world and make it new.

Direct download: For_the_Sake_of_Others.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 10:52am CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Living Out Our Baptism” based on Mark 1:4-11 for the The Baptism of Jesus Sunday on January 14, 2012.  To be baptized is to be incorporated into the dying of Jesus so as to become a participant in His risen life, and so to share his ongoing mission to the world. It is to baptized into His mission.

Direct download: Living_Out_Our_Baptism.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 8:36am CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “Parables of Grace” based on Ephesians 3:1-13 for the Feast of Epiphany on January 7, 2012.  The Feast of the Epiphany—we celebrate a major turn in the history of salvation—the story of God’s redeeming activity in the world.  Epiphany celebrates the coming of the Gospel, the good news concerning Jesus Christ, to the Gentiles.

Direct download: Parables_of_Grace.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “He Came Down” based on Luke 2:22-40 for the First Sunday of Christmastide on December 31, 2011.  Each week we profess "for us and for our salvation, He came down from heaven." Both physical presence and place continue to matter to us, but neither of them matter as much as they once did.  New technologies of information, communication, and mobility are clearly one of the sources of this cultural change. In contrast, the Incarnation, God becoming flesh and blood in the birth of Christ, tells us that physical presence and place matter decisively for God.

Direct download: For_Us_and_For_Our_Salvation.mp3
Category:Sermons -- posted at: 11:00pm CDT