St. John's Franklin Podcast

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