St. John's Franklin Podcast

Kenny Benge preached a sermon entitled “To Ponder Like Mary at the Cross” for Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday on March 29, 2015. 

 

"The Gospels depict Mary as pondering and, in a subtle but clear way, hold that up as the key mature action that someone can do to help take tension and darkness out of our world. Sacred Fire, Ron Rolheiser

 

Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday 

Mark 11:1-11 (Short Chapter) 

Psalm 31:9-16

Isaiah 50:4-9

Philippians 2:5-11
Mark 15:1-39

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

Michael McGhee preached a sermon entitled “Get Angry” for The Fourth Sunday in Lent on March 15, 2015.  Luke Skywalker taught us that anger was the path to the dark side, but maybe he was wrong. St Paul writes "Be angry, but do not sin." As Christians our anger might acutally be the path to deepening our faith, not the dark side. Ellen Davis writes “By refusing to listen to that anger and even take it on our lips, we lose an opportunity to bring our own anger into the context of our relationship with God.”

 

The Fourth Sunday in Lent 

Numbers 21:4-9

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Ephesians 2:1-10

John 3:14-21

Direct download: Anger_-_Mar_15_2015.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:03am CDT

Michael McGhee preached a sermon entitled “Repentance” for The Second Sunday in Lent on March 1, 2015.  Jesus’ rebuke of Peter, “Get behind me Satan!” is one of the harshest statements in the New Testament, but there is something more than anger in His words to Peter. Jesus’ rebuke is actually an invitation to repentance, a statement made to point Peter in the direction of the Cross. Repentance is more than confession, it is “an true encounter with the reality that I am loved by God and even through I may not feel it and others may not see it, God deems me worthy to be loved. (Bolz-Weber)”

 

 

 

The Second Sunday in Lent 

Genesis 17:1-7,15-16

Psalm 22:22-30

Romans 4:13-25

Mark 8:31-38

 

Direct download: Repentance.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:43pm CDT

Michael McGhee preached a sermon entitled “Chocolat” for The First Sunday in Lent on February 22, 2015. Lent is an invitation to examination through prayer in fasting. Most often these practices led us to a place of lament. Ellen Davis has this to say about the nature of lament, “When you lament in good faith, opening yourself to God honestly and fully— no matter what you have to say— then you are beginning to clear the way for praise. You are straining toward the time when God will turn your tears into laughter. When you lament, you are asking God to create the conditions in which it will become possible for you to offer praise —conditions, it turns out, that are mainly within your own heart.

 

 

 

The First Sunday in Lent 

Genesis 9:8-17

Psalm 25:1-9 
1

Peter 3:18-22

Mark 1:9-15

 

Direct download: St20Johns20Sermons20-20Feb2022202015.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:11pm CDT

Michael McGhee preached a sermon entitled “Transfiguration” for The Fifth Sunday After Epiphany on February 15, 2015. The Transfiguration speaks to our present reality and to our future hope. John Yoder put it this way "To know that the Lamb who was slain was worthy to receive power not only enables his disciples to face martyrdom when they must; it also enables his disciples to go about their daily crafts and trades, to do their duties as parents and neighbors, without being driven to despair by cosmic doubt. Even before the broken world can be made whole by the Second Coming, the witnesses to the first coming-through the very fact that they proclaim Christ above the powers, the Son above the angels-are enabled to go on proleptically in the redemption of creation."

 

 A PDF version of our Vision Statement can be downloaded here.

 

The Fifth Sunday After Epiphany 

2 Kings 2:1-12

Psalm 50:1-6

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Mark 9:2-9 

Direct download: St20Johns20Sermons20-20Feb2015202015.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:57pm CDT