What Does It Mean to Be a Christian?

Isaiah 42:1-9 | Acts 10:34-43 | Matthew 3:13-17

Jeremy Richards

Audio recording: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/01-12-20-what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-christian-jeremy-richards/id1479727299?i=1000462966112

When I decided to go to seminary, I had hardly read any real theology or biblical studies. I didn’t know who the modern day theologians and scholars were. I was told by my religion professors at Concordia that Duke Divinity School was one of the top schools and that I should apply there. In addition to it being a good school, I grew up cheering for Duke basketball, so when I got in, it was a pretty easy choice. But like I said, I didn’t know who any of the professors were. But I quickly learned there was a name that seemingly everyone but me knew about, a name that was synonymous with Duke Divinity School: Stanley Hauerwas.

The Word in the World

John 1:1-18

Jeremy Richards

Words “are powerlessly powerful.” Words “make or break living breathing people,” says Noor Unnahar…

I once heard a sermon by Barbara Brown Taylor, preaching on James 3, where she said our words create worlds, like bubbles that float away from us, and once the worlds are created, we can’t change them, can’t take them back. They float on to their recipients. The worlds we create with our words can be beautiful and life-giving, or they can be ugly and violent. They can stab without a single weapon, Noor Unnahar says.

What kind of world would God’s Word create?

Holy Waiting

Isaiah 35:1-10 | Luke 1:46-55

Jeremy Richards

In 2006, the popular singer John Mayer released a song called, “Waiting on the World to Change.” This song, which I’m sure most of you have heard, sounds at first listen like a catchy, even hope-filled song, but it is, in fact, one of the most hopeless songs I’ve ever heard. In the song, Mayer claims that he and his generation see the problems in the world, but the problems are too big for them to do anything about, and so they’re waiting on the world to change – apparently all on its own.

The Cosmic Christ, Crucified

Psalm 46 | Colossians 1:11-20 | Luke 23:33-43

Jeremy Richards

For many of us, Grant Park Church probably seems like a pretty liturgical church, at least for those of us who grew up in what some call the “Free Church” – Pentecostal, Baptist, Anabaptist, and most non-denominational churches. In our last book study meeting, someone shared that they were surprised we use the lectionary the first time they came to worship here. In addition to some call and response in our service, the use of the lectionary is probably the thing that feels the most liturgical about Grant Park.

Inhale, Exhale

Isaiah 12 | Luke 21:5-19

Jeremy Richards        

On one hand, Jesus’ teaching from Luke 21 sounds pretty apocalyptic – wars and insurrections, earthquakes and famines, good people being slandered and hated and even executed. On the other hand, it sounds like the evening news. Nations are rising against nations. civil unrest is a common theme across the globe – governments are being toppled, there are corrupt elections, our own country is in the midst of an impeachment process. Global warming has, indeed, led to famines and other natural disasters like hurricanes and tsunamis. So Jesus’ teaching doesn’t sound too outlandish.

Living Theology

Luke 20:27-38

 Jeremy Richards       

To speak theologically means to speak of God. Theo means God and ology means the study of. Theology means to study God, and to speak theologically means to speak out of our study, out of our knowledge, of God. It’s God-talk, and there’s no form of speaking more important, more vital to being human, more life-changing than God-talk. In talking about God we talk about the ultimate Good, the Beautiful, the True. In talking about God, we speak also of ourselves, because we can’t know ourselves apart from God, which is what we talked about last week. God is all encompassing, eternal, infinite. In the words of the psalmist, God hems us in behind and before. God is our beginning and our end, and not just our beginning and end, but the entire cosmos’ beginning and end, the Alpha and the Omega. When we speak theologically, we try, in some sense, to get at the core of things, to touch on that which is eternal. Put most simply, we try to understand who God is, and out of that we seek to better understand who we are in God.

Taking the Costume Off

Luke 19:1-10

Jeremy Richards

Audio recording: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/11-03-19-taking-the-costume-off-jeremy-richards/id1479727299?i=1000455947994

Every year, when Halloween rolls around, I fail miserably. Every year I fail to come up with a costume, and every year I’m disappointed in myself. But there’s a reason that Halloween is so difficult for me, and it’s this scruffy thing on my face. When you have a beard, it severely limits what you can be for Halloween. For example, Esther was a pumpkin this year, and Brie and I wanted to be Peanuts characters and Esther could be the Great Pumpkin from the Peanut’s Halloween episode. But of course, all of the Peanuts characters are children. None of them have beards. So I either have to fully commit and shave my beard, which I never do, or I have to give up the dream, which is what I always do.