Matthew 4:18-23, August 22, 2010

Saint John UMC, Rev. Peter K. Perry, Pastor

One day many years ago, a fisherman and his wife were blessed with twin sons.  They loved the children very much, but couldn’t think of what to name their children.  After several weeks had passed, the fisherman and his wife noticed a peculiar fact about the unnamed boys.  When left alone, one of the boys would always turn towards the sea, while the other boy would always face inland.  It didn’t matter which way the parents positioned the boys, the same child always faced the same direction.  “Let’s call the boys Towards and Away,” suggested the fisherman.  [Read more...]

Shouting Grace
A Sermon for a Communion Sunday
August 1, 2010
Saint John UMC
Rev. Peter K. Perry

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. (Numbers 6:23-27, NRSV)

…by grace you have been saved… (Ephesians 2:4-10, NRSV)

I don’t know how many of you are in the habit of saying grace before meals.  Growing up at the Perry house, it was a ritual we followed… well… religiously!

God is great and God is good, and we thank him for our food. By his hands we all are fed, we thank the Lord for daily bread. Amen.

That was the usual and customary grace.

On Thanksgiving, or other times when the extended family would gather round our table, grace became my father’s duty. We would all bow our heads and join our hands and dad would pray… and pray… and pray some more… and we would finally all breathe a sigh of relief when dad would say finally pronounce the amen and we could all get down to the business of eating. [Read more...]

A Simple Gospel
July 25, 2010
Luke 10:25-37

Perhaps you heard about the two psychiatrists who met on the street. One of them said, “Good morning! How are you?” After they had passed, the other one thought, “I wonder what he meant by that?” We’ve become accustomed to complexity, so much so that we miss the simple truth when it should be obvious.
As people of faith, we have a long and distinguished history of making things more complicated than they need to be. It all started when God gave Moses those two tablets with Ten Commandments. It was a pretty simple set of rules. Moses carried them down the mountain, got the people’s attention and they all lived happily ever after, right? Well, not quite. [Read more...]

It’s a Vine Life

July 11, 2010

John 15:1-8

G.K. Chesterton once wrote, “A man can no more possess a private religion than he can possess a private sun or moon.” Isn’t that a wonderful image? The sun will shine on your day and the moon will brighten your night; but it is no more your sun or your moon than it is my sun and my moon. And Chesterton makes the observation that in like manner the Christian faith is never my Christian faith, but rather ALWAYS our Christian faith. [Read more...]