The Gift of Peace (14 Oct. 2012)

Cliff Loesch
10/14/2012
The Gift of Peace
Psalm 23

John 14 begins with Jesus telling his disciples, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.” A little bit later in the same chapter, Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

Inner peace is God’s desire for us. God wants us to have it. I am convinced of that. And Jesus gave it to us in John 14–just handed it to us as a gift. Or so it appears to me as I read the text. Yet inner peace is elusive for so many. It is always just beyond reach. Like a mirage, it disappears before you can catch up to it. Or it’s like holding a fish:

In Awe (7 Oct. 2012)

Cliff Loesch

October 7, 2012

Psalm 8

In Awe

 

I traded motorcycles this summer. On my first trip out of town on the new one I was amazed by the power of the bike. It has basically the same size engine as the old one—but it’s much more powerful. Much more powerful. Even at highway speeds I could twist the grip and instantly catapult forward. It was unbelievable how much untapped power was still there. And then to think that the top speed of the bike was twice—maybe more than twice the speed limit (faster than I will ever go)—this also had me in awe of the seemingly limitless power. I mean—it’s way more power than I really need. Or is it? How much power does a person need?

What Is an Act of Worship? (23 Sept. 2012)

Cliff Loesch
September 23, 2012
What Is an Act of Worship?
[Topic: Financial Stewardship]

“What is at stake in worship?” This is a question that was posed by Mark Labberton in an article for Christianity Today a little over a year ago. What’s at stake in worship? Here is the answer he gives: “everything.” Everything is at stake. Everything that matters is at stake in worship. What he means is that worship changes us. He says, “Worship turns out to be the dangerous act of waking up to God and to the purposes of God in the world, and then living lives that actually show it.” [http://www.christianitytoday.com/biblestudies/articles/theology/dangerousact.html] I love that imagery–the idea of “waking up to God” and “waking up to the purposes of God in the world.” Who among us does not need more “waking up” to what God wants to do all around us?

Random Thoughts on Stewardship (16 Sept. 2012)

Cliff Loesch
September 16, 2012
Random Thoughts on Stewardship

I try not to spend too much time on Sunday mornings telling you about my problems. I figure that you don’t come to worship on Sundays so you can hear me bellyache about my problems. You come here to worship God–and to hear something positive about the power of God’s grace and love. Besides that, all of you have struggles and problems of your own. To have to listen to me talk about mine must sound incredibly untinteresting.

But I am making an exception today. I had kind-of-a-rough week. And I’ve got to tell you about it.

Turning Life Around (9 September 2012)

Cliff Loesch
September 9, 2012
Stewardship: Turning Life Around

What does the word, stewardship, mean to you?

Stewardship is simply the way you use your time, your talents, and your treasure. You can exercise good stewardship with all of those things–or not-so-good stewardship. But stewardship has everything to do with responsible planning and management of resources–whatever the resources might be.

Our goal is good stewardship–and you know that’s what any sermon on stewardship is about. Nobody promotes bad stewardship.

So whenever the topic of stewardship gets announced–I can well imagine that what everyone hears is this: “Oh, great. Here comes one of those ‘how-do-you-measure-up?’ sermons. Or maybe it will be a ‘here-is-where-you-fall-short’ message.” Just what you needed today, right?”