by Stephen Phelps | Mar 4, 2007 | Uncategorized
download a PDF of this text When was it last that you stood in holy ground?Don’t answer too quickly;points are not given to the one who says she treads there oftenest.Holy ground is not in your back yard.It is not in the church.It is not Israel either, or anywhereyour...
by Stephen Phelps | Feb 11, 2007 | Uncategorized
download a PDF of this text Texts on Sunday, February 11, 2007 Psalm 1; Luke 6: 17-31 Jesus went down with them and stood on a level place. And from there, he spoke the words from what we usually call “the sermon on the mount.” Did you notice that? How can we...
by Stephen Phelps | Jan 21, 2007 | Uncategorized
download a PDF of this text Texts on Sunday, January 21, 2007 Nehemiah 8: 1-4a; 5-10; Luke 4: 14-21 It wasn’t until seminary studies that I got Bible history straightened out in my head. We could do much better teaching religion to children and adults. I have seen...
by Stephen Phelps | Jun 4, 2006 | Uncategorized
Texts on Sunday, June 4, 2006, the Day of PentecostEzekiel 37: 1-14; Acts 2: 1-21 “What does this mean!” So the ancient festival-goers exclaim in the Jerusalem square, the story says, when they hear in their own languages men from Jesus’ band...
by Stephen Phelps | May 14, 2006 | Uncategorized
Texts on Sunday, May 14, 20061 John 4: 7-12; John 15: 1-8 Fifteen years ago, film director Oliver Stone produced a fanciful thriller called JFK purporting to tell the real story behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy. I have forgotten its details, but suffice it...
by Stephen Phelps | Apr 23, 2006 | Uncategorized
Texts on Sunday, April 23, 2006John 20: 19-31; Acts 4: 32-37 The story in Acts about that first Christian community can cause a little heartburn in a Christian. They held everything in common? No one claimed private ownership of anything? Most of us are not ready to...
by Stephen Phelps | Apr 16, 2006 | Uncategorized
Texts on Easter Sunday, April 16, 2006Isaiah 25: 6-9; Mark 16: 1-8 Mark probably ended his gospel like that. “Terror and amazement had them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.” No stories of the appearances of the risen Lord, no...
by Stephen Phelps | Apr 13, 2006 | Uncategorized
Texts on Maundy Thursday, April 13, 2006Matthew 26: 17-30 You have probably heard about the “Gospel of Judas” this last week. A very old tattered parchment tells the story of Jesus’ betrayal with a great twist. Taking Judas aside, Jesus warmly...
by Stephen Phelps | Apr 9, 2006 | Uncategorized
Texts on Palm Sunday, April 9, 20062 Samuel 15: 13-14, 19-23, 30-31& Mark 11: 1-11 When David the king crossed horseless and overthrown out of Jerusalem and down into the Kidron Valley, weeping with all his aides and retainers and their families, he imprinted yet...
by Stephen Phelps | Mar 28, 2006 | Uncategorized
Delivered at Stated Meeting of the Presbytery of Western New Yorkheld at First Presbyterian Church, WestfieldTuesday, March 28, 2006 Text: John 12: 20-33 I was talking recently with a former executive presbyter from the northeast who served a good long time in the...
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