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Ushered in by Palm Sunday this past Sunday, we are in the middle of what Christians call Holy Week, the week in which we celebrate Christ's Last Supper and final words to his disciples, his humiliation, crucifixion and death, and finally his resurrection on Easter Sunday. We are quickly approaching the Triduum Sacrum, the three days in which all eternity hangs in the bal...

The service this week is shaped around Palm Sunday, as well as looking forward into Holy Week and Christ's passion. In the celebration of Palm Sunday, we see two truths about Jesus' ministry--that the hosannas exclaimed by the crowds were indeed true acclamations of his kingship and redemption of his people--were they to remain silent, even the stones would have cried out;...

Ask any waiter in Manhattan, and they'll tell you when they see a table full of European tourists, they get nervous. Why? Because in many European countries there is no custom of tipping the table-server when you go out to eat. (In those countries, waiters receive a fair wage in their hourly pay.) Foreign tourists visiting New York have probably been told that they are ex...

The book of Malachi contains a message from a God who loves his people (Mal. 1:2) even though they have strayed from him, and who is calling them to return (Mal. 3:7). When we reach the end of Malachi, we discover that some of the people who originally received this message responded to it by repenting. Mal. 3:16a says, "Then those who feared the LORD talked with each othe...

Is it ever permissible to question God? Is it wrong for Christians to struggle with doubt? Is there a difference between innocent uncertainty and obstinate unbelief? If so, how do we know when we've crossed the line? The third message in our Malachi series looks at some people who were wrestling with questions about God. Described in Malachi 2:17-18, we find them asking, ...

This service is built around the theme of what it means to doubt God's promises to us, and the importance of hearing God's promises to us and trusting in them. The lectionary readings focus around Israel doubting God in the desert, after he had freed them from Egypt and God's anger at their faithlessness and mistrust of him....

The second sermon in our series on Malachi looks at a passage that talks about marriage in the context of the covenant faithfulness of God (Malachi 2:10-16). Speaking through his prophet, God expressed concern about the behavior of two groups of people in post-exilic Israel. The first group consisted of Israelite men who were marrying non-Israelite women, despite the fact...

Celebrating the season of Lent is one of the oldest practices of the Christian church. It was originally a time for new believers to prepare themselves for their baptisms, which were done on Easter Sunday. But it soon grew to be a time for all believers to prepare themselves for Easter by examining their hearts and lives, and repenting of their sin. The word "lent" means...

On March 5 at ACC, we are starting a new sermon series looking at key passages in the Old Testament book of Malachi. Malachi was a prophet sent to speak God's word to the people of Israel during the post-exilic period of their history. His messages to them were probably delivered between 440 and 420 B.C. Unlike most Old Testament prophets, Malachi has virtually nothing ...

The transfiguration of Jesus is traditionally celebrated the Sunday before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season. At the transfiguration, Jesus' true glory was revealed to several of his disciples, a foretaste of the glory that will be revealed when Jesus completes his work of redemption in the cross, resurrection and ascension. Like his baptism, in the transfi...