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Sermon and Bulletin Archive 2003
Audio cassettes of morning worship services are available through Katie Fitzgerald at 312.640.5376.
For Sermon and Bulletin Archives for the years 1998-2002 please click below.
July 27, 2003 • Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Rooted and Grounded by Cynthia M. Campbell, President, McCormick Theological Seminary
. . . In the letter to his friends in Ephesus, Paul prays that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.” It is an agricultural metaphor that compares the Christian life to the experience of planting, nurturing, and harvesting.
> Click here to download the July 27 worship bulletin
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July 20, 2003 • Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Dividing Walls by John M. Buchanan, Pastor
Robert Frost wrote a lovely poem about a wall once. Now, it is a fundamental rule of preaching to never, ever, read a long poem in the middle of a sermon. Bear with me. This is, I think, a particularly good one. Frost called it “Mending Wall” and I can’t be sure, but I’ll bet Robert Frost was thinking about what another man of letters, Paul, wrote about walls 2,000 years earlier.> Click here to download the July 20 worship bulletin
July 13, 2003 • Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Whose Earth Is It? by John M. Buchanan, Pastor
“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it.”
Psalm 24:1 (NRSV)> Click here to download the July 13 worship bulletin
July 6, 2003 • Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
The Downside, by John A. Cairns, Dean, Academy for Faith and Life
I was reading an article this week about Barcelona, Spain. I had picked up the article because I’m thinking about a trip, and next summer Barcelona will be the host city for a Parliament of the World’s Religions—an idea birthed here in Chicago in connection with the World’s Fair of 1893.> Click here to download the July 6 worship bulletin
June 29, 2003 • Third Sunday after Pentecost
Keith C. Harris, Associate Pastor
> Click here to download the June 29 worship bulletin
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June 22, 2003 • Second Sunday after Pentecost
Faith--When the Water Is Choppy and Your Boat Is Sinking, by John M. Buchanan, Pastor
We're not quite sure what to do with stories like this one, are we--the disciples in a boat in a storm, Jesus asleep, Jesus ordering the storm to be still? Ministers are often asked in a good-natured way if we can't do something about the weather on the day of the church picnic, for instance, or for an outdoor commencement exercise or a wedding. Fathers of the bride sidle up after the rehearsal on a rainy Friday evening and say, "Come on now, Reverend. You must have some pull upstairs. Can't you do something about the weather and get us a sunny day tomorrow?"> Click here to download the June 22 worship bulletin
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June 15, 2003 • Trinity Sunday
Adopted, by Joanna M. Adams, Pastor
When you hear the word God, what do you picture in your mind? A poll of Presbyterians taken two years ago revealed that 94 percent of those surveyed were likely to imagine God as father. Thirteen percent were likely to think of God as mother. Both, of course, are legitimate biblical images. The prophet Isaiah identifies God with a mother who cannot forget her nursing child (Isaiah 49:15). In Luke, God is likened to the father who welcomes home the prodigal son, no questions asked. Kill the fatted calf, for the one who was lost is found. Forgiveness. Welcoming grace in the form of a father (Luke 15:1124). Many times in the Gospels, Jesus himself uses the word Abba, an Aramaic word, the closest English translation of which would be “Daddy,” to intimately address the one who sent him.> Click here to download the June 15 worship bulletin
June 8, 2003 • Pentecost Worship
Can We Talk?, by Joanna M. Adams, Pastor
There is a new movie out this summer entitled Bruce Almighty. I have not seen it, I must confess, but I do know the plot, which involves a television newsman who is given an assorted set of divine powers. He can perform miracles, in fact. Just by looking at a bowl of tomato soup, he can divide it right down the middle as Moses divided the Red Sea. (I am not saying this is a sophisticated movie!) When God wants to communicate with Bruce, a telephone number appears on Bruce’s pager, and Bruce calls back when he has a moment.> Click here to download the June 8 worship bulletin
June 1, 2003 • Seventh Sunday of Easter
Like Trees, by John M. Buchanan, Pastor
One of my favorite memories of my father is of him on his hands and knees in his garden, planting, weeding, trimming. He worked for the railroad, but his real vocation, the work he loved, was gardening: a "Victory Garden" during World War II and later, all his life until he died, a flower garden, not a prize winner, but a source of deep satisfaction and happiness to him if not to me.> Click here to download the June 1 worship bulletin
May 25, 2003 • Sixth Sunday of Easter
Chosen, by Calum I. MacLeod, Associate Pastor For Young Adults and New Members
Memorial Day this weekend. I understand it traditionally marks the beginning of summer. For some odd reason, I believe I am now allowed to wear white pants. That's something I never really got--the prohibition on white clothing before Memorial Day. I think Dana Ferguson told me that first, actually. So it's the time for cookouts and barbecues, for baseball games and white clothes and Monday off.> Click here to download the May 25 worship bulletin
May 18, 2003 • Fifth Sunday of Easter
Abiding, by John M. Buchanan, Pastor
Startle us, O God, with your love. And open our hearts and our minds to your word, that hearing we might believe, and believing, trust you with our lives, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.> Click here to download the May 18 worship bulletin
May 11 , 2003 • Fourth Sunday of Easter
What Love Demands, by Joanna Adams, Pastor
Fill us, O God, with holy love, and open to us the treasures of your wisdom. We have been much distracted in recent days, and so we pray that in your mercy you would turn your face directly toward us and once again show us your glory through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.> Click here to download the May 11 worship bulletin
May 4 , 2003 • Third Sunday of Easter
Resurrection and Responnsibility by, Joanna Adams, Pastor
Gather us now, O God, to be with you as you are with us. Quiet our fretfulness, release us from distraction, that we might be open to receive what you give, through the hearing and reading of your holy word. We ask it again, O God: Gather us to be with you, as you are with us. Amen.> Click here to download the May 4 worship bulletin
April 27, 2003 • Second Sunday of Easter
The Peace of Christ by, Calum I. MacLeod, Associate Pastor for Young Adults and New Members
There is a great old Scottish folk song that I thought would be particularly apt for the choir to sing as our introit this morning. It’s called “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” Those of you who were here last week were in a sanctuary that was absolutely filled with flowers. Easter lilies and tulips up here in the chancel and on the pillars; even the pulpit was covered with white flowers. Now everything is bare.> Click here to download the April 27 worship bulletin
April 20, 2003 • Easter Sunday
Good News Indeed by, Joanna M. Adams, Pastor
We pray that in your mercy, we may believe where we have not yet believed and become brave in our hearts and strong in our witness to the risen Christ, in whose blessed name we pray. Amen.
> Click here to download the April 20 worship bulletin
April 18, 2003 • Good Friday
Not A Day For Spectators, by John A. Cairns, Dean, Academy For Faith And Life
This is the scene in the middle of the night: there is the triumph of the capture mixed with the urgency of the business necessary to bring everything to a satisfactory conclusion. So the local religious leaders begin to make the circuit. First to Annas, the retired, honorary high priest; then to Caiaphas, the current high priest; and finally to Pilate, the Roman prefect (or governor) in Judea. And it is this third stop where arrest becomes public spectacle; where semi-interested observers become an unruly crowd and where an uncertain judge renders a final verdict.
April 13, 2003 • Palm Sunday
No Day Like This One, by John M. Buchanan, Pastor
Dear God, your Son came to the city this day and people received him joyfully. So may we receive him. As he came humbly, so come to us with grace and mercy and forgiveness. As he came in strength, challenge us with a new vision of our city, our nation, our world. As he startled his friends and the onlookers, so startle us again, O God, with your urgent love for us and for the world. Amen.> Click here to download the April 13 worship bulletin
April 6, 2003 • Fifth Sunday in Lent
Why Did Jesus Die? by, John M. Buchanan, Pastor
As we proceed through these days of Lent, O God, with our Lord’s passion somehow deepened and intensified by what is happening in the world he so loved and for which he died, open us once again to your amazing grace and eternal love. Startle us, O God, with your truth, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.> Click here to download the April 6 worship bulletin
March 30, 2003 • Fourth Sunday in Lent
The Search for a Moral Center
A Series on the Ten Commandments"IV “A Higher Standard of Living," by Joanna M. Adams, Pastor
Theologian Douglas John Hall has identified four worldly quests that are present in our culture today: the longing for meaningful community, the quest for transcendence and mystery, the search for meaning, and, finally, the search for moral authenticity.2 For several Sundays, we have sought to honor that last quest by looking afresh at the moral principles of the Judeo-Christian code known as the Ten Commandments.> Click here to download the March 30 worship bulletin
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March 23, 2003 • Third Sunday in Lent
"The Power of Weakness" by, John M. Buchanan, Pastor
Where can we go, what can we do, O God, but come to you? And so we come this morning in humility and in grief, in fear—but also, O God, in hope because we would trust your providence and your grace. So startle us, again, with the truth of your love and your power revealed in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.> Click here to download the March 23 worship bulletin
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March 16, 2003 • Second Sunday in Lent
The Search for a Moral Center
A Series on the Ten Commandments
III: “The Value of Life” by, Joanna M. Adams, Pastor
Eternal God, silence from whom our words come, questioner from whom all our questions arise, mystery in whose depths we find healing, we pray that you would enfold us now in your presence, fill us with your peace, renew us with your power, and ground us anew in your eternal word which never changes, for the sake of Christ. Amen.
> Click here to download the March 16 worship bulletin
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March 9, 2003 • First Sunday in Lent
The Search for a Moral Center
A Series on the Ten Commandments
II: “Habits That Keep Us Human” by, Joanna M. Adams
O holy God, by whose providence we are kept, we praise you for the constancy of your care. We know not what the future holds, but we know Jesus Christ and that of his kingdom there will be no end. Grant us strength and wisdom for the living of these days, to his glory, through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.> Click here to download the March 9 worship bulletin
March 2, 2003 • The Eighth Sunday After Epiphany
The Search for a Moral Center
A Series on the Ten Commandments
I: “I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD” by, Joanna M. Adams, Pastor
O God, we know our own weakness, and by ourselves we cannot find the truth. Our wills are weak, and by ourselves we cannot resist temptation or bring to completion that which we know we ought to do. So this day we humbly ask that you would enlighten, strengthen, and guide us, that we might know afresh that which makes for life, goodness, and wholeness, for the glory of your name. Amen.1> Click here to download the March 2 worship bulletin
February 23, 2003 • Seventh Sunday after Epiphany
Quarantined by, John M. Buchanan, Pastor
We come here this morning out of our solitariness to be together and, together, to be with you, O God. Come be among us. Touch us with your love and open our hearts and our spirits to you and to one another and to those from whom we are isolated and separated and to those we most dearly love. Startle us, O God, with your lively persona: in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.> Click here to download the February 23 worship bulletin
February 16, 2003 • Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
Too Busy To Live by, Joanna M. Adams, Pastor
Eternal God, grant us an ease to breathe deeply of this moment, this miracle of the now. Beneath the din and fury of harsh news and urgent crises, make us attentive and still before the presence of good news. Remind us again of the reality of the grace of what is possible, through Jesus Christ our Lord.1 Amen.
Last fall, a wonderful article by the very witty Adam Gopnik appeared in the New Yorker magazine. It was entitled “Bumping into Charlie Ravioli.” “Who is Charlie Ravioli?” you might wonder. Charlie Ravioli is the name of Gopnik’s three-year-old daughter Olivia’s imaginary friend. It seems that one day, the father walked into the room where Olivia was playing with her toy cell phone. She held the phone up to her ear and said, “Ravioli, Ravioli, are you there? It’s Olivia. Can you come and play? Well, call me.” Then she snapped the cell phone shut, shook her head, and said to her dad, “I always get Charlie’s answering machine.”2
> Click here to download the February 16 worship bulletin
February 9, 2003 • Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
You Shall Love by, Joanna M. Adams, Pastor
Open our hearts and minds, O Lord, by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the scriptures are read and your word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you would say to us today, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
There is a picture on the wall of a cave in the area of the world that is now Spain. The prehistoric cave drawing from 10,000 years before the birth of Christ is a great woolly mammoth, a lumbering creature, now extinct, that bore a striking resemblance to the elephant. What is so fascinating about the drawing is that right at the place on the drawing where the animal’s heart would have been in his body, there is a red, heart-shaped spot that looks exactly like a valentine. Keep in mind that this drawing is 12,000 years old or more and that the first commercial valentine was created in 1844, and it becomes quite remarkable to realize how ancient and engrained is the notion of the heart as a seed of life force, of being itself.
> Click here to download the February 9 worship bulletin
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February 2 , 2003 • Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
God's unchosen peolpe by, John M. Buchanan, Pastor
In synagogues and mosques and churches all over the country this weekend, communities of faith are pausing in their proceedings to ponder the loss Saturday morning of the Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven:> Click here to download the February 2 worship bulletin
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January 26, 2003 • Third Sunday after Epiphany
What will you do with the rest of your life? by, John M. Buchanan, Pastor
Lance Armstrong is a remarkable human being and one of the great athletes of our time. His sport is cycling, World Class, Olympic cycling. Tour de France cycling. It is a grueling, lonely sport requiring total physical, mental, and spiritual devotion. Lance Armstrong is better at it than anybody else, winning the Tour de France consecutive years in 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. Yet prior to that, in 1996, this even-then world-class cyclist was diagnosed with testicular cancer and began a long, arduous regimen, which included three surgeries, three incredibly difficult months of chemotherapy, and what he calls “a year of hell.” Armstrong tells his story in a book: It’s Not about the Bike: My Journey Back to Life.> Click here to download the January 26 worship bulletin
January 19, 2003 • Second Sunday after Epiphany
Preachers: Keith Harris, Associate Pastor
Joseph Roberts Jr., Pastor, Ebenezer Baptist Church, AtlantaSermon: How Shall We Overcome? By Joseph L. Roberts Jr., Pastor, Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church
(This sermon is available in audio format only)> Click here to download the January 19 worship bulletin
January 12, 2003 • Baptism of the Lord
Sermon: New Spiritual Conditions by, Joanna M. Adams
Offering predictions about future events has always been a precarious exercise, but one that many have found irresistible, nonetheless. You are perhaps familiar with some of the incorrect prognostications from the twentieth century. There was Wilbur Wright saying to his brother Orville, “I am convinced it will be fifty years before man will fly.” There was the Yale economics professor, who on the eve of the collapse of the stock market in 1929, was possessed of a particularly sunny outlook: “Stocks appear to me to have reached a permanently high plateau.” One of my favorites is a comment made by the president and founder of the Digital Equipment Corporation in the year 1977. “There is no reason at all,” Mr. Kenneth Olson said, “for any individual to have a computer in their home.”1> Click here to download the January 12 worship bulletin
January 5, 2003 • Second Sunday after Christmas
Sermon: A Time To Return, by John Buchanan
We come to you this morning, O God, returning from Bethlehem, to begin again where we left off. We come, grateful for what we have seen and experienced and for what has been given. Startle us again with the bright light of your presence in the life of the world and in our lives. And lead us, O God, by the light of your love: through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.> Click here to download the January 5 worship bulletin