Woodhaven Presbyterian Podcast

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
March 7, 2010 — Third Sunday in Lent
Mark 1: 29-39

I was going through my files this last week and I came across a wonderful article that was written by Adam Gopnik who writes sometimes for the New Yorker and sometimes for the New York Times, but this article appeared in the New Yorker and it was entitled Bumping Into Charlie Ravioli.  “Who was Charlie Ravioli?” you might wonder.  Well, when Gopnik’s daughter, Olivia, was three years old she had an imaginary friend named Charlie Ravioli.  And it seems that one day the father walked into her room and she had her play cell phone open and she was talking into it and she said, “Ravioli, Ravioli, are you there?  Can you come out and play? This is Olivia!”  “Well,” she said, “call me.”  And then she snapped the phone shut and said to her dad, “I always get his voice mail!”

(…excerpt from podcast)
 

 

 Getting A Lift [15:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
February 28, 2010 - Second Sunday in Lent
Isaiah 5: 5-9 and Matthew 15: 21-28

I was reading the other day about the celebration of worship on the Scottish Isle of Lewis.  The Christians on the Isle of Lewis are Calvinists, and to this day they still celebrate the Sabbath in the old Calvinist manner.  On Sunday morning people who, during the week, work together, socialize together, live as neighbors with one another, get in their cars and they drive to church.  Now here’s the really interesting part of the story.  They drive to mostly different churches, some standing right next to another.  And they’re all Presbyterian Churches!

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Trajectory of Faith [17:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
February 21, 2010 — First Sunday in Lent
Deuteronomy 26: 1-11, Luke 4: 1-13

Jesus is about thirty years old when he begins his ministry.  Now, as we gather from Luke, Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit.  He turns from the Jordan River where he has been baptized, and is led by the spirit into the wilderness and there for forty days he will be tested and tempted by the devil.  You know it is not always easy to spot the devil.  He doesn’t always look like that little picture that used to be on the deviled ham can; you remember that little picture, he was all in red and had the long tail and pitchfork and little horns.  Pretty easy to spot.  He appears in Revelation as a lamb. He appears in Matthew’s gospel as a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  Genesis tells us that of all the creatures God created, that Satan was the most crafty of all God’s creatures.  And now, while Jesus is in the wilderness, the devil will use scripture in order to try to prove his point with Jesus.

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 The Grand Tempter [16:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael L. Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
February 14, 2010 — Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday
Luke 9:28-43

Once upon a time there was a man who went for a long walk into some unknown woods.  It became dark.  He lost his way.  He was deep in the woods and he was sure he would never be found.  Suddenly he fell into a dark, deep well.  Then he knew for sure that he would not survive.  So for several hours he prayed and he prayed without ceasing, asking Jesus to help him.

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Translating the Mountain Top Experience into the Valley [15:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael L. Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
February 7, 2010 — Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 9: 9-13

For those of you were here last week when I talked about my passion for signs, I’ve got one more for you this week and then I promise to leave them alone.  Not too long ago I saw a sign that I hadn’t seen in a long time, but it was a very familiar sign that I remember from my childhood.  It is a sign that used to appear in a lot of different restaurants:  “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service.”  I find myself wondering, was this a problem in the past?  Did people walk into these places and realize, “Oh my goodness, I forgot my shirt … oh, and my shoes, too?”  Is it a community-wide issue that has significance for the whole community, or is it just a sign to remind people that we’re not like that hole-in-the-wall restaurant down on the corner?

(… excerpt from podcast)

 

 No Sin, No Service [12:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael L. Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
January 31, 2010 - Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Matthew 20: 20-38

For some time now I’ve been really interested in church signs.  It all started some time ago when I was coming through a little town in west Texas and the Baptists had a sign up that said, “You Can Be Saved.”  And I went a little further down the road and came across a Church of Christ sign that said, “You Can Be Saved Here!”  That started me wanting to keep an eye out for signs.  There’s a church in Cleburne, Texas, that loves to put the word “judgment” on its sign, only they misspell it every time they do it, which makes me wonder if they got that wrong, what else is wrong.

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 First and Last [14:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael L. Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
January 24, 2010 - Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
I Samuel 3: 1-10

There’s nothing quite as unnerving as a phone call at 3 o’clock or 3:30 or 4:00 o’clock in the morning.  Nothing wakes us up so quickly and commands our attention as effectively as a 3:00 AM phone call.  For parents of teenagers, for physicians on call, for ministers, oh, for all of us, any kind of phone call at that hour of the day is nearly always bad news.  Seldom is it good news.  Sometimes the phone rings and we leap into action and we fumble to try to find the light switch and then finally we get the receiver up to our ear, only to hear someone say, “Is Ralph there?”  And you say, “Not at the moment.  Well, matter of fact, he’s never here, Ralph doesn’t live here.  You’ve got the wrong number.”  So then you go to bed and try to fall back asleep.

That was not the case this morning for me at 3:30 AM.  At 3:30 AM my phone rang and on the other end was Officer Jerry Sykes.  He said, “You need to come to the church and you need to get here as fast as you can.  Something is wrong.”

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 The Fine Art of Listening [13:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael L. Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
January 17, 2010 - Second Sunday in Ordinary Time
I Corinthians 11:23 - 12:11

A minister friend of mine tells the story that is uncomfortably familiar to me, and perhaps to you as well.  He was walking briskly through an airport on his way toward the departure gate and he had just enough time left to sort of dart into one of those little stands along the way and to pick up a candy bar and a newspaper.  And so as he picked up the two items and he went to check out, the woman who was the checker, the young woman, was standing there talking on her cell phone, and he thought, “Oh great, this is just wonderful.”  And so he handed her a ten dollar bill and she made change, only she shortchanged him just a few dollars.  Well, he got angry.  It reminded him of the decline of courtesy and just common decency that seems to be happening so frequently in our lives today.  “I’m sorry,” she mouthed, while she continued to talk on the phone, which just made him more angry.

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Living Together [16:10m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
January 10, 2010 — Baptism of the Lord Sunday
Luke 3: 15-17, 21-22

Goodbyes come in many different flavors.  There are the kinds that we offer when we’re going to leave for an hour or two, maybe for a week, maybe even a month, but we hope to be together again sometime soon, but we don’t know when.  And then there are the final goodbyes.  It seems to me the older we get the more of those that there are in our lives.  I have a friend who told me this week that he is receiving text messages from his son who is in college.  The new “in” word is “awesome” — everything is “awesome.”  He said I’m just a little worried about the time of night at which the messages are sent!

(…excerpts from podcast)

 

 Reflections on Transitions [15:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Julie Riley
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
January 3, 2010 - Epiphany Sunday
Matthew 2: 1-20

In the classic bathrobe Christmas pageant, the Wise Men are always the last to arrive.  And any child can tell you that it was because they were the ones who had the furthest to travel and because they had to stop and ask directions.  When the Wise Men make their entrance you know that the pageant has reached its grand finale, you can gather up all your goodies and wake whoever is sleeping on the pew next to you, and get ready for the final “Amen!”

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 An Epiphany Celebration [14:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download