Woodhaven Presbyterian Podcast

Rev. Diane M. Baldwin
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
February 5, 2012 – Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
Isaiah 40:21-31; Mark 1:21-28; Mark 1:29-39

Last week I went to the lake – or what’s left of the lake – for some R&R. As I was driving…I was listening to the BBC World Service…to hear the latest news.  One story in particular grabbed my attention as I was driving….  The story was this:

Researchers have demonstrated a striking method to reconstruct words based on brain-waves of patients thinking of those words.  The technique relies on gathering electrical signals directly from the patients’ brains.  Several approaches have in recent years suggested that scientists are closing in on methods to tap into our very thoughts.  The methods may in the future help comatose and locked-in patients communicate.  In a 2011 study, participants with electrodes directly in their brain were able to move a cursor on a screen simply by thinking of vowel sounds!

(…excerpt from podcast)

Haven’t You Heard? [ 19:35 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Diane M. Baldwin
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
January 29, 2012 – Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Acts 2:37-47

I was driving home last Friday evening after a late dinner.  It was about ten o’clock at night, and I had just circumnavigated the globe via LBJ Freeway.  My phone rang.  I knew it was Mom even before I checked the caller ID on the dashboard because the ringtone playing was the Imperial March from Star Wars. (Shhh.  Don’t tell Mother!)  Just as you know it’s not going to be good news when you see the return address of the Internal Revenue Service on a letter in your mailbox, as soon as I heard Mom say, “Diane?” I knew something was very wrong.

“What’s the matter Mom?”

“Oh, Diane, I’ve done a terrible thing.”

My mind was trying to think, what could that be?  What could my 78-year-old mother do that was terrible?

“What Mom?”

“I left the gate open and Edison got out.  I’ve driven around the neighborhood for the last thirty minutes looking for her and shouting her name.  I’m just beside myself, I don’t know what to do.”

She wasn’t sobbing yet, but I knew she could escalate to wailing at any moment.

(…excerpt from podcast)

Welcome Home! [ 17:27 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Diane M. Baldwin
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
January 22, 2012 – Third Sunday after Epiphany
Jonah 3:1-5; Mark 1:14-20

How many of you can remember your favorite teachers?  Can you see them – close your eyes and see them?  Can you hear their voices?  What made you like them, or even love them?  Was it because they made you believe you could be better than you ever dreamed?  That you could achieve great things?  They touched your heart.  They made you feel passionately about the subject matter.  They made you want to please them and do well for them.

(…excerpt from podcast)

Follow Me [ 15:53 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Diane M. Baldwin
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
January 15, 2012 – Second Sunday after Epiphany
I Samuel 3:1-10 (11-20)

In April 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., was in jail in Birmingham, Alabama, for participating in a civil rights demonstration.  Eight prominent Alabama pastors, all white men, published a letter suggesting that Dr. King be more patient.  They asked him to stop inciting civil disturbances.  They described his activities as “extreme.”  Martin Luther King replied in the famous letter from the Birmingham jail, “I was initially disappointed at being categorized as an ‘extremist’ but as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a measure of satisfaction from being considered an extremist.  Was not Jesus an extremist for love?   Love your enemy.  Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that hate you.  And pray for those that persecute you…”

(…excerpt from podcast)

The Dangers of Listening to God [ 16:09 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Diane M. Baldwin
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
January 8, 2012 – Epiphany of the Lord
Isaiah 60:1-6; Matthew 1:2-12

How many of you have already put up and stored your Christmas decorations?  Go ahead, raise your hands.  I always wait until after Epiphany.  On the one hand I’m not ready to put the celebration of Christmas back in the box. On the other hand… well, I’m just not ready.  But the main reason for waiting until after Epiphany is to see the Wise Men, the Magi, see them make their regal journey to worship the Christ Child.  Some nativity scenes reflect the splendor, drama and majesty of the event.  Just look at our scene.  Great gifts, fine wardrobe, wonderful headgear; it’s just beautiful.  But other scenes reflect more recent times and themes.  One local nativity scene had Mary, as always, in blue.  Jesus, who looked to be about two years old, was wearing pajamas, not the normal translation for swaddling clothes or bands of cloth.  Joseph and the only shepherd could have been twins.  (I wonder if they bought two Josephs?)  Apparently this shepherd was not doing a good job because there was only one sheep.

(…excerpt from podcast)

Must Be Willing To Travel [ 17:55 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Cara Goedecke, Inquirer
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
January 1, 2012 – First Sunday after Christmas
Ephesians 4:1-6; Mark 1:9-11

The adrenalin rush is leaving, and pure exhaustion is starting to set in.  Jesus’ long-awaited birthday celebration is over and a new year has now begun.  Close your eyes for a minute and think about the best present you received this Christmas, or maybe in a previous Christmas.  What was it that made that particular gift so special?  Was it the excitement of tearing the wrapping paper as quickly as you can to see what was inside?  Or was it the gentle touch given to delicately unwrapping the paper because it was just too beautiful to tear?  Or perhaps it was a gift from someone you deeply love and the pure thought of that person giving you a gift brought a smile to your face.  Or maybe, just maybe, it had nothing to do with the actual gift or the giver, but it was the simple joy in receiving a gift, one that you hadn’t earned, one that you maybe even didn’t deserve, a complete surprise you humbly received.

(…excerpt from podcast)

One Big Family [ 14:41 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Diane M. Baldwin
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
December 25, 2011 – Christmas Day
Isaiah 62:6-12; Luke 2:8-20

The shepherds of our gospel lesson aren’t much like the shepherds that we come know over the Christmas years.  The shepherds in most Christmas pageants have mothers who painstakingly comb their hair.  The shepherds wait quietly wait for the angels to finish, so they can speak their line from the King James version:  “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known to us.”  But the church people didn’t care much for the shepherds of our text today.  They weren’t allowed in the Temple and weren’t known for clean living.  The shepherds of our text today were shiftless, dishonest no-accounts, who grazed their disgusting animals on other people’s land.  If we had been God, these are not the people we would have chosen to tell their news.

(…excerpt from podcast)

Our Hopes Are Met In Thee [ 16:26 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Diane M. Baldwin
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
December 18, 2011 – Fourth Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Luke 1:26-28

Last Saturday the youth and I and some adult sponsors traveled to Bethlehem, by way of Waxahachie.  (It’s a lot easier that way in some ways.)  We had a great time.  I don’t know if you’ve ever been out to Bethlehem or visited, but it is a wonderful,  wonderful experience.  All your senses are stimulated.  You can smell the camels about ten feet away, and they have such dignified faces for such undignified bodies.  We had a great, great time, it was crisp and clear and we could see the full moon.  We were making our way around the village and we saw the yarn dyers and limestone cutters and candle makers and weavers and all kinds of great things.  Before I knew it (I was chatting with one of the adult sponsors) I saw this rush of people going from one side of the village over to the replica of the temple.  In that rush of people there was this tall young man that was dressed in the period piece and had the scarf on his head and it was tied, and there goes Caitlin with this man, and I’m, like, wait a minute, whoa, wait a minute, who’s watching her, where’s she going??!!  And then Brennan came up to me and said, “Oh, she’s getting married.”

(…excerpt from podcast)

The Hope of Love [ 18:58 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Diane M. Baldwin
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
December 11, 2011 – Third Sunday in Advent
Matthew 1:18-25

Does everyone have all of their Christmas decorations out of the attic, the garage, the storage unit, or from under the guest bed?  Does everybody?  OK, I don’t.  My Mom, ever the “Organizer” (even before it was popular to organize and label everything, before there were tons of books out and before it actually became a career), my mother – the trendsetter that she was – organized everything.  And especially for Christmas.  And now that I look back on it as a quasi-adult I see that she probably did that so Daddy would know what to bring down from the attic during their post-Thanksgiving “This box? No that box!” conversation.  I knew I had reached a certain level of maturity when I was asked to label a Christmas box.  Not just any box, but the nativity scene box!  As I clutched the magic marker in my sweaty little hand, I carefully wrote, “A – C – T – I – V – I – T – Y – S – C – E – N – E.”  Activity Scene.  Yes, for me the Nativity Scene was the Activity Scene, the Christmas decoration around which all other Advent activity focused.  Ergo, the Activity Scene.  And I’m here to tell you it is still in that box, with “Activity” written on it.

(…excerpt from Podcast)

The Hope of Joy [ 17:05 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Diane M. Baldwin
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
December 4, 2011 – Second Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 11:1-10; Mark 1:1-8

Cyber Monday.  Okay, you chortled, so most of you know what I am talking about.  That’s the Monday after the weekend after Thanksgiving.  So you have Black Friday, where everybody goes to the mall, and then you have Cyber Monday, where everybody sits in their chair at home and surfs the net and shops.  Well, I was trying to do some Christmas shopping and got waylaid and so I did some more research for my sermon for today (as you know I am wont to do), and it led me to a very interesting website.  The purpose of this website was to identify the worst Christmas carol, hymn or song.

(…excerpt from podcast)

The Hope of Faith [ 15:19 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download