Woodhaven Presbyterian Podcast

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
March 21, 2010 — Fifth Sunday in Lent
Luke 18: 1-8

We don’t need a commentary off of the shelf to understand Luke’s gospel lesson for the morning.  You just need to take a part of your own life and put it into his story somewhere in the mix of all of it. It’s a clear parable, although it gets a bit complicated, because Luke says it is primarily about prayer.  So apparently if you’re just reading on the surface of the text what it says to us is that we should plead, beg, nudge God continually until we get God to give us what we want, so we’ll shut up. For me it is a little bit of a reminder of what it was like taking one of my five year old children with me to go shopping in the grocery store.  You parents know how that works.  They are little angels til they get into the store and see what they want, and then when they see it they throw a fit.  You can’t reason with them, you can’t talk to them.  So what are your choices?  Are you going to spank them in front of everybody?  Are you going to turn around and walk out and leave them there alone?  Or do you give them what they want?

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 The Woman with Bloody Knuckles [14:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Julie Riley
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32
March 14, 2010 — Fourth Sunday in Lent

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, the hobbits had an unusual birthday tradition.  Do you remember?  On ones birthday in Middle-earth, instead of receiving gifts from family and friends, one celebrates the occasion of his or her birth by giving presents to all their family and friends.  Sometimes they even throw large parties for everyone to come and celebrate.  Ask any child, and they will tell you that birthdays are all about presents, lots and lots of presents.  Even some of the adults I know relish in the idea of one day where everything is about me.  The hobbits’ way of thinking about birthdays is backwards here in regular earth, but when you think about it, it’s not a bad concept, especially to those who like presents, after all, your birthday comes only once a year, but in the course of a year in middle earth, you can celebrate many, many birthdays, as many as you have loved ones.  Perhaps this birthday tradition suggests that the hobbits may understand the story of the Prodigal Son very well.

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 More [17:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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. Shannon J Kershner
4^th Sunday in Lent – March 22, 2009
John 3:1-21

Nicodemus was a major player in his town.  He knew all the right people.  He had all the right diplomas.  He showed up and gave generously at all the right fundraising events for all the right causes.  He was a major player in his town of Jerusalem.  But the one activity that gave Nicodemus the most social mileage was his participation on the Sanhedrin Council.  This council was a combination city council and Supreme Court, all rolled into one.

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 It's A Gift, Nick! [16:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner
March 15, 2009 - 3^rd Sunday in Lent
1 Corinthians 1:18-25

It is a common joke with my preacher friends that if you ever want to guarantee a horribly long plane ride, then all you have to do is wear the clergy collar.  It is inevitable that you will end up sitting next to someone who needs to tell you all the reasons why he has not been in church for the last 20 years; or someone who wants to talk on and on and on about all the incredibly creative things her pastor does; or, someone who decides it is his primary job to be openly hostile to you, the one whom he sees as the representative of all organized religion everywhere. 

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 God's Foolishness [19:02m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Shannon Kershner
March 8, 2009 - 2^nd Sunday in Lent

Mark 8:27-35

There was nothing religious about the cross.  In the time when Jesus and Peter lived, the cross had no veneer of redemption, no hint of life, no connection with the divine.  There was absolutely nothing religious about the cross.  Rather, there was only one purpose for a cross in the time of the Roman empire—the purpose of execution.

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Take Up Your Cross? [19:20m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The Wilderness
March 1, 2009 (First Sunday in Lent)
Mark 1:9-15
Rev. Shannon J. Kershner

“…And the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness…”

Each time I go to see her in the nursing home, I pause for a moment before punching in the code, and take a deep breath.  I never know if she’ll recognize me or not.

(…excerpt from Podcast)

 

 Standard Podcast [16:32m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Shannon Johnson Kershner
5th Sunday in Lent
John 11:1-53

Unbind him and let him go.  

The tension is beginning to mount in this Gospel of John.  Already in the background you hear the drumbeats of the empire; you hear the murmuring of the threatened priests; you hear the groaning of a world still fighting the powers of death.  

 (…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Binding and Loosing [20:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download