Woodhaven Presbyterian Podcast

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
August 22, 2010 — Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
Psalm 98, John 15: 9-17

You know the little song, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy?”  I like that song.  Especially when it is with a little Jamaican sound and a little Jimmy Buffet overtone to it.  Don’t Worry Be Happy.  It’s a cute little song, but it is something that is very difficult to do.  Happiness, I think, is such an elusive goal for most of us.  Thomas Jefferson said that we have the right to pursue it, but he never said we would catch up to it.  Those who know us best — psychologists and consumer market consultants — say it is the most powerful motivator there is.

(…excerpt from Podcast)

 

 The DNA of Joy [20:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
August 15, 2010 - Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Hebrews 12:1-2; Matthew 14:22-28

There is a story from the Zen Buddhist tradition about the disciple who thought he could enhance his chances of enlightenment by seeking out on his own.  So he bid farewell to his brothers in the monastery, he took the ferry across the river and went up into a cave high in the mountains and stayed all by himself.  There he meditated for twenty five years non-stop. At the end of the time he emerged from the cave.  He stretched his arms above his head as if he were just awakening from a long night’s sleep.  He made his way down to the river, and without even testing the water he started walking across the river toward the monastery that he had left over a quarter of a century ago. 

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Faith and Community [14:55m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
August 1, 2010 - Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 12:13-21; I Peter 4:7-11

This whole passage from I Peter has to do with the gifts that God gives us for ministry.  And I suspect the first thing we should note about gifts is that they are — well — gifts.  And the Apostle Peter begins this passage by saying, “The end of all things is near.”  For some people, like those first early Christians he was writing to, that was probably pretty good news.  It is for a lot of people.  If you are struggling with a hard time, or you don’t like your job, or maybe you’re coming to the end of a tough round of chemotherapy, its a good thing to hear the doctor say well we’re finally finished with this.  But for others, perhaps people who are in love, or people who are having to move or change positions when they didn’t want to change positions, this can be a very discouraging word.

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Gifts of God [16:07m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
July 25, 2010 — Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Exodus 10:8-10; Mark 2:23-3:6

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to serve on an examinations committee that was examining a transferring minister member into this presbytery.  It was a young women who was very delightful, very intelligent, very gifted.  And one of the people on the committee who is a good friend of this church — Eleanor Cherryholmes — was also on that examinations committee, and Eleanor said, “Tell me how you go about worshipping, how do you worship?”

She thought for a moment and she said, “Well Thursday is my Sabbath.”

The rest of us kind of looked at each other. “You mean that’s your day off?”

“No, Thursday is my Sabbath.  Saturday is my day off.  Thursday is the day that I devote to worship and to reflection on the love of God.”

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Remember the Sabbath Day [16:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
July 18, 2010 — Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 10:38-42, Amos 8:1-12

So what are Moses and God in such foul mood about in our Scripture reading?  The place was Israel, almost 2,700 years ago.  A long time.  But see if at least some of it doesn’t sound familiar to us.  The nation has enjoyed forty years of peace and prosperity, largely because the Assyrian Empire has problems of its own to deal with. Without hot or cold wars to fight the nation now has used the lull in hostilities to grow strong.  And with no one watching, Israel has managed to reach out and reclaim some of the lands that they had lost to their neighbors and then they would give this land away to the rich rulers.  So the rich have gotten richer, and the poor have gotten poorer.

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Finding the Right Words [14:26m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
July 11, 2010 — Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 10: 25-37

“As Gregor Samsa awoke early one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself being transformed into a giant insect.”

Thus, that is the opening of one of the most familiar opening lines in modern literature.  Some of you may have recognized it as the opening line in Franz Kafka’s great story The Metamorphosis.  Kafka was writing in the early twentieth century in Europe, living in Prague.  He wrote stories about people struggling with affliction and alienation and existential experience.  It is a shocking and bizzare story.  Here is a guy who is sort of a middle-of-the-road person — he is a salesman — and one morning he wakes up in his bed and he is somehow physically being transformed into this insect.  Because of his condition there is change, there is transformation that starts to occur.  And as a result of the transformation it creates fear and uncertainty, especially on the part of his family.

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Choosing Our Path [15:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
July 4, 2010 - Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 20: 9-26 and Acts 5: 27-32

“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

“America is more than a place to hang your hat.  It represents a value system most of believe in very strongly.  That value system has to do with the worth of human beings, wherever they are.  We believe that lives are worth saving,” – John Danforth, Episcopal clergy and former Senator of the United States Senate.

Some people ask me from time to time, “How are you going to celebrate the fourth?”  And one of the things I often state back is, “By reading the Declaration of Independence again.” 

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Unloving Critics and Uncritical Lovers [24:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
June 27, 2010 - Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Galatians 5: 1, 13-25   Luke 9: 51-62

. . . Freedom is an essential part of the Judeo-Christian faith.  It is part of Israel’s great remembrance of the Exodus, which was to freedom.  Paul talks a lot about freedom in his writings, especially in Romans.  So we would ask the question quite naturally, “What makes us free?”  There are probably some Biblical scholars here this morning who would say, “Well, you look in John 8 where it says, ‘the truth will make you free.’”  But then we could also start asking, “Well, what do you mean by truth?”  “Well, I mean Jesus Christ!”  “Well, then, what about Jesus Christ?”  And now we’re back to the story about acquisition and renunciation that brings freedom to a situation.  Freedom is a large concept.

(…excerpt from podcast)
 

 

 A Strange Freedom [16:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
June 20, 2010 - Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 14: 25-33

One of my favorite Charles Shultz “Peanuts” comic strips reminds me of one of my own childhood trips, and how swiftly childhood passes away.  Picture, if you will, Charlie Brown sitting under a tree and he’s talking with Peppermint Patty, and she asks him, “What do you think ’security’ is, Chuck?”  His answer is, “Security is sleeping in the back seat of the car when you’re a little kid and you’ve been somewhere with your mom and dad and its night and you’re riding home in the car asleep and you don’t have to worry about anything.  Mom and Dad are in the front seat and they’re taking care of everything and they’re worrying abut everything.”  To which Peppermint Patty responds, “Wow, that’s really neat!” 

But then Chuck says, “But it doesn’t last.  Suddenly you’re grown up and it can never be the same again.  Suddenly it’s over and you’ll never get to sleep in the back seat again!”

Peppermint Patty says, “Never?” 

“Never,” says Chuck, “absolutely never.”

To which she replies, “Hold my hand Chuck.”

(…excerpt from podcast)
 

 

 All In The Family [15:31m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Rev. Michael Thompson
Woodhaven Presbyterian Church
June 13, 2010 - Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ephesians 4: 25-32 and Psalm 73

A woman was bitten by a dog that they suspected of having rabies.  And she was rushed to the hospital and left in a room to wait to hear the results of the autopsy of the dog.  Only then would she know for certain whether she had the possibility of having rabies.  An intern who was on duty saw her sitting in the room by herself and so he went in to comfort her and console her and he began to tell her what could happen and she wanted to know more and more.  Well, toward the end of the visit he realized he probably said more than he should have because she was visibly shaken.  And later when he came in to look on her she was sitting on the side of the bed and writing occasionally something and then looking off into space and then writing some more, so he decided he should go back in and see what he could do to help.  He went in and he asked her, he said, “Are you writing your last will and testament or a letter to your family?”  And she said, “Oh no, no,” she said, “just in the event that I have been infected, I am making a list of the people that I want to bite before I die.”

(…excerpt from podcast)

 

 Anger [19:45m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download