Charing's play ground of theology

Sermon Title: Help is here (Pentecost) Scripture: Acts 2:1-21 Date: May 28 2023 Location: United Church of Hyde Park   0. opening – the important day for “church”   Our senior pastor, Rev. Charlene Hill, is under the weather. Today, I am fitting in to provide the message. And I believe it also resonates with the original sermon title.   Let us pray. 耶和華──我的石磐，救贖我的主啊，願我的嘴所講的、心所想的佇你的面前得著接納。 ( 詩篇 19:14)( 巴克禮台語漢字版， 1933) Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14) (NRSV Updated Edition). Amen. 1. the challenge of a homogenous community For some Christians, today is the day of Pentecost, fifty days after Easter. Pentecost in Greek means “50.” Traditionally, the color used in the worship service is in red, to represent the scripture we read today: “(The Spirit was like) Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them .” (Acts 2:3) ...

  Date: May 21 2023 Theme: Pacific Islanders and Asian American Ministries (PAAM); a contextual conflict and convergence of views Sermon title: “Provision for the poor” Scripture: Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36   0. opening Good morning. There is exciting news that some of us might have heard. It’s about the Bible. I do not indicate those who participated in the bible study class with Dr. Jay this morning. This Thursday in New York, the oldest, most complete Hebrew Bible has sold for $38.1 million dollars, becoming the most valuable manuscript sold at auction. The Codex Sassoon, the $38.1 million dollars Hebrew Bible, is thought to have been written about 1,100 years ago. US former ambassador Alfred Moses bought it for the ANU Museum of the Jewish People in Tel Aviv, Israel. [1] For Christians, some of us call the Hebrew Bible the “Old Testament.” Today’s scripture is from here.   Let us pray. 耶和華──我的石磐，救贖我的主啊，願我的嘴所講的、心所想的佇你的面前得著接納。 ( 詩篇 19:14)( 巴克禮台語漢字版， 1933) ...

  "Woman Behold Thy Son"... "Behold, Thy Mother" (John 19: 26-27) That was the day when most of the male followers were gone. Women and the beloved disciple stayed close to the cross where Jesus was crucified. After three years of working on proclaiming the good news together, they were what had left for Jesus at his very last day. In the Bible, most women do not have a name. But here, we know most of them. They are Jesus’ mother, Mary, Jesus’s aunty, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. But rarely, a man’s name is unknown. Preachers at the Seven Last Words Good Friday Service, Mont Clare UCC Who could the unnamed beloved disciple be? This is the person that laid down in Jesus’ chest, talked to Jesus directly and closely, when the rest of the male disciples ran away from the crucified Jesus, only this beloved disciple stayed, and Jesus trusted this unknown disciple so much and asked him to take good care of Mary, and respect her as his own mother? I wo...

Transgender Day of Remembrance and candle lightening Service Location: United Church of Hyde Park Scripture: Isaiah 65:17-25 Sermon title: No more cry of distress, says the Lord!   1. Greetings   Thank you to those who answered the call to light the candles, for you have brought more light to our community. When I listened to the 67 names, I was terrified. There are four teenagers on the list. When Asher Garcia died, he was a high school eighth-grade student in Frazee, Minnesota. He suffered sexual and physical abuse as a child, and those repressed memories dug their way to the surface, like a bad dream, but he could not wake up. Asher died at the age of 14, suicide. [1] While Ace Scott died, he has been in state custody for five years since 2017. While awaiting placement, he ran away from the hospital, where he was taken “for concerns related to a known medical condition.” Ace died at the age of 15. His body was found in an abandoned lot in Kansas City, Miss...

 S cripture: Amos 7:7-17 Sermon: The Plumb line and where to find it Date: July 10 2022 Location: United Church of Hyde Park   0. Greetings The Book of Amos is a famous book and a controversial one used by people for different purposes. Such as Martin Luther King’s famous “ I have a dream ” speech quotes from the Book of Amos, saying “ LET JUSTICE ROLL DOWN ” (Amos 5:24) to “denounces religious hypocrisy and economic inequality.” [1] The connection between social justice and Amos was strongly secured during the civil rights movement in the 1970s. However, and ironically, the same verse is also used by some conservative Christians, such as “pro-life Christians,” to denounce those too liberal/pro-choice Christians. They are worried that the evil behavior will bring humankind back to the dark age, and then suffer from the wrath of God. [2] 1. the background and context of/around the scripture There are five visions of Amos from God in this book. The scripture is ...