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when i feel i'm slipping further away

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well, i remember that everyday, i get a little bit closer / to you A sermon on Jesus' sermon to end all sermons : Well, Jesus certainly got our attention with that one. Didn’t he? With this passage, Jesus strikes upon something we’re all deeply invested in: time . And Jesus strikes at the heart of the matter, too. Time, says Christ, is winding down . Now, on one hand, we all already know this. Don’t we? We’ve all felt the passage of time. We can all tell that time inexorably goes in one direction only . We’ve all had that uncanny experience of noticing the slippage of time in real -time! On the other hand, though , we don’t believe it. Do we? At least we don’t live like we believe it, not really. We all carry on as if time doesn’t have our number. We all live as if the present will continue indefinitely .   Of course, it goes without saying that it never does. And I’m not just talking about the certainty of change , either. I’m talking about the inevitable conclusion

now open your arms / pick up your head / & open your eyes

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so you can see what happens next: you won't believe how good it can get A sermon on Jesus' radicalizing of theology : We chose the name Unity because it was what God has done among us . Isn’t it? God took both our congregations and made us one out of them. God did this through collaboration . And God did this through combustion , too.   But, through it all , God was with us. God was walking alongside us. God was leading us. God was uniting us. We also chose the name Unity because it’s our hope and prayer that God would continue to work unity among us, too. Isn’t it? As far as God has carried us, we all know there is still more unifying to be done. There are bonds to deepen . AND there are new friendships to form, too. Aren’t there? Plus , there’s the ardent desire that God wouldn’t just unite us with one another . We all long for this unity to grow . Don’t we? The church is not a self-satisfied, exclusive social club. Is it? No, the church, if it is true to its ince

& i'll be there / to cherish & care for you

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i'll be there / to always see you through A sermon on Jesus' sermon on the not-so-ideal tenants : The ambition of Christianity , if Christianity can be said to have any ambition at all, is for you to do NOTHING. That’s right, nothing . The ambition of Christianity is for you to do NOTHING. But I know that doesn’t make much sense . Does it? Whoever heard of nothing as a goal ?!? What’s more , it’s something of an impossible aspiration, too. Isn’t it? You can’t DO nothing . That’s a contradiction ! Doing, by its very nature, must have something to do . And you can’t DO nothing ! Can you? Nevertheless, that’s the incredible aim of faith: to do NOTHING. That Catch-22 isn’t the only problem we have with doing nothing, though! Is it? Frankly, we’re not very good at it. Doing nothing DOESN’T come naturally to us . Oh, sure, we fantasize about doing nothing . But we don’t really like it. We are so averse to nothing that, at the first quiet moment , we’ll pull out our phone