Sermons

I have often been asked if I post my sermons on-line.  This is challenging as I do not often have a printed text when I preach.  I will try posting message summary on this page.  Rev. Jane Newall

 

Matthew 13:1-8 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.3And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Sermon Notes:  God does not plant like we do.  The seeds are not reserved for good soil only, but scattered with abundance. A remember a line from a poem – the seed does not know it was planted beneath  the concrete.  The seed grows anyway.  Our job is to plant seed of love and hope and faith with reckless abandone.  THe hardest places to plant are those most in neeed of the gifts God has to offer.

Matthew 14: 26-27And they cried out in fear. ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” 

This passage is from the story of Jesus walking on the water and Peter walking and then no so much walking on the water.  The Bible mentions over 100 times to “Not be afraid.”  And yet we often are. Fear is the opposite of love and as the letter of John says, Perfect love casts out fear.  Many Christian churches are based on fear and not of love.  Fear of others, fear of differences even fear of God.  Do you really think God wants us to be afraid of God?  Fear gives power to that which we are afraid of.  Love gives power to/from God.

Matthew 13

The reign of God is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measurer of flour til it was leavened all through.

Notes: What seeds has God planted in you that lie dormant?  What do they need to be mixed with to work?  Gifts from God are never for just you alone.  They must be shared with others to be spiritual gifts.  You gifts need to be mixed with a community of people that can help them to be activated and shared with others that need to eat the bread.

Health Care Reform –and a few lectionary notes from June 28 – Rev. Jane Emma Newall

 

Traveling to DC to lobby for health care reform last week was a great opportunity Planned Parenthood offered me.  My involvement in Planned Parenthood grows out of my believe that advocating for affordable and accessible health care is a ministry of healing.  In John 5 Jesus asks a man if he wants to be healed.  The man answers that he has no one to put in the pool when the waters are stirred up and someone always steps down ahead of him  We need to be helping people get into the pools of healing, of the health care that they need.

 

For those of us who are Christian and follow the lectionary, June 28^th text from Mark 5offers us a parallel to the struggles women in this country have to receive the health care they need.  In the passage, two women are healed.  One is a 12 year old whose father asks Jesus for help.  The other is a women who has been bleeding for 12 years.  The scripture describes her as having exhausted all fo her resources and who has been made worse not better by the physicians she has tried.  She does not have anyone to come and ask Jesus to help her.  She takes her health needs upon herself and reaches out and touches Jesus’s garments.  She is healed out of her own faith and self-advocacy.

 

Women of reproductive age pay 68% more out of pocket health care expenses than men.  6 out of 10 women view their health care provider as the place providing their reproductive health care needs – such as Planned Parenthood or another kind of community based health care facilities.  A primary care physician is not the first choice of provider for most women.

 

When churches use the Mark passage for the lectionary gospel, many leave out the story of the woman being healed and only include the story of the young girl.  This seemed to be happened at the National Interfaith Service for Witness and Prayer for healthcare reform at Freedom Plaza.  The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice was one of over 40 the partnering agencies in planning the worship service with leadership from Rev. Dr. Jarvis Johnson.  RCRC were excluded from active participation in the worship service because, organizers said,  it might upset some of the other faith-based partners.  Planned Parenthood was excluded altogether.   The worship service seemed to be run by people who would extract the story of the healing needs of the women with women’s health care issues.

 

Women know that their reproductive and sexual health care needs can not be compartmentalized from the rest of their health care needs.  Health care reform in this country cannot take place without seeing including the full range of women’s health care needs.  If we only help men get into the pools of healing and the children who have parents to advocate for them, we are not immersing ourselves in the ministry of healing.

 

I met with 5 congress people from Washington State and or their aids. .   In my first time lobbying in person, I found it to be quite exciting and am glad I went. .  I strongly encourage my colleagues to take up the ministry of healing and use our voices to advocate for healthcare for all.