Mark 11:22-25

Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”

It is a delicate task to speak about mountains being cast into the sea on the 10^th anniversary of 9/11.  I choose this passage because its initial impression on me was that it spoke about something powerful, something significant.  As we acknowledge what this day marks we also look forward to what in many ways stands as the beginning of the year for the work of the church. As pastoral staff we decided to develop a series this Fall that would help us face various topics and issues that we shape and that we are shaped by.  Over the weeks we will look at the environment and economics, technology and inter-religious relations.  Squarely facing the pressures that come from these areas can often feel like facing a mountain.  Even more challenging is that in the Mennonite church we attempt to face our mountains without the traditional means of dynamite.  We attempt, whether or not we succeed, to approach the mountain without violence.  We affirm in fact that it is at the mountain that we un-learn violence.  As First Mennonite Church’s vision statement reads we seek to be instruments of God’s grace on earth.  So what of these instruments, these tools?  And what of the mountain before us?

Continue reading “Obligatory posting of sermon preached on 9/11 – Instruments of grace” →