From its inception, the Church of Jesus Christ has consisted of many branches. Today we shall be thinking about that branch of Christianity known as Mainline Protestantism. Almost all of us have been associated with one or more Mainline denominations in our lifetime, and we need to understand what is happening to the Christian tradition in which we grew up and have spent most of our adult years. Therefore let us, with confidence, worship God.

The Church of Jesus Christ is one of God’s primary means of making Himself known throughout the world. It is not His only means, and no denomination or branch of Christianity represents the entire Church, nor is the Church God’s only means of reaching all His people dwelling on the earth. We are a congregation representing many denominations through our lifetimes, and to the God of all the denominations and churches we now turn in praise and thanks. Let us worship God.

Today presumably is our final service of worship in Congregation Beth Yam. We have been blessed by the Hilton Head Jewish community to have been so warmly welcomed into their temple for the last decade. By means of this ecumenical gesture, Jews and Christians of this island have been spatially and especially drawn closer together. Next week we begin a new phase of our own congregational pilgrimage. Thus we gather in worship of the God who leads us at all times and in all the places of our existence together.

Jesus declared that those who seek peace shall be called children of God. This morning we shall contemplate what that means in a personal sense. We gather in praise of a God who moves within us to make peace with everyone around us, and who inspires us in the difficult task of what peacemaking means in everyday life. Let us therefore worship the God who turns peace disrupters into peacemakers.

Each Sunday we gather in praise of a God who, through Jesus Christ, bids us to applaud purity of heart in those who have it.. Because of who we are, and because of who others are, that is often a very difficult assignment for us personally. Today we shall be looking at the sixth beatitude, and in so doing, we shall attempt to understand what purity of heart might mean for each of us. Let us therefore with open hearts and minds worship God.

God bids us to improve ourselves, primarily for the benefit of others, but also for ourselves. By means of Jesus, we are encouraged to become merciful, and in so doing, we ourselves shall obtain mercy. In attempting to make our lives more productive, we are not alone in the process. God goes with us each step of the way. Therefore let us with confidence worship the God who seeks a better world through lives individually made better.

The word “meek” means different things to different people. Generally it is not considered to be a very positive attribute in anyone. Nonetheless Jesus told us that the meek are blessed, and so we shall ponder what that means. The Bible is filled with thousands of words, some of which are crystal clear and others are cloaked in mystery or ambiguity. But as we do each Sunday, we gather in praise of a God who meets us and speaks to us as only He can. Therefore let us, with confidence, worship the God of challenging words.

The Beatitudes are an enumeration of particular kinds of blessings for particular people in particular circumstances. Today we are thinking about God’s blessings for those who experience any kind of mourning or sorrow. When we worship, we worship a God who is not oblivious to our needs, but who willingly and wistfully longs to satisfy us in our needs. Therefore let us, with confidence, worship the God of those who mourn.

Today and for eight subsequent Sundays, we shall be pondering the meaning of the Beatitudes of Jesus. These nine verses of scripture are some of the most glorious, inspiring, and ironic words ever spoken by Jesus. Each Beatitude is the promise of a particular kind of blessing to particular kinds of people in particular kinds of situations. Together they cover a vast range of happiness which awaits all of us, if we are open to the leading of God’s spirit. Let us worship the God who, through Jesus Christ, constantly showers His blessings upon us.

Easter is the most important day of the year in the Greek Orthodox Church, although today is not Easter in the Greek Orthodox Church; that date shall be May 1 for them. But every Easter the Greek faithful gather, and the priest shouts out, “Christos Anesthe!” (Christ is risen!), to which the congregation responds in joyous acclamation, “Alethos Anesthe!”(He is risen indeed!) Today we join with Roman Catholics and Protestants around the world to proclaim once again that Christ is risen indeed. Let us worship the God who alone makes this and every Easter possible.

Palm Sunday would appear to be a spontaneous celebration of Jesus as God’s Messiah, riding into Jerusalem in triumph. In truth it was an event which Jesus had carefully planned for several months, or even a few years. Jesus perceived himself to be a prophet whom God had sent into the world to challenge and reform some of the most strongly held religious ideas of his time. Today we gather in praise of the God who commissioned Jesus as His chosen prophet to the noble and troubled nation of Israel.

We live in a pocket of world in which there is very little thought or emotion devoted to contemplating the end of the world. But at various times and in various places, that issue has been uppermost in the minds of many people. Today we will ponder how Jesus perceived the meaning of the Apocalypse, and how we personally may be affected by that. Through it all, God continues to govern the universe, and all people continue to live under His reign. Therefore let us, with confidence, worship God.

For three years a young man traveled around an occupied state at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, preaching, and teaching, and healing. The longer he did what he was doing, the more it became evident to him that he was engendering a growing number of theological and political enemies. While he lived, only Jesus of Nazareth understood that his crucifixion was virtually inevitable, and that his impending cross was unavoidable. Let us therefore, with confidence, worship the God who sent the man who was certain to die on a cross, and by it to show us the way to life eternal.

Life is ultimately a gift from God, a gift which can be filled with happy surprises, joyful friendships, deep satisfaction, and ongoing pleasure. However, physical ailments can jeopardize life, making it difficult or painful or seemingly too much of a challenge for us. Today we will be thinking about a woman who lived life to the fullest, but whose last years were an increasingly severe physical trial. Yet through it all, she maintained her strong faith in God. Let us therefore worship the God who blesses us by death as surely as He does by life.

We are blessed to live in a community which exhibits the beauties of nature so fully that hundreds of thousands of people each year come here to be re-created in the extraordinary scenes of the beach or the golf course or the morning light shining through the limbs of oaks or pines or palmettos. Today we gather in praise of the God who created the natural order and everything in it, and we express our profound gratitude for the beauty of the earth. Let us therefore, with confidence, worship the God of creation.

Another year has passed, and another year has come. Our time is in God’s hands. We gather to give Him thanks for all the time we have had, and for whatever time we have left. We thank God for His care of us in good times and bad, in times both trying and triumphant. Everything we have is ultimately a gift from God, because He alone had created everything that is. Therefore, with gratitude, hope, and resolution for a new year, let us, with New Year’s confidence, worship God.

A completed year is about to end, and a new year is about to begin. The world seems less unified now than it did a year ago, and it was far from unified then. What went wrong? Why can’t we get together? If the western, Christianized world is to make peace with the easternized, Muslim world, it is incumbent on our side, who feel somewhat less threatened than the Muslims, to take the first steps in the human re-unification process. To ponder what that means, let us, with New Year’s confidence, worship God.

The four Sundays before Christmas are known as the ecclesiastical season of Advent. Advent is a Latin word which means “Coming.” Advent is when we focus on the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. Each year once again we prepare for the astonishing appearance of the one we call the Son of God who was born in a rough shelter for livestock and placed in a feeding trough for animals. God does not do things the way we think He should - - - thank God. Therefore let us, with renewed Advent expectations, worship God.

Today is All Saints Day. On this day each year in the ecclesiastical calendar the Church celebrates all of God’s saints, living and dead, who have magnified God’s name by the way they conducted themselves in life. We thank God for the true saints we see all around us, and especially for those saints we have known or known about who have transferred from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant, and are with God in eternity. Therefore let us worship God, praising Him for all the saints.

Life is an immeasurable gift from God to all of us, and God wants us to live it in a quality that is as full and lengthy as possible. When it comes time for life to end, we hope to give it up gladly, trusting that there is a far better life beyond this one which God has prepared for us, one in which there is not illness or pain or death, but rather eternal life with Him in His celestial kingdom. Therefore, as we reflect on the tenacious and also tenuous nature of physical life, let us, with confidence, worship God.