What Do You Want Me to Do for You?

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

#Christianity #Religion #Shelley Kuhlmeyer #West End UMC

30:00

Living together in a group is a strategy many animals use to survive and thrive. And a big part of what makes that living situation successful is listening. In this episode, we explore the collaborative world of the naked mole-rat. Threshold is nonprofit, listener-supported, and independently produced. You can support Threshold by donating today . To stay connected, sign up for our newsletter . Operation frog sound! Send us your frog sounds for an upcoming episode. We want you to go out, listen for frogs and toads, and record them. Just find someone croaking, and hit record on your phone. It doesn’t matter if there’s background noise. It doesn’t even matter if you’re not sure whether or not you’re hearing an amphibian—if you think you are, we would love to get a recording from you. Please also say your name and where you are in the world, and then email the recording to us at outreach@thresholdpodcast.org…

about a year ago 26:53

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What Do You Want Me to Do for You? – In today’s reading from Mark, Jesus, his disciples, and a large crowd are about to leave Jericho when they encounter Bartimaeus, a blind beggar who calls out to Jesus. The author of this first gospel tends to be brief and to-the-point, and although this story must certainly have been one of the many encounters Jesus had in Jericho, it is the only one reported in this gospel, which underscores how significant the writer considered it. In Jesus’s day, some illness like blindness was often considered to have been the result of some sin of the blind person or of his parents. Thus, for the crowd to try to shush him is not surprising, but for Jesus to respond to him would have been surprising. When Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants Jesus to do for him, that Bartimaeus has the faith and confidence that Jesus can heal his blindness is key. Likewise, our response to the query of Jesus, “What do you want me to do for you?” is a matter of deep faith that Jesus can heal us, and it is also a model for our response to the same question posed to us.

301 episodes

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

What Do You Want Me to Do for You?

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

301 episodes

#Christianity #Religion #Shelley Kuhlmeyer #West End UMC

All episodes

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

1
Lenten Meditation for the Tuesday of Holy Week 5:18

12 hours ago5:18

5:18

Rev Stacey Harwell-Dye and Beth Bernard lead us thru a liturgy and prayer for the Tuesday of Holy Week.

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

1
Lenten Meditation for the Monday of Holy Week 6:19

1 day ago6:19

6:19

Join Pastor Carol Cavin-Dillon and Hampton Randall as they lead us thru a liturgy and prayer for the Monday of Holy Week.

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

1
Prevenient Grace 26:29

2 days ago26:29

26:29

Prevenient Grace – Today is Palm Sunday, and in keeping with our Lenten theme, “Table Transformations,” the scripture from Luke is about the deal Judas made with the chief priests and scribes to betray Jesus, and also the subsequent Passover meal Jesus and the twelve shared when he blessed the bread and cup revealing that they represented his body and blood, and then he revealed that one of them was going to betray him. Our ancestor in Methodism, John Wesley, had a concept of three movements of grace, the first being prevenient grace, grace that is offered by God to everyone. Jesus demonstrates prevenient grace in the Lukan story of the Passover meal as he shares the meal, even the symbols of his body and blood, with all of the disciples, knowing that when he would be tried and crucified they would all abandon him in various ways, especially Judas. And yet, his invitation and sharing the meal with them is a demonstration of God’s invitation to everyone. Our response to that invitation of prevenient grace is to be open and accepting of God’s love and then to share it with others.…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

1
Choosing the Better Part 33:53

9 days ago33:53

33:53

Today, the Fifth Sunday in Lent, is Youth Sunday, when our entire service is led by youth from our church. The scripture is the story from Luke of Jesus in the home of Mary and Martha, where Martha was busy with the details of hosting and preparing and serving the meal while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to him. At some point Martha complained that Mary wasn’t helping, and Jesus told Martha that she was too distracted and that Mary had “chosen the better part.” Today’s sermon was delivered by two youth, the first of whom, Connor Harris, describes his current senior year in high school as stressful and very busy, and sees himself as Martha in this story. He cautions himself and all of us to step back, take a deep breath, and find God, to do our work but take God with us. Margo Jenkins also spoke to us, and she says she has learned from this story that her behavior is Martha-like. There is much value in working hard and helping others, but a prayer life and time for reflection and calm, leaving oneself vulnerable allows us to hear God’s voice, and she challenges us to find the time and opportunity to connect with God, to be like Mary and choose “the better part.”…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

1
An Interrupting Love 30:13

16 days ago30:13

30:13

An Interrupting Love – Today is the fourth Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture is the story from Luke of Jesus having a meal in the home of a Pharisee when a woman comes in, approaches Jesus, and ends up at his feet as she cries and then wipes his feet with her hair then anoints his feet with oil she had brought with her. Rev. Will McLeane delivers the sermon, initially recalling that he was taught from an early age not to interrupt! But in this story, there are many interruptions, and most are major. First, there is her presence as a woman at a dinner where there were only men. Further, as a sinner she is interrupting a dinner of the righteous, those who studied and obeyed the scriptures. The Pharisee host interrupts as he calls her to task, but Jesus then interrupts and holds her up as an example of repentance and forgiveness. Pastor Will points out places in our worship service where, when we are confessing our sins, we are interrupted by the liturgy and words of forgiveness, all reminding us that we need to be repentant and accepting of God’s love, and we need to include others around that table.…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

1
Table Manners 24:50

23 days ago24:50

24:50

Table Manners – Today is the third Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture is the story in Luke 14 about Jesus having been invited to a dinner in the home of a prominent Pharisee, and the Pharisees were watching Jesus closely and with suspicion. In that era, who was seated where at the table was important – the friends and business associates of the host were seated at the head table. But upon entering here Jesus offers a proverb saying that those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. Jesus even goes further to advise the host when hosting a dinner to avoid inviting friends, relatives, rich neighbors intending to be repaid, but, rather, to invite the poor, crippled, lame, and blind who can’t repay the host, but that host will be rewarded in the resurrection at the end. It is a matter of intentionally including those who have been excluded, and it is a lesson for us as individuals and as a church and faith community. Such a table can be transformational.…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

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You Give Them Something to Eat 30:15

4 weeks ago30:15

30:15

You Give Them Something to Eat – Today is the second Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture for today is Luke’s version of the familiar story of the feeding of the 5,000. Carol first gives some examples of parenting, training one’s children, and she says Jesus was constantly training the disciples, and this story is an example. The crowd has gathered to experience the teaching and healing by Jesus, and the text says it is 5,000 men, which means it must have been well more than 5,00 people. The disciples are concerned about those people and how so many can possibly be sustained. Jesus tells those disciples to handle it. They have only a dozen loaves of bread and two fish. Maybe we, too, sometimes feel completely inadequate. But Jesus tells them to have the crowd sit, and then he takes a loaf of bread, lifts and breaks it, and gives thanks and blesses it. In this same way, Christ can take each of us, lift and break us, give thanks and bless us, and we are thus fully equipped to fill the needs of the world around us. It is a process that is repeated in Luke in the Last Supper and again in the Emaus Road dinner. And it is repeated with and for us in each communion service.…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

1
A Table in the Wilderness 27:02

5 weeks ago27:02

27:02

Today is the first Sunday in Lent, and our Lenten theme is “Table Transformations.” The scripture for today Luke’s version of the familiar story of Jesus’s 40 days in the wilderness. A popular tradition among Christians is to give up something for the 40 days of Lent, and one of the features of the story is that Jesus had no food for 40 days. During this time he was repeatedly “tempted by the devil,” and we, too, might have experienced each of those temptations at times, not from an external devil, but from our own internal desires to gain power, achieve, or overcome. Most of us have experienced emptiness, and some people have tried to fill it by eating, taking drugs, plunging into our jobs, and such. Clearly from the story, Jesus rejects the temptation to lift himself up, knowing that God values love not self-success. The lesson Jesus teaches overall is the ultimate in rejecting power and self by humbling himself on the cross. He might have been empty of food and power, but he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and that stands as a model for us through the period of Lent.…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

1
The One Who Was, Is, and Is to Come 26:20

6 weeks ago26:20

26:20

The One Who Was, Is, and Is to Come – Today is Transformation Sunday, and the scripture is the story in Luke of Jesus walking up the mountain with Peter, James, and John. They are, at this point, completely worn out from all of the work they’ve been doing. They know Jesus is the messiah, but with all of his recent talk of suffering to come, they are confused. In this experience of his transformation, however, their belief in Jesus as the messiah is strengthened, and they know that death and evil will not have the final word. Transformation Sunday in the Christian year comes just before Lent to remind us that through the somber period of Lent and through the agony of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus, we can have hope, just as Peter, James, and John experienced it through Jesus’s transformation.…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

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Notes of Rest 47:55

7 weeks ago47:55

47:55

Notes of Rest – The Proclamation section of this service is led by guests Julian Davis Reid and vocalist Tramaine Parker. Reid refers to various passages of scripture, reading and commenting on them, then he plays the piano while Parker sings and, at points, leads the congregation in singing. The basis of their presentation is the Sabbath and rest, how we are charged to rest, and what God does within our sleep. The pieces of scripture are read, then elucidated and supported by preaching and singing, and at points the congregation is invited to join in the singing. At various points we are called to rest and listen, then Julian invites everyone in the congregation to share with those around us what we heard in the quiet moments. Julian ends with the first 5 verses of I Corinthians where Paul confessed his humility before God in coming before that congregation.…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

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Called to a New Community 24:21

8 weeks ago24:21

24:21

Called to a New Community – This is the last in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?.” Today’s scripture reading is the story in Luke of Jesus calling Levi, the tax collector, to be a disciple. Tax collectors were Jews charged with collecting taxes from the Jewish people and turning over the taxes to the Roman rulers. They also routinely collected more than was required by Rome so that they were enriching themselves. This, of course, made them despised by the people. That Jesus called a tax collector was demonstrative of the nature of the community of God, consisting of people from all populations, all backgrounds, all economic levels. That Levi then hosted a banquet whose guests were other tax collectors incensed some, but it was a demonstration of the open invitation by Jesus and thus by God. We, too, must be aware that God’s community is open and beckoning to all, even to some whom we may otherwise have ignored, avoided, or even despised. It is an open community called together in love.…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

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From Failure to Fisher of People 25:15

9 weeks ago25:15

25:15

From Failure to Fisher of People – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. Today’s scripture reading is the version in Luke of Jesus’s enlistment of the first disciples, specifically Simon Peter, when, after a night of catching no fish, Jesus tells him to put out the nets, and the nets started breaking with the abundance of fish. Having been fishing all night with no luck, Simon is reluctant to heed the direction of Jesus. Simon is worn out, frustrated, and his tendency is simply to give up. Yet, under the direction of Jesus, he agrees to try, and with such success Simon begins to realize who Jesus is and confesses he, Simon, is not worthy. Much as many of us do, Simon is carrying the weight of his unworthiness – who am I to be chosen by the Lord? But we can learn from this example and from countless examples of other Biblical figures who look and feel like they’re unworthy and incapable, but when called by God they are fully empowered and equipped. We need to hear and heed the voice of Jesus calling us.…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

1
Getting on Board with Grace 24:03

10 weeks ago24:03

24:03

Getting on Board with Grace – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. Today’s scripture reading is a continuation of last weeks’ story in Luke of Jesus in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth having been handed the Isaiah scroll, reading from it the passage that tells of God’s mission for Isaiah, and then declaring that today that scripture has been fulfilled today in him. But the people react by taking him out to throw him off a cliff. Carol says their rage may well have been because Jesus was telling them that God’s love and mercy extend to all people, including those they considered enemies. If and when we hear often that God loves all of “those people,” we, too, can find ourselves asking, “But what about me?” It is in those times that we need to spend time in prayer, going to God’s fountain of love. In practicing gratitude we can hear the invitation to join Jesus in proclaiming and living the “good news.” Our invitation is to get on board with God’s grace.…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

1
Let Your Life Speak 22:43

11 weeks ago22:43

22:43

Let Your Life Speak – We are in a series of scriptures and sermons under the theme, “Who is calling you?,” that will take us to Lent. Today’s scripture reading is the story in Luke of Jesus in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth having been handed the Isaiah scroll, reading from it the passage that tells of God’s mission for Isaiah, and then Jesus declares that today that scripture has been fulfilled today in him. Rev. Shannon Baxter, our Minister of Congregational Connection, delivered the sermon and focused on our finding our own vocation – what role we are meant to play in God’s world. This story in Luke comes after the baptism of Jesus and after his wandering in the wilderness. Many of us, too, were baptized as infants and then spent time wandering, searching for our vocational paths. Shannon reminds us that the ritual words of our baptism express our adoption into God’s creation, and that with the spirit/breath of God in us we are each called to our role in God’s creation from God’s voice within ourselves through our spiritual connection. We are, in every case, called to love God and our neighbor.…

West End UMC Podcast Audio Podcast

1
Discerning and Doing 28:28

12 weeks ago28:28