tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47319367134205485232011-08-02T23:22:19.477-04:00It seems like we all need rain for our souls, times of refreshing, renewal. I am a United Methodist pastor in rural North Carolina where the words 'pastor' and 'pasture' seem interrelated. This blog is a post of recent sermons, ideas and hope.Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.comBlogger291100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-52014904293526007222009-07-23T11:55:00.001-04:002009-07-23T11:56:59.252-04:00

TO WHOM DO I BELONG?At issue here is this question: "To whom do I belong? To God or to the world?" Many of my daily preoccupations suggest that I belong more to the world than to God. A little criticism makes me angry, and a little rejection makes me depressed. A little praise raises my spirits, and a little success excites me… Often I am like a small boat on the ocean, completely at the

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-54921197052040687012009-07-18T09:11:00.003-04:002009-07-18T09:19:35.348-04:00

A new way of praying That isn't about me.Not my laundry list of how God should 'fix' things Yet, my openness to to how God wants to move through me.Not that I don't care about people situations and circumstances hurting and sorrow and griefI trust God enough to lift these things up before Him and let God be God.So what is prayer if it isn't dumbly reciting lists or

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-83687104390002250672009-07-12T09:04:00.003-04:002009-07-12T09:12:12.444-04:00

or the pier on Silver Lake actually. Why is it that when I am on vacation the ideas flow fast and furious, everything is seems possible and the cold-water-dash of 'you can't do that' doesn't seem to exist? More and more I am discovering that not everyone sees the connectedness of all of life the way I do. To me, it's no coincidence that I can sit on Ocracoke at the pier on Silver Lake knowing

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-77520543673869230512009-05-18T13:04:00.002-04:002009-05-18T19:35:09.462-04:00

I have been away at a conference, so my husband Dean took his place at the 'sacred desk' on Sunday. Here are his reflections on faith, scarcity and abundance..20090517 A Message of “More than Enough” Dean SorgIn the reading of John 15:9-17, Jesus reminds his disciples who they have become. He calls them HIS friends. He tells them that they did not choose Him. But He does say that HE chose

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-21241047973436758172009-05-12T14:15:00.001-04:002009-05-12T14:17:29.730-04:00

In the Sundays since Easter day, we have watched the spread of the Gospel from Jesus’ resurrection appearances to his disciples, to Jesus making himself known to many people before his ascension into heaven and now today, even before we have celebrated the miracle of Pentecost, the Lectionary points us to the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. It wasn’t until I went on into higher

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-19158411262663507222009-04-29T08:44:00.003-04:002009-04-29T08:50:52.700-04:00

I am reflecting this morning on the breackneck speed at which I am living my life. Taking time off seems to cost too much both in dollars and in playing catch up after the time off has been taken. I am sitting here looking at long-stemmed red roses and white chrysanthemums that are stuffed in a vase because I simply do not have the time to take 5 minutes to arrange them. And I love to arrange

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-6433449024791542112009-04-22T08:44:00.004-04:002009-04-22T08:46:23.967-04:00

People and systems don't change unless:they have to because otherwise it hurts too muchthey have to because they have learned enough to want tothey have to because they have grown enough to need toChange is inevitable. Which group do you want to be in?

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-12097159538323987742009-04-19T16:07:00.004-04:002009-04-19T16:13:46.420-04:00

Since church ran long and I had to shorten my sermon, here's the whole thing..Acts 4 and John 20:19-31Easter is a season, not just one day. Jesus stayed with the disciples and his followers for awhile after his resurrection, showing them what his resurrected, Spirit-animated, glorified new life was like. Because of that, we too are going to spend this Easter time with the Resurrected Christ and

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-20170842747460342872009-04-07T10:07:00.002-04:002009-04-07T10:12:16.556-04:00

I’d like to briefly go back to where we started on our journey, to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the drama and excitement of Jesus riding into Jerusalem that we can hear the echoes of the shouted hosannas. We too, want to run alongside the crowds, straining to catch a glimpse of Jesus. We get wrapped up in the drama of his righteous anger as he and the

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-32829386925559938332009-03-03T10:00:00.000-05:002009-03-03T10:01:05.620-05:00

I really believe the saving message of Jesus Christ. I don't only preach it; I believe it! I honestly believe that every wayward person I know would live a vastly better life if God's love, grace, and redemption were operating in their lives.Do you believe this too? A man once told me that he never shares his faith with anyone. I thought it was an interesting comment and probed a little as to

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-80188459989234643692009-02-24T13:00:00.003-05:002009-02-24T13:03:23.902-05:00

Mark 9:2-10There’s been a lot of talk lately about the perfect storm. Not the George Clooney movie but the “Perfect Storm” that seems to be rising in our society. The elements of the storm are the changes in our economy, the overwhelming tide of technology and the seeming break up of our culture with rising divorce rates, the break-up of the family, the failure of our justice system and man’s

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-8163537877625526472009-02-24T12:55:00.001-05:002009-02-24T12:58:59.717-05:00

This section of Mark (1:40-45) has been picked apart time and again by scholars and theologians who focus on the action of Jesus. He healed the leper and then told him not to tell anyone. This seems to be in direct opposition to Jesus’ final words in Matthew 28, his instructions to his disciples in Matthew 28:19:Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-17839084790176135042009-02-24T12:53:00.001-05:002009-02-24T12:54:57.206-05:00

Jesus’ fame spread like wildfire after he had cured the demoniac in the synagogue. It had spread so much that verse 33 says the whole city was gathered around the door. Some came for healing, some, I’m sure came just to see what might happen. They had no interest in being transformed by the power of God but wanted to see what it looked like for the spectacular and dramatic signs and wonders. I am

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-74653800122204234422009-01-19T11:36:00.003-05:002009-01-19T11:41:18.436-05:00

Future prophets are already among us. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?I Samuel 3 and John 1Samuel was an unlikely candidate to hear God’s voice. Yet, it was Samuel to whom God spoke (not Eli). Hannah and Elkanah had dedicated this boy to the Lord, so much that they turned him over completely to the church. How would we, as the church, do if someone depended completely on us for their ‘

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-86196831707696420052008-12-24T15:02:00.000-05:002008-12-24T15:04:08.208-05:00

Christmas Eve 2008Shepherds and angels and us.Christianity isn’t a private religion. Here in the darkness, in the privacy of this place on this night it may seem cozy and intimate. Just as after her labor, the relative safety of that stable may have seemed to be a private place to Mary, the mother of Jesus. But this private moment, the one Mary rested from 2000 years ago has world shattering

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-43414371248127176482008-12-15T08:43:00.002-05:002008-12-15T08:45:06.047-05:00

Show clip from The Cosby Show, Season1, Episode 13 – Rudy’s Sick“No more partying in there” says little Rudy to the germs she has just discovered.Our culture seems to think that the presence of Christ is like Rudy’s germs. It ought to be something we can see, experiment with, manage. How Jesus lives in us must be like germs and microbes, DNA, chemical elements and quarks, something we can’t

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-36817641142341853222008-12-11T13:53:00.002-05:002008-12-12T08:15:20.763-05:00

Dear Friends and Family,I hadn't sent an update in awhile from our outpost in North Carolina and wanted you all to know we are not just alive and well, but happy and thriving.If you are familiar at all with the Mitford books by Jan Karon, you would find many parallels between that made-up community and this real one. We are on the coast of North Carolina and not in the mountains but the town

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-26049464567295754752008-12-08T18:42:00.002-05:002008-12-08T18:44:43.688-05:00

These are the texts and sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent. Isaiah 40:1-11Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God. 
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
 and cry to her
that she has served her term,
that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins. 
A voice cries out:
‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-45145215295951704702008-11-26T17:12:00.001-05:002008-11-26T17:14:36.952-05:00

Last Sunday was the final Sunday of the liturgical year. Next Sunday, we will celebrate the first Sunday of Advent usually with a Hanging of the Greens Service. So today, I would like to revisit with you the journey we have made through the Scripture over the last almost three months. My first Sunday blogging was September the 7th and the Scripture for that day was Matthew 18:15-20. I talked

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-60482101444692203602008-11-17T12:06:00.000-05:002008-11-17T12:07:48.702-05:00

20081116Matt25TalentaWhen we read or hear the parable of the talents, it is easy for our minds to make the leap from a unit of money to talking about what we know of as talents, our giftedness, the things we are good at. And so it is easy for us to make the step to application of this parable in our lives. It means that God wants us to use what we have wisely, to be the most effective. In

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-56900207554738749222008-11-12T10:46:00.000-05:002008-11-12T10:47:53.015-05:00

20081109IThessMattWisdom is knowing what time it is. (NTW) That is the essential truth behind all of today’s lectionary readings. In Joshua, he stands before the children of Israel as they prepare to cross into the Promised Land. He guides them into entering a solemn covenant with God. The reading is a conversation between Joshua and the people: “Joshua said:” “The people said:” At one point,

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-67016796926886565122008-11-04T07:49:00.002-05:002008-11-04T07:54:23.138-05:00

Why two Scripture readings today (Matthew23: 1-12, I Tess. 2:9-13) ? Because they strikingly show how the life and words of Christ continued to echo, to be lived out in the life and work of the Apostle Paul and must continue to be lived out in our lives as well. Not as legalism and not as sentimentality, but as the true love of God."Paul’s life was more than a ministry project. As I read and

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-18396485013707756312008-10-27T15:44:00.000-04:002008-10-27T15:45:57.272-04:00

Someone once said that home is the place where they have to take you in. Not a very flattering image but one that rings true for those of us who have raised teenagers. But here we are at homecoming, for some of us it is truly that: a return to and a celebration in the place where we feel the most comfortable, where we have served God and others. To some of us, it doesn’t feel like home at all.

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-87638389216695897952008-10-27T15:38:00.001-04:002008-10-27T15:41:03.290-04:00

I have copied for you here a short but incredibly powerful hermeneutic statement from NT Wright. Read slowly, savor and enjoy! Kelli The Fourfold Amor Dei and the Word of God intervention by the Rt Revd N. T. Wright, Bishop of Durham (Church of England) Synod of Bishops, 14 October 2008 Your Holiness; your Eminences and Excellences; brothers and sisters in Christ: It is an honour and

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-41889320095957070282008-10-27T15:37:00.000-04:002008-10-27T15:38:44.473-04:00

20081026Deu34The Death of MosesToday’s text is about the death of Moses. It is basically his obituary. Nobody likes to talk about death. But it is the final reality of life. We think about those who have passed away and we feel the deep ache that we will never again see them in this life and sometimes, even the assurance of seeing them again in heaven seems like a hollow promise. When we first

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-69153696502918441292007-10-22T09:43:00.000-04:002007-10-22T09:45:09.197-04:00

Luke 18:1-8 Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2 He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. 3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' 4 For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-75542404025555974582007-10-18T09:59:00.000-04:002007-10-18T10:00:59.144-04:00

Lo and behold, it's raining. Physically, real precipitation coming down from the sky. Blessings falling like rain. Can we stop long enought to be grateful to the One who sends the rain and hears us when we ask and are grateful?Let it pour!

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-61744192934764894922007-10-15T14:56:00.000-04:002007-10-15T14:59:26.023-04:00

Luke is telling us again and again about healing and about hope. This is the third time in as many chapters that he has used the theme of being dead and made alive again. There was the prodigal son in chapter 15, Lazarus the beggar in chapter 16 and now these lepers in chapter 17. All three of those men were unclean in some way, and being labeled unclean in those times was just the same as

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4731936713420548523.post-29771180902842234512007-10-15T14:46:00.000-04:002007-10-15T14:51:15.054-04:00

20070916 Luke 16Today we are looking at three well-known parables in the gospel of Luke. They are: the parable of the lost coin, the lost sheep and the lost son. These three are so familiar that when we even hear the titles, our minds go on ‘auto-pilot’ and we automatically stop really listening to the Scripture and start thinking about what the parables mean to us individually. We turn off the

Kelli Summers Sorgnoreply@blogger.com0