Dear friends,

I’m a relatively green preacher. I can still count on both hands the number of sermons I’ve preached. Every time I’m preparing a sermon I feel a mixture of excitement and fear. I have stress dreams the week before about stepping up to the pulpit and discovering that my manuscript pages are completely out of order or missing altogether. My mind races with the possibilities of all the things that could go wrong. What if I have absolutely nothing to say? What if I say something horribly offensive or wrong? What if, what if, what if...

As I prepare this week’s sermon, I’m comforted that no matter how many things go wrong, it certainly can’t get as bad as Jesus’ first sermon. In Luke 4:14-30, Jesus encounters the worst-case preaching scenario I can imagine. After his sermon the congregation literally chases him to a hillside and tries to throw him off of a cliff.

So what did Jesus say that was so offensive? Here’s a sneak preview:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
      to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. ”

I know what you’re thinking-that doesn’t seem so bad. In fact, it sounds awesome. This Sunday we’ll talk about why an angry mob wanted to kill Jesus after hearing these words.

Here’s hoping you won’t want to push me into Blankenbaker traffic after Sunday’s sermon.

See you Sunday,

Rachel Freeny
Minister of Communications