Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte
By Stewart Schneider
To listen to an audio podcast, mouse over the title and click Play. Open iTunes to download and subscribe to podcasts.
Podcast Description
Sermons of the Rev. Stewart Schneider, Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY
| Name | Description | Released | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Birds on a Wire | We live in a time in which we know a great deal about the structure of the universe. We can squint back to the very beginning of time. We can perceive atoms and their interactions. We even know what causes the fizz in bicarbonate of soda. The one thing we have turned our backs on is the foundation upon which all the magnificence of the universe sits. We in the Christian tradition understand this foundational Alpha and Omega to be God. In popular imagination, though, speculating about God seems somehow fantasy-like. I can't think so. I think we are like birds, hunkered down upon a power line, unaware of the power and potential coursing beneath our feet. Come join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte and see how Hamlet, his friend Horatio, and cow pats come together in our sermon, "Birds on a Wire" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 2/5/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
2 |
The Specialist | We often think of "call" as applying to ministers. A minister is "called" to this church or that ministry, but I think the term is more widely applicable. I think all of us are called to situations in which the individual called, and ONLY that individual, can successfully heal that particular wound in God's Creation. Such a guy was Jonah, called by God to preach a word of repentance to Nineveh, capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Jonah eventually did, and to everyone's surprise, the Ninevites listened. And they weren't even Jews! Join us for this week's sermon from Jonah 3 and Mark 1, entitled "The Specialist" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 1/22/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
3 |
Bob, the Brick | How do you view your place within God's creation, and your relationship to God? What do you think about suffering you have endured? Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for this week's sermon, "Bob, the Brick" from I Samuel 1:1-10 and John 1:43-51 by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 1/15/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
4 |
The Baptism of Our Lord | Today we celebrate the baptism of our Lord. And as soon as we start celebrating, we start asking questions. Why did Jesus need to be baptized? It's year B, so we are reading from Mark in the Revised Common Lectionary, and Mark doesn't give an answer to this question, leaving us to dig for it ourselves. I turned to Bart Simpson of the Simpsons for an answer after speaking with a bunch of idiots. Come see what I mean with our sermon, "The Baptism of Our Lord", by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 1/8/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
5 |
The Commonplace | The two Gospels with infancy narratives, Matthew and Luke, go to great pains to demonstrate the awesomeness of the event. Stars move. Angels sing. Even Herod the Horrible is aware that something has rocked his world. We get caught up in the majesty and tend to forget how commonplace the event was -- the birth of a baby, to a young girl, far from home. This is where God acts -- in the commonplace -- because God's creation is the common place where the human and the divine meet. Come join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for our sermon from Luke 2 titled "The Commonplace" by clicking HERE for text or HERE for audio. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 1/1/12 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
6 |
Graybeards | We tend to re-write the Christmas story to better agree with the Creche on the mantle piece portraying Mary as a mature woman and the shepherds as graybeards of the church. That's just wrong. Mary and the shepherds would have been children, for only a child can receive such a message. Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for our sermon, "Graybeards" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 12/25/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
7 |
The Wheelhouse | "We're all in the same boat together", we used to say, and we were wiser than we knew, for we all ARE in the same boat together. Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for our sermon, "The Wheelhouse", by clicking HERE for audio, or HERE for text. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 12/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
8 |
Hot Shoes | Suppose we were all on a cruise ship. We all have interior cabins, so we can't see outside. The ship is very luxurious, containing everything we could need.Everybody is having a high old time at the buffet, when some few get a glimpse outside. Immediately, they see that they are on a boat, supported by the great sea, and they also note that they, and everyone else on the boat, are on a journey directed by an unseen hand in the wheelhouse. Suppose that those few, who have been granted this glimpse of the reality behind their existence, try to explain what they have seen to the other passengers. The most likely response will be, "Oh...I don't think about those things. It's not important to me, anyway. Try the shrimp." Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for this week's sermon from John 1:6-8, 19-28, "Hot Shoes" by clicking HERE for audio, or HERE for text. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 12/11/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
9 |
Satyagraha | Mahatma Gandhi taught us that the truth has power to make itself manifest. He coined the word "Satyagraha", loosely translated as "force of truth" or "insistence of truth" to express this vital principle. So it is with those who believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. We similarly believe that this truth has power to manifest itself though the forces of the world are arrayed against it. This year, Year B in the Revised Common Lectionary, we take up the Gospel of Mark. Mark has no Advent stories, no birth narratives, no Wise Men, Stars, or Santa Claus. Just the simple statement, "The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God". In its earliest form, Mark didn't even have an account of the resurrection. What are we to understand about a Gospel with no Christmas and no Easter, but only the simple statement, "The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God"? Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for this week's sermon from Mark 1:1-8, "Satyagraha" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 12/4/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
10 |
To Be Announced | We saw a lot of interest in predictions of the end of the world this year. Didn't happen, but there was a lot of interest. Speculation about the end of the world seems to be endlessly fascinating to some folks, but I think it's an unnecessary distraction. Jesus was quite clear that even he did not know, so I take those who think they are smarter than Jesus with a grain of salt. Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for our sermon, To Be Announced by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for a printed version. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 11/27/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
11 |
Active Voice | Whatever you may think about the Occupy Wall Street protests, they are confronting actively what they see as an economic system which has been twisted to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor. You may think they are right or wrong, but this sort of protest is exactly what Jesus was involved in at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple had blessed the powers that be, even when the powers that be were acting contrary to Torah. That's not uncommon. the church, rightly or wrongly, often is used to bless the status quo. Come join us on this last Sunday before Christ the King for our sermon from Matthew 25:14-30, "Active Voice" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 11/13/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
12 |
The Great Buckeye | Moses, the leader of the people, has died, denied entrance into the Promised Land, and his successor, Joshua, has lead the people in his place. Joshua brings all the people together and tells them, "This is the time, church. You got to choose whether to fish or cut bait. Who will you serve?" Seems awfully intolerant of Joshua. Today, the people at the Chapel of St. Starbuck, when discussing their understanding of their relationship with God, often reach for the compromise "It's all basically the same". If it really was all basically the same, why couldn't we reach a compromise in which all the names of all the gods are just alternate names for the God of Scripture? Then everybody could be happy. Or, is there something radically different about the God of Scripture? Join the congregations of Community Presbyterian and the Chapel of St. Starbuck as we decide whether to fish or cut bait in this week's sermon, "The Great Buckeye" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 11/6/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
13 |
Folding the Pope's Vestments | After successfully debating with the Pharisees, the Sadducees and a lawyer, Jesus turns to His disciples and the crowd and says something that shocks many contemporary Christians. “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it;" I think many contemporary Protestants think about Jesus as abolishing Jewish law, and here He is saying the exact opposite. What He was addressing is the tendency we all have to involve ourselves with the busy-ness of church to avoid the hard work of a Christian. Join the Congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for this week's sermon from Micah 3:5-12 and Matthew 23:1-2, "Folding the Pope's Vestments" by clicking HERE for audio, or HERE for a text version. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 10/30/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
14 |
Green Peas | What do you think about God's Commandments? I don't mean the Ten Commandments. I mean all 613 of them. What? You didn't know? Are these orders from hq on what to do to earn God's love, or something else? And what DID Moses do that was so bad he couldn't enter the Promised Land? Our sermon this week is "Green Peas" from Deuteronomy 34:1-12 and Matthew 22:34-46. Click HERE for the audio version, or HERE for the printed text. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 10/23/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
15 |
The Coin | Sometimes, the question you hear is only masking the real question which is being asked. In today's passage from Matthew 22:15-22, Jesus is confronted in the Temple by some disciples of Pharisee teachers and some Herodians and asked a simple question, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor?" The answer depends on what law you mean, and the actual makeup of the coin used to pay the tax. Join the congregations of the Chapel of St. Starbuck and Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for this week's sermon, "The Coin" by clicking HERE, or get a printed copy from HERE. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 10/16/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 16 | A Negotiable God | I hear a lot of talk at the Chapel of St. Starbuck about the "wrathful" Old Testament God and the "loving" New Testament God. When I point out that there is only one God, the point is readily conceded, but I'm then told that God tried being wrathful, and when that didn't work, He tried being loving. I think what is going on here is an attempt to color Jesus as a more flexible, loving, forgiving, comfortable, open-to-negotiation version of God. Jesus is all of God we can perceive, but He is not in competition with His Father. Join the congregations of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY and the Chapel of St. Starbuck while we follow a trail of mystery in the words of the people in Exodus 32:1-14. Why do they say "These are your gods" when there is only one calf? And why is Jesus so inflexible in His Parable in Matthew 22:1-14? Click HERE for a text version. or HERE for the audio. | 10/9/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
17 |
Sour Grapes | Accepting God's gift of free grace is not nearly so satisfying to many of us as the idea that we won it from somebody else. Over the centuries, misguided people have used the Gospel passage for today, Matthew 21:33-46 and others like it to support horrible offenses against the Jewish people. If we would count ourselves among the people of God, we need to read Scripture for what it says, not what we would like it to say. That takes courage. Join us in a conversation I had with a young man in 1968 as we explore Matthew 21:33-46 and Isaiah 5:1-7 in this week's sermon, "Sour Grapes" by clicking HERE for the audio or HERE for a pdf. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 10/2/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| 18 | The Birds and the Bees | The best laid plans of men and angels....This week's sermon, from Exodus 17:1-7 and Matthew 21:23-32 is titled "The Birds and the Bees". It was a hard sermon to prepare. I actually wrote the entire thing twice. Right up to church time, I was altering it. In fact, I ad libbed part, and changed the written sermon AFTER church. The one thing I didn't do was to push the "record" button. When I saw what I had done, I comforted myself by noting that this is fourth Sunday, and on fourth Sunday, I have the service at King's Daughters' and Sons' Home. "I'll record it then", I comforted myself. Nuff' said...I didn't do it then, either, so this week's sermon is only available (for now) in written form, HERE. UPDATE: If you can put up with audio recorded in my man cave, with the A/C going in the background, It's now available by clicking HERE. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 9/25/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
19 |
Righty Tighty | Some parts of the media have so successfully linked illegal immigration and the budget deficit that you could well come away from the debate believing that the one is the cause of the other. Among certain portions of our population, that impression reaches the level of certainty. In the same way most people will think "whale" when you say "Jonah", the mention of budget deficits brings up the immigration debate in the minds of many. It becomes "what everybody knows" and is accepted as uncritically as the notion that Jonah was swallowed by a whale. The text, however, makes no mention of a whale. In the debate about our societal responsibility toward those in the dawn of life, the children; those in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those in the shadows of life, the convicted, the sick, the hopeless, we're often encouraged to believe that "God helps those who help themselves". Thus, the down-and-outs of our society have no one to blame, and we have no responsibility toward them. That's also not in the Bible. It's one of Aesop's Fables, but it's become "what everybody knows". Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Ky for our sermon from Jonah 33:10-4:11 and Matthew 20:1-16 titled Righty Tighty by clicking HERE or download a pdf from HERE. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 9/18/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
20 |
Mah Nishtana | Protestants tend to see church as something you "go to", and religion as something you "do", usually on Sunday. Sometime in the past century, we turned religious matters over to the professionals, and, as a result, biblical illiteracy is now a frightening reality. "Most Christians", George Gallup says, "don't know what they believe or why." Jews, on the other hand, tend to see religion as a story one lives out, and religion as primarily a family affair. That's reflected in the text for today describing the first Passover and in Jewish Pesach practice down to today. We might well, with the youngest child at the Seder, ask "Mah Nishtana?" "What's different?" Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY and the Chapel of St. Starbuck for this week's sermon from Exodus 12:1-14, "Mah Nishtana" by clicking HERE, or download a pdf copy by clicking HERE. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 9/4/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
21 |
Inevitable God | We asked two weeks ago if we thought that we had the power to surprise God -- that is, does God move with us into an uncertain future in which we might do something surprising to him, or does God know how the story ends? In other words, are our lives a book that God is reading with us or a book which God has read? My feeling is that God has the answers and knows how it will play out. We have a part to play in the creation of a loving God. All of it, from the oppression of Pharaoh to Jesus' prediction of his own death plays out as it must, as it always has, as it always will be. Knowing this, we can turn our attention from "What must I do to be saved" to "What must I do to faithfully play my part in God's great creation." To do so turns our attention from "what's in it for me?" to "What can I do for God and others?" That is the beginning of the kingdom. Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for this week's sermon from Exodus 3 and Matthew 16 titled "Inevitable God" by clicking HERE, or read the sermon online by clicking HERE. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 8/28/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
22 |
God Within | Sixty years ago I was taught about the "Gotcha God" the God way up there in heaven who watched over everything I did so as to assure that I'd be punished for everything, including those things I got away with because my parents were distracted and didn't notice them. The Gotcha God is God Without -- an external force that just judges. This week, the Chapel of St. Starbuck received a visit from the Hon. Jeremiah Bainworthy, a candidate for the US Congress, and a believer in dominion theology -- the understanding that Christians are called to a task of world domination. Join the congregation of the Chapel of St. Starbuck and Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for this week's sermon from Romans 12:1-8 and Matthew 16:13-20, "God Within" by clicking HERE. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 8/21/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
|
23 |
Boo! | One of the congregants at the Chapel of St. Starbuck asked me last Tuesday if I thought of myself as a spiritual creature having a physical experience or a physical being seeking spiritual experiences. That's a heck of a question! If the real "me" is a spiritual being, a spark of God if you like, I would approach my time on earth differently than if I thought of myself as a hunk of meat trying to have a spiritual experience. What do you think? Join the congregations of the Chapel of St. Starbuck and Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte while we examine if it is possible to slip up behind God and surprise him in our sermon, "Boo!" from Genesis 45:1-15 and Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 by clicking on the title above. Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org. | 8/14/11 | Free | View In iTunes |
| Total: 23 Episodes |
Customer Reviews
Wonderful!
From the pulpit, Rev. Schneider gives interesting insights into contemporary Christian issues. Highly recommended!
