Park View Mennonite Church sermons

Focusing on the feelings of the young mother, Mary, as she realizes the meaning of giving birth to Jesus, Barbara Moyer Lehman, associate pastor at Park View Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA, says the young mother needed to process with others, especially her elder Aunt Elizabeth, as to what this was all about. Mary’s song, the Magnificat, is the result of her pondering, her realization of the work of God inside her body. In the same way, we must make room for God working in our lives, “hollowing out space for Jesus to be born” in our bodies and in our spirits–”willing bodies awaiting the divine gift.”

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This third Sunday of Advent and 12 days before Christmas is supposed to be the “Joy Sunday,” Phil Kniss, senior pastor of Park View Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, VA, told his congregation, but for one exception: the economy. A downturn in our economy, our culture tells us, is robbing us of joy and happiness this season. “Even while we weep and mourn the sorrows of life, there is an underground river of joy–if we align ourselves with the loves and the purposes of God. It should come as no surprise that when our culture which is oriented around self-fulfillment, around satisfying individual drives and desires and with the accumulation of wealth and power, that culture becomes paralyzed by fear, by anxiety and by self-doubt.”

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Pastor Phil Kniss preaches on the second Sunday of Advent at Park View Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Virginia. In his sermon, “Found by God at Peace,” reminds us that Advent is about God’s coming to us in Jesus. But when God comes to us, what will God find? Will God find us at peace? Deep peace comes from a deep clarity about who we are as a people and who God is. And deep communal clarity can only come from deep communal repentance. Repentance is not remorse, but a change in our way of thinking about ourselves.

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