Sermons by Darryl G. Klassen

THE BLESSING OF DOUBT   How can doubt be a blessing? We all struggle with doubts to varying degrees. We all have questions about our faith in the crucified and risen Jesus – we do. And this bothers us. It’s okay to admit that you have doubts about Jesus. If this isn’t a safe place for doubters, then we need to change some attitudes. If the can of worms were opened the questions would come spilling out.               Doubt has been made out to be a plague to faith. It is so unwelcome in Christian circles that space has not been made to allow it. We even fear it. What will it do to our young people? If I express doubts about Christianity, I will be put out of the church. You may feel, “Doubt is sin, after all.”               There are two kinds of doubters. We need to identify that there are unwelcome doubts and doubts that can be a blessing.              Unwelcome doubts come from doubters who use doubt as a cover up for sin. They think they are being intellectually honest and cannot fi

UNLOCKING THE DOOR OF FEAR   It’s late on Sunday night. The city is in turmoil over the day’s events. A woman of some questionable background is going around spreading a rumor. She says that the body of her teacher is missing. Then she changes her story and says that he’s not dead anymore and she’s talked with him. The dead man’s followers don’t know what to think. They are paralyzed with fear. Their leader has been executed by the authorities and they believe that they’re next. They’re not wrong. Soldiers search for the body. Authorities search for these followers. All they can do is hide and keep the doors locked.              The resurrection of Jesus Christ has taken place as Jesus said it would. Mary says its true. Peter and John say the tomb is empty. But the followers of Jesus are afraid to tell anyone about this good news.             Fear! Fear keeps us locked up and hidden. They feared the Jews. We fear the unbeliever. Fear refers to being intimidated. Fear makes us want to r

“JUST AN OLD-FASHIONED LOVE SONG”   As I meditated on and researched the role of Mary the Magdalene at the tomb of Jesus, an old song popped into my head that seemed to fit her story.  Three Dog Night  recorded this song in the 60s (show lyrics). If you put a little effort into it, you can tease out some biblical themes in the song. I wonder if God laughs when song writers reflect his themes without trying to.               Mary the Magdalene is a mysterious character. She is mentioned 12 times in the gospel accounts, but we don’t know much about her. Mary has always seemed like a flat character to me, no perspective. We don’t know why she was such an ardent follower of Jesus. We don’t know why she was the first person to see the risen Christ. But she loved Jesus deeply.               One writer commented that if he were Jesus, he would appear to the Jewish leaders to show them they were wrong about Messiah. Or he would go to Pilate and say, “See?” Or to Peter, the supposed leader of t