Ekama Eni: "Messenger With No Name" (Sermon for August 11, 2024)

Have you ever had to be a bearer of bad news? How did you feel or what did you do to prepare to give someone a word that you knew was going to be hard? Have you had to lay someone off? Deliver the news of someone’s passing for the first time? Cancel an important trip or meeting? In a world that is ending* it seems like passing on bad news is so much of what we do and share as a community.

In our Hebrew scriptures this week we’re airdropped into the perpetual family drama (and the results of questionable parenting) of the one and only, King David. As death-dealing shenanigans ensue, King David receives some bad news. But also it’s perhaps good news for his political life? Good news isn’t good to everyone, so how can we grapple with that? How do David and his court advisors grapple with this? The messenger of the news in the text for this week is an unnamed Cushite. Join me on Sunday as we name this unnamed bringer of news, a Cushite person, and we journey through the news that surrounds us and how it is proclaimed in our midst.

See you soon,

Pastor E