{"id":1646,"date":"2009-09-11T00:00:10","date_gmt":"2009-09-11T00:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=1646"},"modified":"2018-09-03T04:34:16","modified_gmt":"2018-09-03T04:34:16","slug":"webb-preaches-on-jesus-hometown-showdown-downtown-in-nazareth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2009\/webb-preaches-on-jesus-hometown-showdown-downtown-in-nazareth\/","title":{"rendered":"Webb Preaches on Jesus’ ‘Hometown Showdown Downtown’ in Nazareth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"NOAC 2009
\nNational Older Adult Conference of the Church of the Brethren<\/h3>\n

Lake Junaluska, N.C. — Sept. 7-11, 2009<\/h3>\n

<\/h1>\n

<\/h6>\n
\"\"
Dennis Webb, pastor of Naperville (Ill.) Church of the Brethren, brought the message for the closing worship service of the 2009 National Older Adult Conference. For more photos of worship at NOAC, click here.
Photo by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Sept. 11, 2009<\/strong><\/h6>\n
Preacher:\u00a0Dennis Webb,\u00a0pastor of\u00a0Naperville (Ill.)\u00a0Church of the Brethren<\/em>
\nText: Mark 6:1-6<\/em><\/h6>\n

There\u2019s always a musical rhythm to every good sermon, but in the case of Friday\u2019s closing worship at the 2009 NOAC Dennis Webb literally wove words and music together into a seamless whole.<\/p>\n

Webb, pastor of Naperville (IL) Church of the Brethren, has in recent years tackled the task of learning how to play guitar with the same enthusiasm and relish he has brought to his active pastoral ministry, and he brought some of these gifts to his message.<\/p>\n

\u201cHometown Showdown Downtown Your Town: Nazareth,\u201d a message built around Mark 6:1-6, explored the story of\u00a0when Jesus was rejected by his hometown folks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis own people reacted negatively against him. He had come to Nazareth to offer healing, to offer hope, to offer revival, to offer renewal,\u201d Webb said.<\/p>\n

There was no welcome, no red carpet for the hometown boy.\u00a0\u201cInstead, downtown Nazareth was simmering with a trinity of criticism, cynicism,\u00a0pessimism….\u00a0Jesus was literally amazed at the people\u2019s unbelief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focusing on the healing that Jesus performed despite the\u00a0atmosphere\u00a0of doubt, Webb\u00a0speculated that the few sick people who were not healed because the opposition of the hometown folks to Jesus were the ones who were caught in the middle.\u00a0Jesus, who had healed many during his ministry both before and after this incident, found himself unable to perform great wonders in Nazareth except that he was able to heal a few sick people.<\/p>\n

Still, \u201cMiracles sometimes happen when conditions are not favorable,\u201d Webb said, adding\u00a0that transformation, revival, blessing, peace of mind, and renewal also can happen during times and in places that seem unfavorable. \u201cSometimes it is out of despair and desolation that hope comes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In the same way, Webb assured the congregation that Jesus is able to act in our lives despite the physical, spiritual, or emotional burdens we bear–even for those who may have\u00a0come to NOAC bearing hurts or having\u00a0endured disabilities\u00a0for decades.<\/p>\n

The same is true for the church, the preacher continued. The Church of the Brethren also, despite its difficulties,\u00a0may be transformed and revived.<\/p>\n

\u201cI come to tell NOAC that the Bible is right. Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint,\u201d Webb quoted from\u00a0Isaiah 40:31. \u201cAnd the running is not limited to those who are young.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we know too much about each other\u2019s past, but we know little too about each other\u2019s potential, Webb\u00a0added.\u00a0“Nobody knew that these few sick people in downtown Nazareth were going to receive the greatest blessing, because they were discarded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Webb invited the congregation to seek God\u2019s will for their lives, even in their own “Nazareth” where they may be too well known or\u00a0where people may be pessimistic–but where Jesus is present. Jesus did not force people to be healed, Webb said, but acted where the people welcomed him. Jesus did not try to fix Nazareth, but he did reach out to the sick.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe few sick people did not seem like much to the cynics, but to Jesus they were precious in his sight. Sometimes in downtown Nazareth you have to just wait on the Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n

— Frank Ramirez is pastor of Everett (Pa.) Church of the Brethren\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NOAC 2009 National Older Adult Conference of the Church of the Brethren Lake Junaluska, N.C. — Sept. 7-11, 2009 Sept. 11, 2009 Preacher:\u00a0Dennis Webb,\u00a0pastor of\u00a0Naperville (Ill.)\u00a0Church of the Brethren Text: Mark 6:1-6 There\u2019s always a musical rhythm to every good sermon, but in the case of Friday\u2019s closing worship at the 2009 NOAC Dennis Webb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,214,277,300],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-1646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-church-of-the-brethren","tag-everett-church-of-the-brethren","tag-naperville-church-of-the-brethren","tag-national-older-adult-conference"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1648,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1646\/revisions\/1648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1646"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=1646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}