Ephesians 4:1-16 Well, it’s Veteran’s Day week, time for thoughtful remembrance of all those who have served. Although it doesn’t seem to be happening this year, this weekend is usually a time when all the movie channels on TV show a marathon of war movies from different eras in our history. One of the movies …
Ephesians 1:3-14 One of the love-hate relationships that writers have is with their editors. I have worked with several over the years and, as writers are wont to do, I have to sometimes grudgingly admit that their input does, indeed, make my writing a little better. As TS Eliot put it, “I suppose some editors …
Living the Verbs: Imagining God’s New World in Ephesians Continue Reading »
Matthew 20:20-28 Well, we’re coming closer to the end of the political campaign season. We’ve been hearing the debates, then hearing the pundits tell us what we heard. We’ve heard the arguments from both sides—each candidate’s vision for the country and the world. A lot of people have invested heavily in this process, trying to …
Matthew 25:14-30 We know we’re in a tough economy these days, and it seems like there’s nowhere you can put your money where you know it is safe. Banks have failed, your 401k or pension is losing your money rather than gaining it, and the amount of interest you’d get on a savings account is …
Unfreezing God’s Assets: A Sermon on Giving Continue Reading »
Opened up the morning paper to find an article based on a Pew Research study that reveals that the number of people in the U.S. who are unaffiliated to any religious group has jumped to 19.6%, up from 8% in 1990. The study also reveals that Protestants are no longer the majority faith group, down …
On Being Religious But Not Particularly Spiritual Continue Reading »
Luke 10:1-12 As many of you know, I spent two summers in college working at the Gettysburg battlefield.. One of my favorite people in Gettysburg is a guy named, ironically, Jim Getty. Now if you met Jim, you’d immediately know what he does. See, Jim looks just just like Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of …
A few years back, I was reading Brian McClaren’s trilogy of books, A New Kind of Christian, which challenged my thinking in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to the formation of a particular worldview. McClaren used a simple continuum to illustrate the lenses that Americans through which people in general (and Americans …
A Reflection on the Debate: Living Above The Line Continue Reading »
Isaiah 6:1-8 When Carol Crane was a child in first grade, she mystified her teacher and her classmates when she wondered aloud why the number five, displayed in a row of other numbers above the chalkboard was yellow, when it should be green. Her question didn’t make any sense to the teacher and was vaguely …
Revelation 10:1-11 So, the first question that comes to mind when I read this text from Revelation is this: What does a book taste like? Well, if you ever get lost in a Land Rover in the middle of the desert in Dubai, you might get to find out. See, Land Rover knows that …
Confederate dead in front of the Dunker Church on the Antietam Battlefield. Today, September 17, 2012, marks the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam (also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg), which is widely considered to be the single bloodiest day in American history. The estimates are that 22,700 Union and Confederate soldiers were …
A few years ago I was at a retreat for pastors where we were asked to draw a timeline of our spiritual lives, charting the ups and downs of all the things that we had experienced so far. When I looked at mine I noticed some significant peaks and valleys—times when I felt that spiritual …
Prayer: The Base Camp of the Christian Life Continue Reading »
Mark 12:28-34 When I was a kid we used to take long car trips to my grandparents’ place several times a year. While it was only about an hour and a half drive, to my sisters and me it was an eternity. I remember my youngest sister was the most impatient and just about every …
“The day of the Lord’s Supper is an occasion of joy for the Christian community. Reconciled in their hearts with God and the brethren, the congregation receives the gift of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, and, receiving that, it receives forgiveness, new life, and salvation. It is given new fellowship with God and …
Beginning September 9, Tri-Lakes United Methodist Church will offer Holy Communion every Sunday at all three of our worship services. As part of our movement toward becoming a church focused on “making disciples of Jesus Christ for the work of his kingdom,” regular weekly communion provides us with an opportunity to hear the Word of …
John 15:1-17 When you think of fine wine (that is, if you think of wine at all, which you may or may not depending on your tradition – I am a Welch’s man, myself) your mind and palate might wander to a particular region of France. The French have a long history of vintage winemaking …
The Fruitful Way (A Process for Making Disciples) Continue Reading »