Oct. 27, 2019 Luke 18:9-14 I’m pretty sure that we cannot think our way into God encounters. We can think our way into the type of God we want to encounter, but that’s not the same as an actual encounter. We cannot work our way into these encounters either, as the Pharisee in our […]
Oct. 13, 2019 2 Timothy 2:8-15 Luke 17:11-19 I had a New Testament professor in seminary who often gave these very rousing and inspired lectures during class. On multiple occasions class ended with standing ovations. I had never seen such a thing. The professor wasn’t new at his job; in fact, he had been […]
Oct. 6, 2019 Luke 17:5-10 2 Timothy 1:1-14 A few weeks ago the Jesus whom Luke presents to us tells us to sell all of our possessions. Last week it was a weird parable about Lazarus and the rich man. Before that it was the dishonest manager and the confusing instructions that we “make […]
Sept. 22, 2019 Luke 16:1-13 Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 One of my commentaries on today’s gospel text begins, “So what do you think: is it ever okay to tell the congregation that you really have no idea what a passage means?”[1] Honestly, I read those words with some sense of relief. This guy was a preaching […]
Aug. 25, 2019 Jer. 1:4-10 Luke 13:10-17 To my surprise, the grits were a popular choice at Thursday night’s Feel the Warmth Community Supper with Nourish Bridgeport. Ed, the guy I sat with at dinner told me that he was something of an expert on grits. He makes them every morning for the homebound […]
Aug. 11, 2019 Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 Luke 12:32-40 A conversation I had at General Synod has been playing in my mind lately and especially in light of the latest mass shootings that our country has suffered. The woman’s name was January, and I confess that I’m not even sure if she would identify as […]
June 16, 2019 Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 Romans 5:1-5 Nobody talks about the book, “The Shack” anymore. It was published in 2007, made some waves for a while, was turned into a movie and made some more waves, and then we all moved on to other things. The writing wasn’t especially good, but I thought […]
May 19, 2019 Acts 11:1-18 John 13:31-35 Despite what many people think, the bible is not a rulebook. Nor is it a manual on life with instructions for dealing with all of the various problems that each of us will encounter as we make our ways. And, contrary to what I’ve learned that many […]
May 12, 2019 John 10:22-30 “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah tell us plainly.” In a way it seems like an odd question to be asked in the Gospel of John. No gospel is more clear on explicitly declaring the identity of Jesus than the Gospel of […]
May 5, 2019 Acts 9:1-20 Sermon process The inspiration for the sermon always comes, but I never know when it’s going to hit and that almost always causes a bit of stress. Inevitably, though, each week I feel like God eventually breaks through with some guidance. Often it happens when a line of scripture […]