Advent Not being a liturgical denomination (or a denomination for that matter), it would be easy for us to miss that today is the first Sunday of Advent. Although I was baptized into the Methodist church at the age of two (a compromise between my Lutheran mother and Catholic father), I stopped attending when given…
Category: Pastoral
Bekah, Thanksgiving, and Judgment in a Triad
Bekah As many of you know, this past Tuesday, November 16 would have been Bekah’s 17th birthday. The milestone was a reminder of the loss we all felt that evil Saturday morning in early May. And yes…I did call it an "evil morning"–God never intended that death would enter this world–that it would take a…
Jesus Wept
(This article is based on the sermon given at the memorial service for Rebekah Warren–who passed away instantly from injuries due to an automobile accident early in the morning on Saturday, May 8, 2010. Today, November, 16, 2010, would have been her 17th birthday.) Although the sudden, tragic death of a child can lead to…
Finishing the Race
(Written 11/11/2010) As I mentioned in a previous article, I am in the midst of a nine week “Couch Potato to 5K” (C25K) program. Today was week 5 day 3–the first session comprised entirely of jogging (outside the five minute warm-up and cool-down walking periods). Twenty minutes may seem humorously minuscule to an accomplished jogger,…
Doubt in a Triad
Because I write a weekly article and preach almost as often, I do get a good amount of time with Scripture. However, I’ve been trying to open up the Bible more outside of doing research–often in trying to dissect it during study we miss the forest through the trees, overlooking the whole point God was…
Halloween Crèche?
On a street quite familiar to those of us in Antrim who have needed medical or dental attention, there is a large outdoor crèche that helps bring a little Christ into Christmas during the holiday season–as it reminds us the Son of God, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23, ESV), “made himself nothing, taking the form…
A Christian Voter’s Guide
There are a good number of individuals who will find great discomfort in the title of this article. If you are a non-Christian…it may elicit fears of fundamentalists trying to elect their confederates so as to…in a nefarious conspiracy…change America into a Taliban-style Christian theocracy! Even if you are a believer, the title may be…
“Mighty Mouse come down and save the day…”
(October 19, 2010 for October 24, 2010) Today was day two of week two of my “Couch Potato to 5K” running program…and I’m somewhat embarrassed to admit that twenty minutes filled with repeating periods of jogging ninety seconds and walking two minutes is so exhausting for me–by the time I reach the final jogging cycle…
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
Who doesn’t love a good ghost story? Now, who doesn’t love a good ghost story? Perhaps there are some sitting before me who have never enjoyed them…but I’ve always liked tales involving other-worldly beings. For instance, I can still remember back in third grade when Mrs. Edwards would read to us from horror books written…
Whose Table?
Now…if you are like me and get great comfort from routine…at this point you are a bit uncomfortable because I got Winslow to change up the order of the service…and I’m making you all wait for the Lord’s Supper until after the sermon. However, since my talk is about that very subject, it seemed apropos…
Time in a Bottle
Redeeming Time During Sunday morning’s Bible study we’ve been slowly working our way through Ephesians, and this week we spent some time with these verses: Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but…
Harvest Laborers
We are in the final day of Home & Harvest Festival here in Antrim…and it seemed appropriate that today’s sermon’s topic sprout from that. For whatever reason, “home” never seemed like the obvious choice–“harvest” did. I suppose that makes sense; for instance, the t-shirts Rick had printed up don’t have a picture of of a…
Figs and a Whale
I’ll admit up front that the title of this sermon is a bit nonsensical…I really know of no place in the Bible…or history…or in fiction for that matter…where figs have been connected with a whale…although, never having read Moby Dick, for all I know Captain Ahab may have had a thing for figs like Captain…
Kenley’s Sermon on Jonah
(14 questions) First..apologies…this sermon was written (and executed) under the influence of a bad cold. Thus my limited intelligence has been further impeded… Although sometimes a sermon topic jumps out at me, I really like it when church members suggest ideas for a talk. With the help of her mom Randi, Kenley came up with…
Homosexuality
The sermon I do not want to give… I stand before you prepared to preach a sermon I do not want to give. Many in society think that Christians have a fixation (and a negative one at that) on homosexuality and sex in general. This talk will be seen as further proof that we have…