Two series This is another sermon in two series…one series that is intentional…and one that, as I prepared for this talk, I realized I have been implicitly doing. VISION This is the second to last talk in the first series…my VISION for the Antrim Church of Christ. Today we'll be discussing the letter O…which follows:…
Too Big for Our Britches
Although having newer Nissans (under warranty) means Michelle and I generally take our cars to the dealer for service, I have a mechanic friend, Paul, who I trust completely when it comes to what should or shouldn't be done with our vehicles. If Paul were ever to suggest something that didn't make sense to me,…
I Dreamt I Died Last Night
Nightmares How many here have had a nightmare? [ Wait for people to respond…and assuming nobody says no… ] I kind of figured, short of a newborn baby, everyone present for this sermon would confirm they have had bad dreams. What are they about? Being chased? Being attacked by some evil power? Falling? A bad…
Disappointment
(Thoughts from Friday, October 7, 2011.) I'm not a very emotional person. If anything, sometimes I feel guilty because I don't have the same strong reaction to negative occurrences as many in the same (or similar) situations. While others can be devastated by an event, I can seem emotionally oblivious. This works out well in…
Don’t Bring Your Sadness Down on Me, Peace Is Free
Peace. Isn't there is a universal longing for that elusive condition? Yes, there are those who relish constant turmoil, but I like to think that they are the minority. As a whole, don't we all want peace, whether it be between nations, between individuals, or in our own hearts? This talk will focus on the…
“After We Had Torn Ourselves Away From Them…”
VISION Keeping to my promise of sharing one letter a month, we are now at the second "I" in my VISION for the Antrim Church of Christ. Yes, I do realize that technically I've broken that promise, but I don't think you can blame me for the unseasonably-early pre-Halloween snow that cancelled church last week….
Occupy Sadness
A New Character One of the blogs that I check out daily is "The Corner" at the National Reivew Online. It has multiple contributors, but I'll admit I've never been really good, even with books, about remembering who the authors are (assuming I even check with a shared blog like "The Corner"). However, this past…
Of Witches and Goblins and Big Black Cats
As many of you know, I avoid creating sermons for holidays—they seem so perfunctory and repetitive. That, and I'm rebellious and stubborn at heart, so having the calendar implicitly tell me I must do something makes me want to do it all the less. Now Halloween, which is a couple weeks away, isn't a holiday…
Luther Plays “Amen” & “This Little Light of Mine”
Nothin' better than an awesome artist (and great human being) singing a Christian song. I take that back, singing two Christian songs is better! 🙂 This is Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson playing at the Antrim Home & Harvest Festival. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzfW31DvenA&rel=0&w=512] A bonus non-Christian song by Luther:
“Too often we underestimate…”
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. –Leo Buscaglia, Born for Love (as quoted by Barbara Oakley in Cold-Blooded Kindness).
Atheist Elementary School
One of the RSS feeds I follow is for a web site called Religion Dispatches. I will admit that I generally just read the short blurbs in the feed instead of going to the site—as a whole their pieces are on the liberal end of the spectrum and my traditional Christian hairline doesn't have much…
Missing the Bus
Introduction Today's sermon is going to be brief and a bit short on scriptural references. That's because I think the testimony it includes from a friend of mine is so powerful it's best to let it almost entirely stand on its own. First, about my friend. I can't say he and I were close…but he…
What Kind of Friend Are You?
VISION When I shared my VISION for the Antrim Church of Christ, I promised to speak on one letter of that acronym per month…and since I'll be heading to check out the Hartt School in Hartford with Mikey next Sunday, keeping my word means that today we are on the letter S. Stepping back two…
Giving God What He Needs
Do you enjoy movies that involve angels? Although I do, I worry that secular films with biblical themes can cause us to confuse that which is actually in Scripture with what is just in the imagination of a Hollywood writer. Regardless, a while back Michelle, Mikey, and I watched Legion, whose overall plot is that…
Heaping Burning Coals on 9/11
Ten years ago today I was sitting in my office at Tickets.com in Fairfax, Virginia. I was on the phone with my boss, and she was doing my yearly review. As we were chatting, she mentioned she saw a report on TV that a plane crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. She…