Life and sermon preparation always intersect. This week, I found myself at the crossroads of one of Jesus’ healing stories and my own medical journey. “Maybe,” she said, “or perhaps you just notice them more because you have one.” She’s right, in that the circumstances of our lives often help to focus our attention and…

My Pentecost sermon. Thanks for reading. __________________________ One of the challenges of standing up here every week is trying to communicate clearly. Actually, that’s true even when I’m not standing in the pulpit. Almost any time we communicate with each other we run the risk of being misunderstood. Our words are an essential and valuable…

As human beings, we spend a lot of time dealing with what we don’t know, whether we know it or not. Matthew 8:18-27 gives great examples of that, as well as Jesus’ call to relish our bewilderment. _______________________ One of the jobs I have had along the way, as many of you know, was to…

I read an interesting book this past week titled This Is the Door: The Body, Pain, and Faith by Darcey Steinke who has lived with and through a spinal injury that caused her incredible pain. The book is much more than an autobiographical account of her suffering. Each chapter looks at the history and reality…

I made it to the end of the Sermon on the Mount in my sermon last Sunday, a journey that was meaningful and surprising to me. Here is how I wrapped things up. ________________________ This morning we complete the series we began fifteen Sundays ago when we read the Beatitudes, which are the opening verses…

Whatever logic there is to the Revised Common Lectionary (the preaching schedule followed by a lot of mainline Protestant churches), part of it seems to be to skip over passages that are tough to preach on, even when they are well known verses. One of those came up last week. ___________________________ Ginger and I were…

It’s been a long week and I am late posting my sermon from last Sunday as I continue through the Sermon on the Mount; this week, Matthew 7:1-6. The translation I used read this way: “Don’t write people off, so that you won’t be written off. You’ll receive the same judgment you give. Whatever you…

Even though I didn’t follow the lectionary this week, the timing of my sermon couldn’t have been better. The daffodils are just coming into bloom and I was bouncing off of Jesus’ admonition to pay attention to the flowers. Here’s where it took me. _________________________ Last week, as we gathered at the empty tomb, we…

Here’s my sermon from Easter Sunday. _________________________________ Because I grew up Africa in countries that were British colonies, I primarily learned European history in school. My history teacher in seventh grade at the Lusaka International School was Ms. White, who was a rather intimidating British woman. One of the things I remember learning about from…

I was traveling on the day I usually post my sermon. When I went to look for it to link to the newsletter, I realized it was left unsent, which means your inbox will get a little crowded today. _________________________________ Singer Amy Grant has been making the interview rounds lately because she released a new…