06/18/2024
Comedian Turns Snarky Reply into Generosity
Here is an illustration that I wanted to include this past Sunday but ran out of time.
06/11/2024
A Word From My New Research Assistant
Being able to forgive ourselves—our ability to allow God’s amazing grace to uncover, weed out, and heal our guilt and shame—is never easy, but it is critical to our growth as children of God. The following is what the new, improved ChatGBT came up with in terms of articles online that might help—at least in a secular, psychological context. Go ahead and click on the links if you want to follow up.
06/03/2024
Anger: It’s Worse Than You Think
You can’t be a faithful practitioner of Christianity if you don’t keep a tight rein on your words and how you share them with others.
05/28/2024
Anger & Forgiveness
Reflecting on Ryan's message, and looking forward to sharing "We Do Need An Anger Wrangler" with everyone on June 2. See you on Sunday!
Archived Posts
What Jacob Marley Would Do,
If He Could Do It…
I thought about using the following for a benediction—since Jacob Marley was warning Scrooge about the danger of loving money and what it could buy. Ends up with the Cantata and everything else going on, I didn’t have the time. So here is what you might have heard if the sermon itself was 5 minutes shorter!
A Confirming Word on Old King Herod
I just want to echo what Rick said in his fine sermon yesterday (Nov. 23). Herod was a ruthless tyrant and skilled politician. When the Magi don’t report back to him, he decides to kill all the male children of Bethlehem under the age of 2. That’s one paranoid dude.
Power Without Conscience?
I ran out of room for this vignette in Sunday’s sermon. Remember the quote that could be the headline for Ahab and Naboth: “All that’s needed for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.” The following reinforces that truth.
The Cars Are Looking for A King
I don’t have a thing to add to Pastor Jessica’s excellent sermon this last Sunday. The fable/parable she shared has been one of my favorites for all the lessons she pulled from it in her message. I was playing around with my friend Chat GPT and after several abortive attempts, we came up with the following modernized version of Judges 9:7-15.
The Lost Benediction
Depending on the length of the sermon, I try to add a little something extra in my benedictions. This week I wrote up a benediction but then realized we’d be singing and waving our umbrellas to some New Orleans jazz.