POEM: "Easter is Judgment Day"
I love poetry, but I often find it more difficult to understand than simple prose. It took me a long time to realize that poetry is supposed to call for an entirely different way of seeing and hearing.
From One Detective to Another
The actual quote, that I was alluding to in Sunday’s sermon is from Sherlock Holmes. It is: “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
Using Your Blessings to Bless Others
When I said that’s not what Jesus wants from you, I didn’t mean that Jesus doesn’t want your car, home, pans, phone, and TV. He still has need of those things...
One more thing about Pastor Jessica's message:
To Be Jesus’ BFF
There are Bible scholars who have come to believe that Lazarus was probably the best friend Jesus had—outside his family and disciples. He is often in the home of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus. When there, it feels like Jesus is in a place where he can let his hair down among friends.
Archived Posts
Not Just for Parents
Our current sermon series is about How To Talk Parent, but it doesn’t require any of us to be parents to appreciate the bits of wisdom OUR parents shared with us growing up.
If Not Higher
Here’s a story I wanted to use when talking about ‘what you do when no one is looking’ yesterday. It’s a wonderful illustration of what Jesus was saying in Matthew 6:1-6—do what you do because of who you want to be, not so that others will take notice and praise you.
The Perfect Church
There is an old joke about the perfect church. We talked just a little about the perfect pastor, but turnabout is fair play. It goes like this:
The Clothes You Wear
Sunday I talked about Joshua the High Priest having his filthy clothing replaced by a cleaned and beautiful garments. I also used the illustration of a boy becomes a dragon—who ‘wears’ dragon scales—and is stripped of those scales in order to be restored to a boy. In fact, I could have done the whole sermon around all the clothing imagery in scripture.
What just missed the cut for Sunday’s Sermon
Naaman’s servants may actually become one of the hidden gems of the sermon. They say, essentially: “If the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it.”