I Just Wish It Were Obvious
It really is frustrating that understanding the Bible as it demands to be understood takes so much on our part. It’s not that we’re lazy, it’s just that we think it ought to say what it means and mean what it says. We begin to resent the word, interpretation in all its forms because of it.
How Are We Supposed to Understand the Bible?
A Five-Part Discussion
The two words most commonly used regarding the Bible are infallible and inspired. The problem is that different religions—even different Christians within the same church—mean different things by using those words.
The words infallible (incapable of failing) or inerrant (without error) are often used of the Bible in order to express the belief that the Bible is trustworthy and reliable. If I can count on the Bible to be true then I am much more likely to live my life by what it teaches. (Click to read more).
Predictions for the Future from 1900
I found this wonderful vignette online and was so tempted to work it into Sunday’s sermon since it is about looking down the road toward the future.
175 years in Numbers, and in Lives Touched
Here are the numbers—a conservative guesstimate—of what 175 years of ministry might look like.
Archived Posts
Not If, But When, the Crisis Comes
One of the best Bible commentators alive today is N.T. Wright or Tom Wright. When reflecting on the parable of the wise and foolish maidens, he wrote this:...
What I wanted to say
but ran out of time this Sunday
Here is the benediction I was going to use before discovering the excellent MLK Jr. video.
The Storm that Comes To Us as Helplessness
I want to share with you a small portion of my conversation with Artificial Intelligence online. Some of you know, I use Chat-GPT as a thoughtful sounding board for the questions and insights I’m working with on whatever scriptures I’m studying each week. What follows is an example of those discussions...
One Final Scene About Scrooge
There was one more scene in Dickens’s novel that reveals something of what has happened to Scrooge over the years. I did not have time to share it on Sunday, but I believe it reveals a great deal about the regrets in Scrooge’s life....
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!