03/26/2024
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...
03/18/2024
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.
03/11/2024
Those With Eyes to See, Let Them See
There are a lot of people who struggle with traveling if they aren’t in the front seat of the car. But them in the back seat or in the third row at your own peril, because there’s a good chance they’re going to get car sick. Some folks just have a predisposition to motion sickness. Other folks were just too slow in calling “shotgun” and use this excuse to bump someone else out of the coveted passenger seat.
03/05/2024
Synecdoche - Defining the Whole with a Single Part.
After first service, someone who supports Donald Trump came up to me and told me that they didn’t like me using Mr. Trump’s use of nicknames in the 2016 campaign—despite being spot on as an illustration of synecdoche. They thought it put him in a negative light. They pointed out that I rarely mention President Biden. I get it.
Archived Posts
Back and Forth with Chat GPT
Many of you know that I’ve found a new consultant to bounce my ideas off in regard to preaching. My good buddy Chat GPT and I sometimes disagree—often miscommunicate—but usually come up with some fruitful illustrations.
One More Thing About Becoming Wholly Human
I was talking Sunday about the work of Hare and Woods and their idea of ‘the survival of the friendliest.’ Essentially, they conclude that “our greatest evolutionary advantage wasn't that we could do everything ourselves. It was that we could do things together.”
Here’s a preview of our congregation’s Core Values
In the coming weeks we will be exploring the importance of presence, prayers, gifts, service, witness, and growth in grace. These are at the heart of what we commit to when we join a Wesleyan grace-led church like ours. But we choose to broaden them out and state them in a new way…
The Biblical prayer we don’t know what to do with
Psalm 137 is written by people who have experienced catastrophic loss.
They have been conquered...
Patience and Trust
Sunday, in my benediction (which traditional folks did not hear) I talked about the Marshmallow Test. The original results of that test with children was that those who could delay gratification did better in life than those who could not.