It’s Not What You Know, But Who You Know…
We ran out of time Sunday, during the reception of new members. I wanted to ask them a series of questions of which they had to get three of the four right in order to be welcomed into our fellowship. Here are the questions I proposed:
Temptation Isn’t A One Time Thing
Not Even For Jesus
In Luke’s version of the temptation of Jesus in the wildeness it says, “when the devil had ended everyt emptation, he departed from Jesus until an opportune time.” Yes, Jesus faced down the tempter and was able to ward off his weaker impulses in favor of the path God had laid out for him. But it doesn’t mean that Jesus never faced serious temptation again. Old Satan decided to wait it out for a more opportune time to try again.
Less Transactional and More Transformational
Sunday, we talked about how easy it is to fall into a ‘transactional mindset’ when it comes to relating to other people. Jesus wasn’t a fan of looking at others in terms of what they could do for him. In fact, he was much more likely to wonder what he might offer to them.
I Think I’m Better Because I’m Afraid I’m Not
We create pecking orders and hierarchies of moral or religious achievement so that we can have concrete proof that we are okay—that we are at least better than obvious ‘sinners.’ The whole nature of judgmentalism flows from our fear that we are not good enough, attractive enough, accomplished enough, popular enough, or loveable enough.
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.