04/23/2020
Weekly Video Message with Rev. Patti Napier. Take a moment to recognize Earth Day! This is the 50th Year to celebrate Earth Day. Look around and see the beauty in God's creation.
03/05/2020
Many people set a goal for the New Year for positive change in their lives. Christians, on Ash Wednesday, set a goal to change our lives. Not to randomly change our lives, but to transform our lives so that we may become more like Christ and so we may glorify God. From Ash Wednesday we march into the season of Lent, focusing 40 days on a practice which will then become a positive discipline in our lives.
02/26/2020
This Ash Wednesday I am thinking about the Scripture from Genesis 3: 19..”.for you are dust and to dust you shall return.” This reminds me that without the breath or Spirit of God moving in us, we are just like ashes--lifeless and worthless. Without the Spirit of God, we are not what the Army slogan in the 1980’s suggested for us, “Be all you can be”. Without the Spirit of God, we will not receive the fruits of the spirit...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control. Oh, we may think that we can manufacture those or discipline those into our lives of our own strength, but the Holy Spirit can do so much more than we can of our own accord.
01/03/2020
Roundabouts are a way of Life…at least in Carmel IN
In Carmel, a frequent topic of conversation is roundabouts and certainly most everyone has an opinion. I will admit that I have always looked forward to every new one being completed. I will actually plan my route from here to there thinking about where there are roundabouts.
Archived Posts
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.”
One of the Longest Benedictions I Ran Out of Time to Share
Maybe you know the story of how Joseph and Mary accidentally left Jesus at the gas station on their way home from Jerusalem. Well, not the gas station bathroom in Jesus’ case. Joe and Mary are far down the road before they realize Jesus isn’t with them...
So many quips and quotes...
So little time to preach
I wonder what Mary and Martha’s phones might look like:
* Martha = the open browser with 27 tabs
* Mary = the single window that matters
* Psalm 46 = God saying, “Close the tabs.”
Quotable Outtakes That Didn’t Make the Sermon This Week
“When you try to control everything, you don’t just exhaust yourself—you quietly replace trust in God with trust in you.” & more
There is a challenge when it comes to preaching the Word of God.
Preachers are called to open up and interpret the word—inspired and written down thousands of years ago—and make it relevant to a very different world. On top of that there’s a degree of persuasion that goes along with the process.