03/24/2025
Matthew 24: One More Thing...
I sometimes stumble on old documents I’ve created but have completely forgotten about. I cannot remember why I created them or what purpose they were originally supposed to serve. While researching Matthew 24 on my computer I came across a little something I wrote for my previous congregation. Again, I have no idea why I put it together, but it caught my attention.
Despite What You Might Have Heard…
If you want to know more about the heart of God—
If you want to experience the forgiving love of Jesus
If you want to put down roots into an ancient—
and always relevant—faith
For you and for your whole family—
Then you are welcome to come be with us
At Trinity On Jackson. (Period.) (Exclamation Point.)
A United Methodist Community of Faith.
I don’t think it would be much of a stretch to apply those same words to us here at Carmel Church:
If you want to know more about the heart of God—
If you want to experience the forgiving love of Jesus
If you want to put down roots into an ancient,
and always relevant, faith
For you and for your whole family—
Then you are welcome to come be with us
At Carmel United Methodist Church. (Exclamation Point.)
I don’t know how we’d use it, but I like it.
It’s an invitation I would definitely be interested in if I wasn’t already here.
Archived Posts
One More Piece of Unsolicited Advice
I had one too many examples yesterday. Here’s the "Ask Pastor Tim" scenario that didn’t make the cut for Sunday’s sermon: (read more)
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!
A Confirming Word on Old King Herod
I just want to echo what Rick said in his fine sermon yesterday (Nov. 23). Herod was a ruthless tyrant and skilled politician. When the Magi don’t report back to him, he decides to kill all the male children of Bethlehem under the age of 2. That’s one paranoid dude.