Sermon Text: Acts 16:25-34 Sermon Excerpt Are you saved? Maybe that is a question you have not heard in a long time. Maybe it is one you have heard far too often. Are you saved? Earlier this week when a group gathered for a Topical Tuesday conversation about salvation we had more stories to tell than time allowed. One participant remembered a time when as a young mother she had allowed a stranger into her home simply because she craved interaction and conversation with Read More …
transformation
Ashes of Transformation (#1003)
Dawn Hutchings, one of the pastors of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Ontario, recently shared an Ash Wednesday homily she wrote from a progressive perspective. On this day when the most familiar words serve as reminders of our mortality, Hutchings suggests another way to receive and embrace the ashes that will adorn our foreheads: Let the ashes you wear be the ashes of transformation; of awakening to the beauty and love of seizing the moment and living it to the fullest. So What? This past Read More …
Religion is Morally Neutral (#0976)
An account of a conversation between the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu includes Tutu's words below, which explain how he understands religion as morally neutral: And you have to remember that religion is of itself neither good nor bad . . . Religion is a morally neutral thing. It is what you do with it. It is like a knife, a knife is good when you use it for cutting up bread for sandwiches. A knife is bad when you stick it in somebody’s gut. Religion is good when it produces a Dalai Read More …
Call to Worship for Sunday, August 5 (#0811)
Our journey into this moment is intentional; we find ourselves fully here as we set aside activity for stillness certitude for curiosity self-interest for communal possibility We open ourselves to the Divine, seeking nurture and nourishment connection and communion healing and wholeness We welcome the possibility of transformation as together we worship the God of Many Names Read More …
Marks of Transformed Christians (#0803)
Gordon MacDonald, chancellor of Denver Seminary, recently shared a list of twelve outward signs that an individual follower of Jesus is maturing or being transformed (Leadership Journal, Summer 2012, p.31-34): Has an undiluted devotion to Jesus Pursues a biblically informed view of the world Is intentional and disciplined in seeking God's direction Worships, and has a spirit of continuous repentance Builds healthy, reciprocal human relationships Knows how to engage the Read More …