Sermon Text: Mark 2:16-17 Sermon Excerpt A few years ago Stephen Prothero, a bestselling author and professor of religion at Boston University, wrote a fascinating book titled God is Not One. In this text he explores the eight world religions he thinks are currently the most important. For each religion he presents the problem that religion is trying to solve, the solution to that problem, and techniques that can be used to move toward the solution. Professor Prothero proposes that Read More …
Discipleship
Sermon: Stating Our Faith (#1585)
Sermon Text: Colossians 1:15-20 Sermon Excerpt As a resident of Southwest Florida for the last several years, I have been blessed to expand my horizons in many ways – including learning from many of you about what everyday life was like before I was born. I understand many of you grew up in a time I call “BT” – Before Television. In the world before every home had a television and every television had the ability to receive dozens of channels, there was radio. Perhaps Read More …
Sermon: That’s the Book for Me (#1583)
Sermon Text: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (The Message) Sermon Excerpt The B-I-B-L-E yes, that’s the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God. What a song! I know many of you sung it years ago, but I don’t even know how to begin to respond. Huh? What? How? Stand alone? Word of God? The Bible may be the best-selling book of all time, but it is certainly not a book in the traditional sense. It is a collection of 66 “books.” It is a sacred text for those of us who seek Read More …
Sermon: Personal Transformation + (#1581)
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 …
Embracing New Perspectives (#1579)
My wife and I have been homeowners as long as we have been a couple with a small gap between the sale of one home and purchase of another years ago. Normal for us has been owning one home, except for temporarily owning two while in the process of relocating. When the housing bubble burst and our primary residence was so far underwater we could no longer see the surface, we chose to buy then to buy again in hopes that when the market started to rise again we could Read More …
Marginalization as Blessing (#1578)
I cannot even begin to count the number of experts I have heard or read complain about the losses experienced by liberal/progressive (Mainline, Oldline, Sideline) Christianity over the last several decades. I am thankful those voices are beginning to fade as new voices emerge suggesting what this new role means and how God can and is working in and through it. Amy Butler, senior minister of Riverside Church, recently stated that the continued trend toward Read More …
Sermon: Spiritual Glue (#1577)
Sermon Text: Hebrews 8:6-13 Sermon Excerpt We are a part of the United Church of Christ, a tradition that boldly proclaims “our faith is 2,000 years old but our thinking is not.”This tradition – our denomination – is a network of around 5,000 congregations and nearly 1 million members. We also claim to be a multiracial and multicultural church, and a church that emphasizes covenant. Let me slow down here . . . Before I can even comment on whether or not we have achieved or at least Read More …
Sermon: A Monthly Meal (#1574)
Sermon Texts: Ephesians 4:1-6 (NRSV) and John 6:24-35 (The Message) Sermon Excerpt Some people like to watch birds. Other people like to watch the water. Still others like to watch television or computer screens. I like to watch people. It is a habit I carry with me wherever I go, including here in our sacred space. I should, perhaps, begin with a word of thanks to the person or people who chose to place the pastor’s chair in two different but equally Read More …
Sermon: Living Wet (#1571)
Sermon Text: Matthew 28:18-20 (The Inclusive Bible) Sermon Excerpt The great reformer Martin Luther was fond of saying “remember your baptism.” With that in mind, I placed some words on the front of this morning’s worship bulletin designed to invite you to remember the details of your baptism as you prepared for worship. I admit that a few of you who saw the bulletin well beforehand told me that I was asking the impossible as they had no recall of their own baptism. So I will share Read More …
Most Popular Sermons (#1570)
We are now almost two weeks into the second half of the year known as 2015. A few weeks ago I shared my most popular blog posts from the first half of the year. Today, I offer my most popular sermons from the first half of the year (based on YouTube views) in lieu of new sermon content since I am on vacation and not preaching this morning. Titleless - watch / read - a 13 min. message on humility Surprising Salaries - watch / read - a 12 min. message on the Read More …