“Life All Around”
(April 12, 2009) The promise of new life and eternal life is all around us, if we look for it. Where do you see the Easter promise around you? What communicates God’s presence to you? Easter sermon 2009 (John 20:1-18)
—
[sorry about the delay; there was a technical glitch with the computer where I [...]
Filed under: podcasts, religion | Tagged: holidays, seasons, sermons | 1 Comment »
Sorry, gentle readers, about the black hole of post-Christmas, post-family-crisis time I slipped into. Thanks for tuning back in.
Christmas Eve services at my two churches were special, each in their own way. The sermon was the same, and a lot of the hymns were good old standby Christmas hymns, and each ended with candle-lighting and [...]
Filed under: religion | Tagged: congregants, holidays, ministry, reflection, seasons, worship | 7 Comments »
“Clear a Space”
( December 21, 2008 ) Despite what might be less than good news to an unwed teenage girl, Mary says an active ‘yes’ to the message Gabriel brings her. We too have the invitation to create a space for Christ in our hearts, our homes, and our lives as we say yes to [...]
Filed under: podcasts | Tagged: holidays, seasons, sermons | Leave a Comment »
Normally, the week before/of Christmas, I buy myself an hour with a spa in town and get a deep-tissue massage. It makes me a much better pastor on Christmas Eve, and a much better wife/mom/daughter/sister/friend on the days after Christmas.
This year, due to being new in town and not having scoped out the spas yet, [...]
Filed under: religion | Tagged: family, happy thoughts, holidays | 2 Comments »
“Clear Your Heart”
( December 14, 2008 ) Advent is a time for preparing for the good news, but sometimes our hearts are so filled with pain and anger that we cannot receive joy. The good news is that God not only offers us blessing, but God is also one to whom we can lament and [...]
Filed under: podcasts | Tagged: holidays, sermons | 5 Comments »
I was dragging yesterday in a bad way. It might have been the lack of coffee. It might have been that the sermon just didn’t come together as I had hoped. In attempt to help myself out, on Saturday I looked up my sermon for Advent 2, 2005, which was on the same texts and [...]
Filed under: podcasts | Tagged: holidays, ministry, seasons, sermons | 1 Comment »
At the family/friend gathering where I often celebrate Thanksgiving, we have a tradition at the beginning of the meal. Each person sits down to a plate with three popcorn kernels on it (I’ve realized recently that, as microwave popcorn is the only kind I know how to make, this is tough to replicate at my [...]
Filed under: religion | Tagged: family, friends, happy thoughts, holidays, prayer, reflection | 4 Comments »
Despite my complaints at the time, I actually do think I like Easter better than Christmas. At least, I definitely liked this year’s Easter better than the most recent Christmas.
You will, of course, remember that Christmas 2007 was less than stellar. You may also remember that I have been thinking about Easter and ways to [...]
Filed under: religion | Tagged: creativity, happy thoughts, holidays, ministry, sermons, worship | Leave a Comment »
Okay, so first I want to say that my sermon on Sunday 23rd was pretty cool, and it’s a shame it wasn’t recorded. It came out even better when I preached it than it looked on paper index card. Basically, I talked about what it meant to be delivered (or ’saved’), and said that in [...]
Filed under: religion | Tagged: holidays, sermons, worship | 1 Comment »
Sunday I preached a pretty decent sermon, which was surprising only because I hadn’t, um, written one. I had about four lines of notes on a cue card.
Tuesday, my lay leadership team met and we’re going to try something that I think might be new and exciting. We have been trying to develop a nurture [...]
Filed under: religion | Tagged: administration, holidays, sermons, worship | Leave a Comment »
