Sermons

Peter has just heard what he does not want to hear.  Jesus has been going around teaching hard truths—that he will endure suffering, rejection, and ultimately be killed.  Imagine for a moment quitting your profession, following some leader’s movement, and giving your life for that cause, only to have that person, that cause, tell you… [Read More]

Henry Miller, the author, once wrote, “We live at the edge of the miraculous.” We live at the edge of the miraculous… I don’t know about you, but the idea of living on an edge, any edge, sets my heart to rapid beating and not with love.  Living on an edge is anxiety-producing, risky, and… [Read More]

I’ve been feeling uncertain lately.  It’s not just a feeling—it appears to be the reality of things.  Not knowing when a vaccine will be given.  Not knowing if my kids are going to return to school anytime soon, despite the March 15th return of at least some of their class.  Not knowing whether the benefits… [Read More]

Are you familiar with the comic strip called “Zits”?  It is the brainchild of Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman. The  strip features 16 year old Jeremy and his parents, Connie and Walt. Many years before Covid, the one story series focused on germs being passed from one character to another.   First, several of Jeremy’s friends… [Read More]

  I find myself increasingly questioning the various “authorities” that we encounter daily:  whether those are on t.v. promoting various ends, ads that land in my mailbox telling me that I must act “fast” or encounter expensive repairs, or the self-help author who proclaims that their “fix” is the thing that will make my life… [Read More]

I’ve always been fascinated by craftspeople who repurpose items that might otherwise end up in the trash or discarded.  The act of “repurposing” is using items for a purpose other than what was originally intended.  A discarded window becomes a planter and shelf; an old tire becomes a rubber swing; a bunch of mismatched silverware… [Read More]

You may not remember Nathanael from the bible.  You might not remember that he was a friend of Philip’s from Bethsaida, which I can’t help reading as “Bethesda.”  You might not remember this passage from the gospel of John where Jesus calls both Philip and Nathanael to his mission and ministry. An excited Philip runs… [Read More]

There are many ways to fall.  We can fall into and out of love; we can fall for spam and schemes; we can fall into or out of favor, and we can physically fall down (or even up).  Theologically and religiously speaking, we can fall into sin or fall from grace, though the latter is… [Read More]