The texts for Sunday, May 6, 2012: Acts 8:26–40; Psalm 22:25–31; 1 John 4:7–21; and John 15:1–8 …Vines are notorious for getting into places they don’t belong and become problems in gardens and yards and everywhere else I mean—if you’ve ever visited the southern United States you see what happens when a vine gets awayContinueContinue reading “Vine-y God”
Tag Archives: church
Waiting for Resurrection
I think my favorite day of Holy Week is Saturday. I love Maundy Thursday and the footwashing and communion shared with a smaller number of people in the dim lighting of the evening, remembering the last night that all the disciples were together with Jesus at the meal. I am always moved, transformed, convicted byContinueContinue reading “Waiting for Resurrection”
The Main Thing
The texts for Sunday, March 11, 2012 are: Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22 … These texts that insist again and again that the main thing for us should be God —I am the Lord Your God —You shall have no other gods before me —God’s weakness is greater than human strengthContinueContinue reading “The Main Thing”
Going to Hell
“The church is going to hell in a handbasket.” This is a phrase I hear periodically. I especially hear it from people who think that the church shouldn’t change, that it should have stayed the way it was when they were kids. My response has usually been to try to understand what it is thatContinueContinue reading “Going to Hell”
Reflections of the Manger
The texts for Christmas Day, 2011: Isaiah 52:7–10, Psalm 98, Hebrews 1:1–12, and John 1:1–14 Christmas morning—thanks to inspiration from Nadia Bolz-Weber, the House For All Sinners and Saints, and Clayfire, as well as the texts themselves: “The Word became flesh…”—I didn’t preach a traditional sermon. Instead, I introduced the Gospel by restating exactly thatContinueContinue reading “Reflections of the Manger”
The future present?
The texts for Sunday, December 11, 2011: Isaiah 61:1–4, 8–11; Luke 1:46b–55; 1 Thessalonians 5:16–24; and John 1:6–8, 19–28 … But John’s authority —his words —his whole reason for being is not to point to the past is not to recreate the past but to point to the coming of God … the future, but inContinueContinue reading “The future present?”
The Body Broken
The texts for Sunday, September 4, 2011 are: Ezekiel 33:7–11; Psalm 119:33–40; Romans 13:8–14; and Matthew 18:15–20. … No, we only encounter that God, that God embodied in Jesus when we live, serve, struggle in community. We only encounter that God embodied in Jesus when we look into the eyes of the person whom hasContinueContinue reading “The Body Broken”
Jabbok Dawn 