SHAKING THE FOUNDATIONS Matthew 21:1-11 April 5, 2020 Matthew tells a particular story about Jesus in a particular way. As with any story, it’s not always what’s included that’s important, but what’s excluded. Not always what is present, but what is missing. Many history books still talk relentlessly about Christopher Columbus finding America. That is […]
STANDING UP TO THE CORONAVIRUS Psalm 91 Romans 8:26-39 March 29, 2020 Romans 8 has been a go-to text at times of uncertainty, upheaval, or disaster (fires and earthquakes in CA, going to war in Iraq, 9/11, and so on.) In fact, one of the great and terrible challenges of the 20th century affected the […]
KNOWING THE CROSS IN NARNIA Rom. 3:21-26 Col. 3:21,22 March 8, 2020 This Lent I want to look at the cross—what the death of Jesus means, to us, to our God, to the principalities and powers, as Paul says. The fullest text for the atonement meaning, and there are three other important meanings of the […]
THE BEATITUDES, PART II Matthew 5:1-12 March 1, 2020 When Jesus calls you, He calls you to be poor on behalf of the Gospel. He calls you to mourn and cry for t he things that break the heart of God. And He calls you, the meek, the one the world will never know, to […]
WHO CARES? Matthew 5:1-12 February 16, 2020 Tony Campolo, Baptist preacher, professor at a Christian College in Philadelphia, and an extraordinary speaker with something to say to all audiences) told one time of a student he had in a large introductory class. Campolo was about half-way through his lecture when a student stood up about […]
THE DIVISIVE JESUS Luke 12:49-56 August 18, 2019 “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild . . . “ Such is a favorite Sunday School notion of the Lord. The sound you hear is people who’ve actually read the Gospels gagging. “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon a little child . . “ […]
FENCES WE BUILD AROUND OUR LOVE Luke 10:25-37 July 14, 2019 You and I put fences around our love, don’t we? We don’t like to think of it that way. But we do. All the time. We like to think of ourselves and our congregation as sources of love for those around. But […]
THE VOICE OF A POWERFUL GOD I Kings 19:1-18 June 23, 2019 The Elijah we meet at the beginning of this chapter is a man who has just won a great victory for God. Only yesterday he challenged– single handedly– the forces of evil, and struck a blow for God against Baal that […]
NEVERTHELESS I Corinthians 15:3-27a Easter 4/21/2019 It has been a hard winter, hasn’t it? I think of that line in C.S. Lewis’ book The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Lucy enters the land of Narnia, and it’s always winter there. Always snowing. Always cold. Always frozen. Always . . .says Lewis. Always […]