it's still a surprise A sermon on the time Jesus turned a tough night into a new day Well, I hate to say it, but while all of you were freezing your tuchuses off in the polar vortex, I was sporting short sleeves in sunny California. But I don’t bring this up to brag . I mention it because I wasn’t just in sunny California. No, I was in the land of affluence . Southern California is a place of conspicuous consumption. Before I even made it to the hotel room, I saw a Porsche . And you know what? Sports cars like that were a regular sight out there. Now, I was in there for work . I was there as a facilitator for the Iowa Preachers Project. And one of my jobs was to shuttle the participants from location to location. But the car we rented was a large SUV. I have to admit, when I found myself idling behind one of those sports cars, I was sorely tempted . As a good boy from the Midwest , I felt it was my job to poke my finger in that kind of opulence. And I knew al...
i got a girl in the war The Holy Gospel according toSt. Luke the 18th Chapter! It's interesting, I was thinking of using the song Hal played today (We Shall Overcome) as a kind of meditation, but eventually I decided to use this great poem by Langston Hughes; Lorraine Hansberry used it as inspiration for her brilliant play, "Raisin in the Sun." The poem goes like this: What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up / like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore / and then run? Does it stink like rotten meat, Or crust and sugar over / like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags / Like a heavy load. Or does it explode... This poem, and its final wondering in the dark, have served many as they sought to navigate their way through pain, through trials. And truthfully this poem can still be of service, and can serve as a kind of meditation upon today's gospel. Because truthfully, Jesus just has this way of breaking our hearts, of ...
& somehow, i see / it's free A sermon for the confirmation of Chase & Jack: Chase , Jack, dear brothers in Christ, welcome to the faith ! Did that sound odd ? I bet it did. I bet it did, but I want you to know I meant it. And, what’s more , the peculiarity of that sentence is no accident, either. Herein lies your first lesson today: Faith is not intuitive. On the contrary , faith is counterintuitive . The more strange , the closer you are to that blessed and mysterious beating heart of faith. With any luck, you’ll find yourself saying, “How odd of God” many times. With that, we’ve come upon our second lesson for today: Faith is not a program. And faith is not a formula, either. Faith is not a way to hide from life. And neither is faith a guide to make the confusing twists and turns of reality fit into a predetermined mold. No, faith doesn’t tell you what lies ahead . Truth be told, real faith really wants nothing to do with that kind of chicanery . No, fa...
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