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Showing posts from June, 2023

you're my grain of sand, and,

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buddy, i'm your oyster  a sermon on paul's more excellent sermon that rhymes :  This is the beating center of Saint Paul’s epistle to First Lutheran in Philippi. All that's preceded this has been building to it. And everything that follows is the consequence thereof. But here, at the heart , Paul burst out into this absolutely lovely lyrical praise.   Praise that is indeed songlike. Recite these words to yourself. You’ll find they have a rhythm to them. A cadence that helps these words stick .   But that isn’t all! This praise is also quite sophisticated , too! In these metered phrases, Paul charts out what transpired by Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension! With these words, Paul peels back the curtain to offer a glimpse of how the structure of reality itself changed when God Thyself stepped into it in the person of Jesus of Nazareth! Now, in case you can’t tell, this is my very favorite kind of theology. I love it when Christians

well, i walk upon the river

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like it's easier than land A sermon Paul's epistle from prison : Well, the summer is finally here. And one of the hallmarks of this blessed season is the summer blockbuster . You know, those big movies. The ones with the beautiful stars, the stunning action scenes, and the hard-won BUT always assured happily ever after. But I’ve got a little confession. Those movies never do it for me. I’ve always been a little ambivalent about the superhero movies. And I didn’t see the new Top Gun, either.   Out of curiosity, who here saw Top Gun? Ok. And who here saw the new Guardians of the Galaxy movie? …Just as I thought! And I don’t believe this is because many of us are getting to that age where we go out to movies less and less often, either. No, I think many of us are just losing interest in those larger -than-life stories jam -packed with characters who are just a little too perfect! The truth is, our world just isn’t like that . Is it? Our lives are comprised of small th