I was setting up my nativity characters for chapel this week, and was reminded about a preschool chapel last year that became the central illustration in a sermon I preached on Dec. 20, 2015. The sermon was in the context of a ‘Traveler’s Christmas,’ a Christmas Eve service for those… Continue reading
In pondering the sermon for this Sunday, I discovered that I actually had two sermons. This is the one that won’t get preached. Text: Matthew 5:13-16 In the movie Lion King, Simba is born into greatness. A descendant of the king, he is told from a young age that he… Continue reading
My congregation is doing a 6-week sermon/study series based on the book by John Ortberg, If you Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat. I’ve been familiar with this book for quite some time, but I don’t think I’ve read it. The book is based… Continue reading
He brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. (Psalm 18:19) I read this verse recently, and it reminded me of a conversation we had during staff meeting regarding the upcoming Gospel text for Sunday. This Sunday’s Gospel text is the story of… Continue reading
I was in the States for 8th grade, and near the end of the year was getting ready to go on a summer mission trip to Mexico with a friend’s youth group. One day as we were getting ready for P.E. and reflecting on the orientation meeting we’d been to… Continue reading
“He replied, “Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to him, “What do you command your servant, my lord?” The commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua,… Continue reading
It’s been a while, but I finally got my Maundy Thursday sermon added. Looking back at this sermon, I don’t know if I got it right or not. You’ll remember that April 2 was Maundy Thursday, but was also the day of the shootings in Garissa, Kenya. I spent the… Continue reading
For my personal Advent devotions this year I’m reading through a resource called Finding Bethlehem in the Midst of Bedlam. Seems like an apt description for the season. Everything’s just a tad more chaotic. Kids in chapel today were a bit more wiggly. Friends at lunch… Continue reading
“This passion empties one of self. One does not “self-empty” by focusing upon oneself. One is emptied of self to the degree one is overcome by the needs, pain, hopes and desires of others. When concern for others takes one utterly beyond self-interest, beyond obsession with achievements and self-obsessing guilt… Continue reading
“When the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, they approached Zerubbabel and the hands of families and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as yo do, and we have been… Continue reading