It is Independence Day weekend, a time that we celebrate the founding of this nation that we all love. It seems appropriate to be in church this weekend to offer prayers for our country. By any standards this is a difficult time...
“For freedom Christ has set us free.” It is uncanny how often the Biblical readings on any given Sunday connect directly to the events going on around us. In this week when freedom, or the lack of...
It’s a dangerous moment for Christianity. The disciple are gathered together in a locked room. It’s a familiar place to them. They locked themselves away from the world after Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, fearing that those who...
If you came here this morning expecting to hear some words of wisdom or comfort from me, I’m sorry. I have no words. No words to ease the pain, no words of hope, no words of wisdom. All I can...
Last Saturday afternoon I made a routine run to the grocery store. I checked things off my list, chatted with a friend I ran into in the spice section, stood in line, paid for my items, then went home. All across America...
“A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.” This is the first, and will most likely be the only, time that I have quoted Joseph Stalin in a sermon. We are fast approaching a...
Utter nonsense. Foolishness. An idle tale. Every year we begin our Easter celebrations with shouts of joy: “Alleluia! Christ is risen!” we cry. “The Lord is risen, indeed. Alleluia!” As we make this joyful proclamation, we may think we are echoing the words with which...
It didn’t have to end this way. A question that perhaps every Christian has asked at some point is this: Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Or perhaps more to the point: What kind of God would allow, even demand, the torture and death of his own son? Writer Mary...
