Sermons

I was the second Disciple to attend my seminary. The first was actually a transplant from the United Church of Christ, much more recently than I had been transplanted from the American Baptist Church.

I have a really low tolerance for sensory overload. I’ve also discovered that I generally prefer things quiet (although you’d think otherwise if you were ever in the car with me and there was music on).

1 Corinthians 1:10-18 The church in Corinth, which Paul started, seems to have had an infinite capacity for division. It seems that this is the main reason why Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, and he starts addressing the problem right off the bat. Verse 10 of chapter 1, where our reading […]

Acts 17:1-9 It’s a staple in political campaigns. Candidates are criticized for the company they keep. In 2008, much was made of Barack Obama’s association with a former 1960s radical, not to mention his membership in a church with a pastor who had said some things in sermons that a […]

April 26, 2020 Acts 3:1-10 It took me awhile to find a church when I moved from Coffeyville to Wichita to go to college. I had grown up in an American Baptist church, but the American Baptist churches in Wichita weren’t anything like that one. For awhile I went to […]

April 19, 2020 Acts 1:1-14 A few years ago, when I was at my folks’ house for Christmas, I caught part of a show they liked to watch, Undercover Boss. I’m not sure if it’s still on (reality shows really aren’t my thing, other than a couple of cooking competitions), […]

Mark 16:1-8 There are a lot of people who aren’t sleeping very well right now. Maybe you’re one of them. I know I have been. When things are uncertain, we don’t know who might get sick or when, and we don’t know how bad it will be, and we worry […]

Palm Sunday is a great day in church. Kids march in waving palm branches while we sing “All Glory, Laud, and Honor.” More palms wait in vases up front, and we’re all ready to shout a joyful “Hosanna.” We sing, and we shout, and we have a wonderful morning as we begin Holy Week. But today we’re not in church.

One night in November of 1983, my church youth group met at our leaders’ house to watch a TV movie. Normally we met at the church, of course; but in those days you couldn’t necessarily watch a TV movie at the church, and I think our leaders wanted us in a more comfortable environment, because the movie was going to be pretty troubling.

When we hear the story of the widow’s mite, that’s usually a sign that it’s stewardship season. A stewardship sermon would hold her up as a model of sacrificial giving, and urge us to give similarly. But as is the case with most passages of Scripture, if we expand the reading beyond the four verses that contain the story, the picture looks a whole lot different.

Lately I’ve been watching a British archaeology show called Time Team. The show ended in 2014 after a 20-year run, but all the episodes and specials they produced during that time are on YouTube.

It’s not because of any details in this text, but based on details from Matthew’s and Luke’s versions of the same story, that we call this man the “Rich Young Ruler.”