Sermons

In the beginning, when God created the world, things were chaotic. There was only wind, and water, and darkness. There was nothing that had any form, nothing you could identify as a place or a thing, or a person. Things were without any sense, or rhythm.

It’s interesting to me how much pop culture from my formative years—music, movies, television shows, even books —haven’t worn too well over time.
When I was in the hospital after my first knee replacement, I was awake during the night and had the TV on. Scrolling through the available channels, I happened onto a movie I had enjoyed when I was a teen, Sixteen Candles. A patient care specialist (what I think is called a CNA in other facilities, although I sort of like the other name better) came in, and we were talking a little about the film, and while she said she liked it, I realized that there’s some stuff in there 1983 me thought was hilarious, but that 2021 me found highly appalling.

When I was in the high school band, our director had a sign above his office door. It was a list of rules—a very short list, as it turned out.
Rule number 1: The director is always right.
Rule number 2: If the director is wrong, see rule 1.

Whenever there’s a discussion about moral issues in church, somebody inevitably says, “Well, the Bible says we’re to hate the sin, but love the sinner.” But does it? And can it even be done?
If you Google the phrase, you will find a variety of opinions on the subject. People will bring up Bible passages that they interpret as saying that we are indeed called to hate the sin, but love the sinner. But others look at those same passages and insist they say no such thing. So what are we to believe?

Before my time in Sac City, so I was told, there was an elderly man in the church whose name was Homer. Homer had what nowadays we’d probably call an anxiety disorder.
Every time some pastor would preach on today’s Scripture, Homer would get himself all in a swivet. And he’d go to the pastor and say, “Jesus says not to worry, but I can’t stop worrying. Am I going to go to hell because I can’t stop worrying?”

Years ago a teacher of mine told a story about another teacher, probably a college professor, who gave a final exam to his students. After the usual set of multiple-choice questions, there was a final item, an essay question. It was one word at the top of the page: “Why?”

Once upon a time, there was a king. Like most kings, he was wealthy—but also like a lot of kings, he wanted to be more wealthy. So he asked the gods to give him a gift. This was King Midas, and we all know what gift he asked for: the ability to turn everything he touched into gold. (Be careful what you ask for—you might get it!)

Midas received this gift, but the gods knew more than he did about what it would mean.

In 1607, a group from England came to North America and established a colony in what is now the state of Virginia. They named it after their king: Jamestown. When they got there, the area was a wilderness, and if they were going to be able to live there, a lot of work needed to be done.

Our theme for this summer is “things everybody believes are in the Bible, but aren’t.” And what we’re looking at today doesn’t entirely fit that theme. We just heard it in a passage from the Gospel of John. I included it not because it isn’t in the Bible, but because the way it’s often interpreted isn’t in keeping with how it’s used in the Bible.

Back when Jay Leno was the host of The Tonight Show, he used to do a segment from time to time called “Jaywalking.” He would go out onto the street outside his studio and ask random passersby questions.

Modern technology is truly amazing. Yes, it has its drawbacks; but consider this statement, which has circulated all over social media for years…“We carry in our pockets computers more powerful than the ones that helped put humans on the moon—and we mostly use it to look at cat videos.”

It was Sunday night youth group, back around 1982 or ’83. The leaders had promoted that we’d be watching a movie—and what teenager doesn’t like to see a movie?—and asked us to bring our friends. We gathered in the fellowship hall of our church, with our popcorn and pop, and the movie started.