This sermon is about the art of listening, specifically about how Jesus listens and how we can emulate his practice. Our ability to listen impacts every relationship we have: our spouses and families, our friends and neighbors, our church and community members, our political and ideological opponents, and our partners in God’s mission.
Continue reading “Listening Well”
Two weeks ago, we talked about clinging to the impediments that stand in our way of the abundant life that God yearns for us to live. Last week, we talked about Jesus’ desire for everyone to find deep, meaningful connections and build loving, mutual relationships. And today, we are going to tie those two ideas together as we talk about Jesus meeting someone on the road. Notice that I’ve just said that Jesus met “someone” on the road. I’m saying “someone” here for a specific reason. I know it’s not like me, but I’m being vague on purpose.
Continue reading “A Loving Prescription”
Just so we’re on the same page, I want you to know that this sermon is about idolatry, but that is the only time I will use the word in the whole thing. And I’m going to spend the first third talking about Indiana Jones. So here’s the scene:
Continue reading “Letting Go the Grail (Updated)”
I was in my twenties before I consciously decided to open myself up to trying new foods without any of my previous suspicion. I was a notoriously picky eater as a kid, and one of the supreme ironies of my life has been the advent of digestive health issues happening at the same time that I started wanting to try new foods. It all began at my first church in West Virginia when I realized that I loved every kind of soup. Shirley Schwork was a master soup maker, and I liked everything she made for a monthly soup and sandwich group, no matter if the individual ingredients included foods I wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole – like squash and zucchini and spinach. If they tasted good in soup, it stood to reason, then maybe other foods I had never given a proper chance might taste good too.
Continue reading “Openness”
Today we’re going to spend the bulk of the sermon breathing through a guided meditation. We’re going to invite the Holy Spirit in through our inhalations; then, with our exhalations, we will breathe out into the world the values of a life lived following Jesus. But before we get to the meditation part, just a little background.
Continue reading “Breathe in the Holy Spirit”
During my sabbatical, I’m not writing new sermons, so on Mondays I am choosing one post from every year of WheretheWind.com to highlight. Near the end of 2016, I was going through time of dryness spiritually, and this sermon grew out of that.
Continue reading “Sabbatical Retrospective, Year 2016: The Spiritual Desert”
Because of my last name, I’ve always felt a bit defensive about the Apostle Thomas. There aren’t too many characters in the Bible whose names have entered into popular culture as bywords, but his is one. I’m sure you’ve all heard the phrase, “Don’t be a Doubting Thomas.” This phrase really irks me – and not simply because Thomas and I share a name. No. Calling him the Doubter is not just unfair (why single him out?); calling him the Doubter is a complete misunderstanding of the Gospel. So this morning, let’s unpack Thomas a bit, and hopefully by the end of this sermon we will see that doubt is not a bad thing.
Continue reading “Faith and Unfaith”
When I went to high school football games as a kid in Alabama, people were always holding up signs that said, “John 3:16.” Not the words of the verse, just the citation, which was almost something of a brand in and of itself. “John 3:16” signs were everywhere. Years later while in seminary, I became a scholar of the Gospel of John. And I had this silly desire to head back to my high school, go to a football game, and hold up a sign that said, “John 3:17.” Perhaps, the person next to me would ask me why my sign was wrong and I could say that the sign wasn’t wrong, but a different verse entirely. The verse after the most famous verse of the Bible says, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” This sermon starts with 3:17 and moves into the verses that follow it as we contemplate walking in darkness and walking in light.
Continue reading “The Lighthouse”
In today’s sermon, we’re going to indulge in a bit of foolishness. Now, I’m aware that no one – myself included – likes to feel foolish. Feeling foolish quickly spirals into embarrassment, into red cheeks and hot faces, and we get the urge to escape as soon as possible. We all know the awful feeling of being laughed at instead of laughing with. (Though I have always loved Robin Williams’s line in the movie Dead Poets Society: “We’re not laughing at you, we’re laughing near you.”) We go to great lengths not to feel foolish, going so far as not to learn new skills in adulthood because we really don’t want to be bad at them when we’re starting out. This is why I can’t ice skate or hit my driver.
Continue reading “The Foolishness of God”
(Content warning: childhood trauma in the fourth paragraph.)
One of the most common conversations I have with people in my role as a pastor has to do with their fear over their perceived unworthiness. They don’t think they’re good enough. They don’t think they’ve done enough to earn God’s grace. They believe God has weighed and measured them and found them wanting. The prayer we’re going to pray right before communion called “The Prayer for Humble Access” seems to reinforce this. I’m going to spend our entire sermon time this morning talking about this perception of unworthiness, but I want to start by skipping to the end and saying this: God blesses us with grace, and this blessing is independent of our worthiness. Stick with me while we talk this through and we’ll get back to this good news at the end.
Continue reading “Worthiness and Grace”
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