For the Birds?
Luke 17:11-19 Pastoral Prayer: Lord God maker of heaven and earth, just as you brought life out of the face of the deep, you create life out of death. We gather this morning to remember that your work of grace is an ongoing re-creation of life out of death over and over again . ....
Faith that Invalidates the Impossible and the Absurd
Luke 17:1-10 Jeremiah warned of thing to come. When the trouble came, he lamented. How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal. She weeps bitterly in...
Real (Estate) Hope
Pastoral Prayer: Holy One, we gather this morning aware of hopelessness around us. Powers collude to threaten our future. Sometimes we conspire with these enemies unaware. The threat is real. Remind us today that in Christ we captives with nothing have been given everything by grace. Lord God let the words of my mouth and...
Trolling Christian Twitter for Nuggets of Gold
I am more near retirement than Scott. I have grandchildren older than his newborn. He has more hair. And, fortunately for me, he did not turn the old guy away when he reached out for a conversation on the Twitter platform. Who In the World is Scott M. Coley Not long after Scott and I...
An Inverted Yield Curve, or Is There No Balm in Gilead?
Pastoral Prayer: Lord God, we show up and follow our liturgy, our order of service. We expect that you will show up on time and here in our place. But, like Israel we have neglected to turn to you in faithfulness and away from our week long efforts at self-justification. We fail to repent. Despite...
Vincent van Gogh’s Rembrandt, Nouwen’s van Gogh and Carol Berry’s Gift
Twenty or so years ago I read Leonard Sweet’s soulTsunami. Tucked away in that long description of the to-come for the church and religious life was a reference to Vincent Van Gogh’s painting, The Church at Auvers. A framed print greets me every morning as I come to the Office/Study. I could not afford the...
Who Does That?!
Often I take a manuscript into the pulpit. The preached sermon will vary. Below the post will be a link to the preached sermon. Text: Jeremiah 18:1-18 Pastoral Prayer: Lord God, who loves with an everlasting love, there are times where we amaze those around us not for our faithfulness, but for our faithlessness. They...
The Bookkeepers Will Always Be With You . . . But They Don’t Have to Be
Often I take a manuscript into the pulpit. The preached sermon will vary. Below the post will be a link to the preached sermon. Luke 15:1-3, 25-30 Pastoral Prayer: Holy One, we find it hard to believe you will erase for us what we will not erase for others. So, we find ourselves taking up...
Can’t We All Just Get Along? The Church of Us vs. Them: A Conversation with David Fitch
How many times have you read a Facebook/Blog post that insists, “If your pastor didn’t say anything about [most recent social injustice], you need to find a new church?” Maybe you have used this lede in an attempt to raise attention to the latest illustration of failed immigration policy, how racism has gone underground or...
Living in Sin: A Conversation with Jason Micheli
“I forgive you.” We generally think those words follow, “I’m sorry.” The Good News of the Gospel is that God’s, “I forgive you,” comes first. That is how Jason Micheli describes Grace. God’s one-way love. Many couples at one point or another have reached for a book on marriage to help negotiate those difficult periods....
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