(Psalm 1) Psalm 1 speaks of two and only two kinds of people: the righteous and the wicked. It declares that “the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.” We might wonder how the Lord deals with people who don’t fit neatly into either category –…
(Isaiah 50:4-9a) Some anniversaries are joyful occasions, but not this one. Twenty years ago, on September 11, 2001 – as none of us can or should forget, al-Qaeda terrorists took control of four passenger airliners. Two were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. A third was crashed into…
(Mark 7:24-37) It’s not likely you’ve heard about the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon (BMP). In fact, you’re probably hearing about it for the first time this morning. What is likely, however, is that in the next few days you will read or hear about the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon not only once, but several times. What is BMP? It’s…
https://youtu.be/VLrwXbd_AX0
(Ephesians 6:10-20) “Put on the whole PPE of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Of course, this is a slight variation from the original verse 11 of today’s epistle, but given today’s context, it means the same thing. Unless you’re in the NFL or playing paint ball, you probably…
(Ephesians 5:15-20) Jean Francois Gravelet was known as The Great Blondin and was the first of a host of tightrope walkers that eventually found their way to Niagara Falls. Blondin was a professional tightrope walker who had been trained as a circus performer in the European tradition. While in his early thirties he immigrated to…
(Ephesians 4:25–5:2) Here in the second half of Ephesians, Paul continues to instruct the church at Ephesus on how they should live as a Christian community. Central to that is how they should avoid conflict – a difficult thing for any group of people attempting to live and work together. The section we read today…
(Ephesians 4:1-16) I have used the Revised Common Lectionary (aka RCL) for preaching since I started almost 30 years ago. A lectionary is a collection of readings from Scripture that help pastors and churches in the proclamation of God’s word. The three-year cycle of the RCL covers all the books of the Bible – at…
(Ephesians 3:14-21) One of the most famous intellectuals in the church in the last 100 years was Karl Barth. Near the end of his life, he was lecturing at the University of Chicago Divinity School. When Dr. Barth completed the lecture, the school president noted that Dr. Barth was exhausted, so that rather than allowing…
(Ephesians 2:11-22) During World War II, as Allied soldiers fought their way across France, a soldier died during a bloody firefight. After the battle was over, his buddies wanted to find a way to give him a decent burial. The only cemetery in the closest village was a Catholic cemetery so they approached the priest,…