Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" (John 18:38)And true to form, Jesus doesn't answer the question. He leaves it hanging there, still to be wrestled with 2,000 years later.In the world of church, truth matters. A lot. We try to decipher it...
Conceived By The Holy Spirit, Born Of The Virgin Mary
Yesterday's exploration of third line of the Apostles' Creed -- Conceived By The Holy Spirit, Born Of The Virgin Mary -- jumped off of four simple words from Luke 3:23:So it was thought.I was first alerted to the significance of those four words in a though-provoking...
Being The Sermon
One of the ways we measure how well we are inviting all people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ is through what we call serving in love. The more people who adopt a servant life-style -- fostered by but not limited to church-related projects --...
Falling Into The Familiar
I realize that when most people don't know what to do they do what they always do.In other words, when faced with uncertainty, crisis, or chaos, most of us revert back to what is comfortable and fall back into the familiar.This realization is especially instructive...
Tuesday Trips
Yesterday included two events not normally on my ministry schedule: 1) a pre-school celebration for our 2s & 3s classes and 2) a high school girls' softball game, cheering on a couple of young women from our church.So why do I label today's post "Tuesday...
Top Five Tuesday — Top Five Songs Named After Females
Rock music is full of songs named after . . . females.(Note: I almost titled the post "Named After Girls" but that's politically incorrect and I then almost opted for "Named After Women" but that's less-than-accurate, so I opted for the non-offensive and...
Mother’s Day & Church: The Annual Conundrum
Back when I was in seminary and serving an internship in a small church in central Kentucky, the pastor let me preach on the second Sunday in May. So I did. I have no idea what I preached about.Except that I didn't preach about mothers.Afterwards, I was...
Old School, Week 2 — And In Jesus Christ His Only Son Our Lord
So it's Week 2 of Old School.And honestly, if we don't get this one right, the rest of it all falls apart.What does it mean and what does it not mean when we say,And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord?The answer might surprise you.Sunday.8:30. 10. ...
The Power Of Ambient Sound
Our church recently installed what could be called, for better or worse, Christian Muzak.Which means that throughout our hallways and lobbies and bathrooms there is a continual stream of contemporary Christian pop music. Subtle yet unmistakable.Whether it's the...
Preaching Like Seinfeld
Behold Jerry Seinfeld's observations on winning a silver medal at the Olympics:And that's his genius: he sees deeply into the absurdities that most people barely notice, much less take time to reflect on. Then he says what he sees.Really, what he gives...