Sunday, February 4, 2024 – Mark 1:29-39, Isaiah 40:21-31, Psalm 147:1-11, 20c, 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 In Jesus’ Presence Do you ever wonder what it must have been like to be in Jesus’ presence? What would it have felt like to be near him, to walk beside him, to hear his voice, to be touched by […]
Sunday, January 14, 2024 – John 1:43-51, also 1 Samuel 3:1-10, Psalm 139:1-6, 3-18, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 We May Not Know God Last week, I talked about water and how much I loved being near the water. Which is kind of ironic, since I couldn’t swim without an inflatable tube until I was about 9
January 7, 2024 – Mark 1: 4-11, Genesis 1:1-5, Psalm 29, Acts 19:1-7 I love water. I love being around water. Of course, here, that means I like to spend time at the beach, near the Gulf of Mexico. I can sit and listen to the sound of the waves for hours. But it’s not
Luke 1:26-38 – December 24, 2023, Christmas Eve Sermon Last year, right around this time, I heard the most amazing story. It was posted to Facebook by a friend’s wife, Christie. This happened to her about 14 years ago, and she gave me permission to share it. Christie is a psychotherapist and this is her
Third Sunday of Advent, December 17, 2023 We’ve been given several readings today that, at first glance, don’t necessarily seem to have much to do with each other. And yet I find key phrases or ideas in them that seem to rise to the surface with a little bit of extra sparkle or energy and
The First Sunday of Advent, December 3, 2023 Today is the first Sunday of Advent. Not every Christian denomination celebrates Advent, but the Lutheran Church understands both Advent before Christmas and Lent and the Passion Week before Easter as necessary steps that we shouldn’t skip over. One of my favorite memories from past Christmas seasons
Matthew 25: 31-46 (November 26, 2023) In 1975, a Marine on leave in Aiken, SC named Dannion Brinkley was on the phone with his best friend while a storm raged outside. As they spoke, a bolt of lightning struck the telephone pole, sending 180,000 volts of electricity burning through the phone line and the handset
Matthew 21:33-46 (Sunday, October 8, 2023) I’ve rented more than one home in my life. For a period of time when I lived in Marietta, GA, I owned a condominium. But ever since I left Marietta for the northeast Georgia mountains, I’ve been living under someone else’s lease. The farmhouse that I rented in Demorest,
For God does speak—now one way, now another—though no one perceives it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on people as they slumber in their beds… Job 33:14-15 The fragmentation I see around us in American culture (and even beyond) is distressing. We’re split from each other societally,
In this video, I talk about the aspects that make up a good life well lived. I even gives shout-outs to The Minimalists, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus, and the movie “The Village,” directed by M. Night Shyamalan. What does it mean to be truly human?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7hebPiFk1E
