Sunday, February 15, 2926, Transfiguration Sunday – Exodus 24:12-18, Psalm 2, Psalm 99, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Matthew 17:1-9 For the last week or so, I’ve been in the grips of a great spiritual struggle. I share this because I want you to know that even those of us who serve in ministry roles or who […]
Sunday, January 25, 2026 – Isaiah 9:1-4, Psalm 27:1, 4-9, 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, Matthew 4:12-23 Have you ever been in a place of complete darkness? Here in Bradenton, we’re surrounded by streetlights, building lights, and the constant glow of modern life. There’s so much light pollution that we rarely experience true darkness at all. Even
Sunday, November 9, 2025 – Job 19:23-27a, Psalm 17:1-9, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17, Luke 20:27-38 Introduction: Wondering About Life After Death Have you ever found yourself lying awake at night, thinking about what comes next after this life? Maybe you’ve lost someone dear to you and wondered where they are now. Maybe you’ve caught yourself
Sunday, May 18 – Acts 11:1-18, Psalm 148, Revelation 21:1-6, John 13:31-35 [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=\”\”]Have you ever had the experience of something that you initially thought was a bad thing turning into a good thing? When I lost my job at the University of the South during Covid in 2020, I was devastated. I didn’t necessarily
Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025 – Luke 24:1-12 Years ago, I visited a Shroud of Turin exhibit that was housed in the CNN center in downtown Atlanta. The Shroud itself wasn’t there, but large photographs were everywhere that showed very clearly what probably happened to Jesus. It was a very emotional experience. So, when the
April 13, 2025, Passion Sunday – Luke 19:28-40, Isaiah 50:4-9a, Psalm 31:9-16, Philippians 2:5-11, Luke 22:14—23:56 We began this service with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the donkey as the people waved palms and shouted “Hosanna!” We’ve just heard the whole passion narrative that begins with the final supper that Jesus shared with his closest
Sunday, March 30, Lent 4 – Joshua 5:9-12, Psalm 32, 2 Corinthians 5:16-21, Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=\”\”]I stood in the library of the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, preparing to leave for a spiritual retreat the next day at the Greenbough House of Prayer in middle Georgia. I pulled Henri Nouwen’s book The Return
Sunday, February 16, 2025 – Jeremiah 17:5-10, Psalm 1, 1 Corinthians 15:12-20, Luke 6:17-26. In the Spring of 2009, I left my home in north Georgia and headed to Cullman, Alabama for five days of silence with a group of Benedictine nuns. I had previously spent silent days with both the Jesuits and the Trappists
Sunday, January 26, 2025 – Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10, Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a, Luke 4:14-21 Listen to the suffering of the people of Judah. First, their king and his family were forced into exile in Babylon. Then a few years later, when the great Temple was destroyed, almost all the Judeans were forced out
Sunday, December 22, 2024, Fourth Advent – Micah 5:2-5a, Luke 1:46b-55, Hebrews 10:5-10, Luke 1:39-45 [46-55] I’ll never forget the experience of watching the chubby, frumpy middle-aged woman with an unflattering hairdo walk onto the big stage with the microphone in her hand. She had shared with the offstage hosts that she was 47, lived alone
