One of the things I love most about scripture is how, even thousands of years later, these ancient stories still have the power to surprise us, to challenge us, and to inspire us. Today, as we hear about the healing of Naaman, the Syrian general, and the ten lepers whom Jesus heals, we are reminded […]
Sunday, May 4 – Acts 9:1-6 [7-20], Psalm 30, Revelation 5:11-14, John 21:1-19 I’m currently reading a book called Why Religion Went Obsolete, by Christian Smith, a sociologist at the University of Notre Dame (see his conversation with Tripp Fuller below). In it, Smith writes about societal movements and changes since the 1990s that came
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
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, February 9, 2025 – Isaiah 6:1-8 [9-13], Psalm 138, 1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Luke 5:1-11 I have to confess, I’ve never been very interested in fishing. As a child, my brother often took rod and reel and went with our Uncle Richie, who just passed away a couple of weeks ago, to see what they
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
Sunday, December 15, 2024 – Zephaniah 3:14-20, Isaiah 12:2-6, Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:7-18 Since we had so much fun singing in last Sunday’s sermon, I thought we should do it again because as soon as I read our second reading for today, I thought of this bible camp song: “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I
Sunday, November 10, 2024 – Mark 12:38-44, also 1 Kings 17:8-16, Psalm 34:1-8, Hebrews 9:24-28. Two of our readings today feature people who were living on the edge, people in a very vulnerable position because of their relationship status. They were widows with no husband to support them, no real security. Many women past middle
Sunday, August 4, 2024 – Gospel, John 6:24-35, also Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15, Psalm 78:23-29, Ephesians 4:1-16 I love listening to recordings of Alan Watts, who you can hear almost everywhere on YouTube these days. I first heard of Watts when I was given a set of cassette tapes of his lectures that I’d listen to
Sunday, July 28, 2024 – Gospel, John 6:1-21, also 2 Kings 4:42-44, Psalm 145:10-18, Ephesians 3:14-21 We’ve recently started a Healthy Eating group here at Redeemer. Several of us meet each week to learn about healthy eating and support each other in our health goals. One of the topics that has come up is the
