A death with dignity and compassion it was not. Those pieces still recognizable as a cricket lay bottom side up. The missing parts, presumedly, composed the linear slick of black goo scuffing the gray floor, on the shoulder of the steel-blue track at the Wellness Center. Passers-by the deathly scene included countless walkers and runners,Continue reading “Too Few Are Noticing”
Category Archives: Sermons
Honor Your Parents
A lunchroom filled with schoolchildren raises the curtain on a familiar cast of characters. Perhaps most immediately: The Spillers and Wasters, the Yellers and Screamers, the Wigglers and the Jigglers – each as equally aggravating as the next, but nevertheless shaped and sized uniquely in the image of the God who made them. Continue reading “Honor Your Parents”
Keep the Lord’s Day Special
If you fancy yourself a would-be author, let me suggest a topic for a definite New York Times best-seller. You’ll be working the crowded neighborhood at the intersection of Self-help Street and Spirituality Avenue. Your topic is flung far afield across disciplines – the healing arts, physical and natural sciences, psychology and sociology. YourContinue reading “Keep the Lord’s Day Special”
Take Not in Vain
Unless you live in a monastery or convent, you don’t have to listen too hard these days to hear God’s third commandment take quite a verbal beating. Plenty of folks don’t even break a sweat when casually invoking God’s name to make themselves look more trustworthy or electable, even though they oftentimes are actuallyContinue reading “Take Not in Vain”
No Graven Images
Within the ancient words of the Old Testament dwell 613 commandments regulating everything from soup to nuts. And we’re exploring the first 10 – through the lens of the New Testament’s greatest commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind; and love your neighbor as yourself – asContinue reading “No Graven Images”
No Other Gods before Me
Over the years, I’ve preached sermon series on any number of themes, but for no reason in particular, the one topic I haven’t touched in depth is the Ten Commandments. So, for the next 10-or-so weeks, we’re going to be unpacking that list of do’s and don’ts – given by God to Moses, aContinue reading “No Other Gods before Me”
Have You Met the Guy?
Pastor Grant M. VanderVelden shared this message at the funeral for William Mark “Bill” Campbell on Tuesday, July 11, 2023. Perhaps even more so than the imposing stature of his physical presence, Bill’s sharp wit was nothing with which to trifle. His sense of humor blew into a room like a force of nature,Continue reading “Have You Met the Guy?”
At Our Best
Some of the Bible’s most intriguing and inspiring stories describe events or phenomena that are exceptional and unprecedented. In those-remarkable-but-rare instances, God’s Holy Spirit in Christ is uniquely present, and like a match set to a pack of firecrackers, the Spirit sparks a chain reaction of explosions that inspire awe and wonder. This morning’s ScriptureContinue reading “At Our Best”
Sober Inebriation
Amazement and astonishment – awe and wonder – have been hallmarks of our Scripture lessons these past few Sundays. Consider, for a moment, where the ancient words of the story of God with us have taken us: Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus leaves earth in physical form. His body returns to heaven, where GodContinue reading “Sober Inebriation”
‘Those Days’ Are Now ‘These Days’
Oddly enough, the Old Testament book of Joel hatches from an infestation of insects – more specifically, a swarm of locusts so efficiently devastating the countryside of Israel that famine and starvation are very real possibilities. By Joel’s reckoning, the buzzing disaster swarms large in divine judgment upon the Lord’s sinful people, who eventually getContinue reading “‘Those Days’ Are Now ‘These Days’”