Jesus the Preacher
From three years ago, a prayer in response to Luke 4.14-30: When you preached favor for “us,” we spoke well of you. But when you preached favor for “them,” we were ready to throw you off a cliff. What did you feel…
About Writing
A quote about writing from Thomas Merton, somewhat connected to my last post (whenever that was): “If you write for God you will reach many men and bring them joy. If you write for men–you may make some money and…
The Rest of the Story
At my church we do a testimony and praise time during our Sunday morning services. For those unfamiliar with the environment at a smaller church with a more traditional feel, testimony time begins with an invitation from one of the…
Getting Back on the Horse
The window of my study at the church looks right out at the entrance to our parking lot. It connects us to a two lane country highway that is fairly busy. Our location is just outside of town and not…
Pastors of the Scattered Flock
We recently finished watching The War, a Ken Burns documentary that is about as long as World War II itself was. The sheer number of people killed was unimaginable. An estimated 50-60 million worldwide lost their lives. The economics of…
Spiritual Asceticism
“Faith without works is dead.” So says James, bringing a difficult tension into the Christian life. Protestant Christianity, at least, with its emphasis on faith alone, has had a difficult time figuring out what to do with James’s words. I…
Another One Bites the Dust
Somewhere in a corner of a neighborhood in transition in St. Louis a small group of weary travelers voted to disband their church. I knew it was coming. I mean, I didn’t know that it was going to be this…
What Are We Planting?
One of the new catchphrases in the missional church world is that we shouldn’t plant churches, we should plant the gospel. By being gospel-centered, rather than church-centered (normally pronounced, “Self-centered”), the mission can be preserved. It’s also a way of…
Faith and Healing
In Acts 3, Peter and John heal a crippled beggar and later attribute the healing to faith in Jesus’ name. This raises all sorts of questions, especially in our culture this one: How can I get the same thing? How…
A Wedding Sermon
I was privileged to perform my first wedding ceremony for my very dear friends Patrick and Luz in Los Angeles this past weekend. Below is, for the most part, the homily that I gave. A note about posting a bunch…
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