Sermon Text: Matthew 11: 16-19, 25-30 In the second part of our Gospel Jesus says a prayer to God the Father, thanking God for hiding these things from the wise and intelligent and revealing them to infants.  What exactly are these things that Jesus is mentioning?  What can an infant understand that the wise and…

Sermon Text: Genesis 22: 1-14 and Matthew 10: 40-42 A test is a procedure intended to establish the quality, performance, or reliability of something or someone.  For most people the word “test” probably evokes memories of school.  Memories of spelling, multiplication tables, anatomy, Scan Tron sheets will all of their many multiple choice bubbles, or…

Sermon text: Matthew 10: 24-39 Once, during a Bible Study, I asked the class this question.  I asked, “Is there anything that you wished that Jesus did not say?”  The question received a lot of quizzical looks—like “Pastor, don’t you know that you are the pastor?  You’re not allowed to ask that question.”  Eventually there…

Sermon text: Matthew 9: 35- 10: 8 I want to begin today by telling you a story about my first full day of work as an intern in ministry.  To be exact, it was Saturday, July 3, 2010. I woke up that morning, donned by new, black clerical shirt and collar and suit, a process…