Sermon text: Luke 3: 7-18 It’s eight o’clock Thursday morning and I was sitting in the Parsonage putting the finishing touches on a funeral sermon for later that day. Down Strawberry Alley I heard a man yelling, somewhere in the distance, and he sounded angry. But hey, weird things happen at all hours of the …
Sermon text: Luke 3: 1-6 Tiberius Pilate Herod Philip Lysanias Annas Caiaphas These are the names that Luke lists here at the beginning of chapter 3. They’re not common names. Even Philip, the most common name on the list, doesn’t crack the top 100. It’s currently ranked as the 364th most common male name. But …
Sermon text: John 18: 33-37 What does a hobo’s idea of paradise look like? If you were a hobo, a person wandering the countryside like a rolling stone, what vision of the Kingdom of God would you hold? In 1928, Harry McClintock recorded a song of his ideal heaven, a place where hens lay soft-boiled …
Sermon text: Mark 13: 1-8 I was in Jerusalem during the trip of a lifetime, and I was standing in front of the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. I remember standing in front of that ancient wall with my right hand out, touching the enormous white limestone blocks that towered above. People were mumbling …
Sermon text: John 11: 32-44 You’ve heard the phrase, “Not all heroes wear capes.” In that same vein, as we celebrate All Saints Day, I’ll add that “Not all saints wear halos.” Typically, saints are thought of as the faithful men and women of old who worked miracles, were outstanding servants, and are always depicted …
Sermon text: Jeremiah 31: 31-34 & John 8: 31-36 When I was young I played every possible sport that I could get my hands on. Soccer, baseball, basketball, swimming, golf, floor hockey, football—these were the sports of my youth. The thing is, when you’re exposed to so many different sports as a child, and when …
Sermon text: Mark 10: 46-52 In between innings at Altoona Curve games there’s always some sort of entertainment in the stadium. There’s trivia, races, mini games with the fans for prizes, and my favorite, the t-shirt cannon. And sometimes the t-shirt cannon is even better…the hot dog cannon. Who doesn’t love the possibility of processed …
Sermon text: Mark 10: 17-31 Of all the people in Mark’s Gospel, this is the only person who Jesus looks at and loves. It’s the only time Jesus shows this kind of attachment to this curious and sincere young man who kneels before him, pays him a complement, and then asks a weighty question: “What …
Sermon text: Mark 10: 2-16 I confess that I procrastinated on this sermon this week because I heard this gospel lesson in an intensely personal way. It’s the first time preaching on this text since my divorce. And if you’re like me and that’s part of your story, or perhaps if your parents have been …
Sermon text: Mark 9: 38-50 One of my favorite professors in seminary was famous for asking a clarifying question whenever we read the word “all” in scripture. How much of all is all? Simple. Brilliant even. The answer of course, should be, all. There’s a lot of churches in Blair County, which means there are …