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 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 …
Sermon text: Mark 9: 30-37 A few years ago, I was out in Minnesota for my grandmother’s funeral, and I had the pleasure of staying with my cousin and his two young children: Chase, who at the time was 5 and Kendall, 3. While I was there Tim’s wife Danielle was in the hospital, so …
Sermon text: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Did you ever notice that Jesus saves his sharpest barbs and most pointed criticisms for the people who were the most religious? Jesus doesn’t tear down the tax collectors and the prostitutes. He doesn’t target criminals or those with loose morals. No. It’s the Pharisees. It’s the scribes. The …
Sermon text: Ephesians 6: 10-20 When I was at Camp Sequanota the other week I was there during Theme Week—everyday had a different wacky theme or subject. Thursday’s theme was Prom Night. I, of course, wore my tuxedo jacket, cummerbund, and bow tie over top of my shorts and tee shirt. This was the very …
Sermon text: John 6: 51-58 A six-inch club sub from Sheetz on white bread with provolone cheese, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, black olives, and pickles. For decades that has been my go-to fast food meal when I am feeling lazy or pinched for time and don’t want to cook. I’ve eaten dozens and dozens of these …
Sermon text: 1 Kings 19: 4-8 There are times in our life when it feels like no matter what we do it is not enough. We complete a task, a chore, a job and there’s no thank you. There’s no gratitude. But another task will quickly pop up, another to-do item will populate our lists, …
Sermon text: John 6: 1-21 When I was sixteen I went on a servant adventure camp with a number of other youth from Zion. We traveled south to Camp Mar-Lu Ridge and did all of our service projects in the Metro DC area, including a day of service at the Capital Area Food Bank. I’m …
Sermon text: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 It’s said that often times you write the sermon you personally need to hear. This week that truth was as plain as the nose on my face as I kept reading a portion of our gospel lesson over and over again. This single verse kept resonating with me and yet …
Sermon text: Mark 6: 14-29 I’ll be honest, this is one of those gospel lessons where you hesitate to say, “Praise to you, O Christ” as we finish the reading. It’s a dark story. This week, one of my colleagues was remarking/lamenting that the beheading of John the Baptist was terrible timing because he has …