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 …
Sermon text: Mark 6: 1-13 I’ve had lots of gifted teachers and preachers in my life. Ones who made me sit up and pay attention. Ones who made my mind and imagination race. Ones who impacted my life by what they spoke. Hopefully you’ve had some of those people in your life too. Imagine would …
Sermon text: Mark 5: 21-43 There are two seasons in Pennsylvania: winter and construction. Getting around Hollidaysburg has been a verified nightmare these past few weeks as roads are milled and repaved and other infrastructure projects disturb our traffic patterns. You can’t drive anywhere without seeing orange detour signs and traffic cones. It’s not that …
Sermon text: 1 Samuel 17: 32-49 Back in May the website YouGov, a global public opinion and data company, did a poll of Americans, asking which wild beasts they thought they could defeat in an unarmed fight to the death. The results showed that we are not confident in our abilities, although men were perhaps …
Sermon texts: 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 & Mark 4:26-34 What do you do when Plan A fails? You move on to Plan B. King Saul was Plan A, but he is failing, miserably, and God knows it. In fact, God regrets the decision. “And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul King over Israel.” …
1 Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20 In the Netflix hit show The Crown there is a wonderful scene in an early episode of season 1. In it, King George VI is preparing for his coronation ceremony with his young daughter, Princess Elizabeth. They’re doing a little informal rehearsal of the elaborate service and they’re interrupted by an …
Sermon text: Romans 8:12-17 All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. That line from Paul reminds me of my favorite part of the baptismal rite, as I apply olive oil on the child’s brow in the shape of a cross and say, “You, child of God, have been sealed …
Sermon text: Ezekiel 37: 1-14 My buddy Andy has a mechanically oriented brain, so he really enjoys thinks like computers, 3D printers, and automobiles. Last summer he restored his old 1998 Jeep Cherokee with his pandemic free time. Every week he was completing another change to the vehicle, showing me all of the progress under …
Sermon text: Acts 1: 1-11 On the fortieth day of Easter, which for us is celebrated on Thursday, May 13th, Jesus blesses his disciples one last time and is taken up into heaven. He ascends. Just like the resurrection, the disciples have never witnessed anything quite like this, so they stand still, their necks bent …