Dear Friends: Change is in the air. I look out the window into the woods and see colors that were not there even yesterday. The greens of last week are being replaced by yellows and oranges and reds; the beauty of these colors should not be ignored, even as we are conscious...
Dear Friends: This week--in the midst of a natural disaster of yet-unknown but epic proportion and on the heels of the still-simmering confrontation with evil that merely raised its ugly head at Charlottesville, Virginia--in the midst of matters that cry out for the attention of...
“Things are more like they are today than they’ve ever been. “ Yogi Berra at his best, stating the obvious but in a way that told an unseen truth. Yes, Yogi could “say that twice today and mean it”.1 Things are more like they are today than they have...
In messages over the past couple of weeks, I have referred to life as being both terrifying and amazing. Life today presents us with great uncertainties, and there is much to fear if we choose to live our lives afraid. Today, though, I was given the opportunity to experience the...
We’ve been reading Scripture from First Peter, the letter attributed to the Apostle Peter but almost certainly written years after his death. The letter was written at a time of great persecution of those who chose to follow the examples and teachings of Jesus—in other words, not...
As I sat here this morning, writing a sermon and praying for inspiration (or, perhaps, for divine intervention), a familiar song came over the Pandora app on my computer. Appropriately, the song is titled, “Cry Out to Jesus” and the lyrics of the chorus repeat this...
Dear Friends: We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.... Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15) of the resurrection. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord...
Dear Friends: The stories passed down from generation to generation had taught them that the soul leaves the body three days after death occurs. I don't know why. But Lazarus had been dead now for four days--long enough that his soul must have departed. And here came...
Dear Friends: You'll know where to find me at the party. I'm the guy in the corner, sitting on the stairway, outside on the deck or, maybe, talking with one other kindred soul. I'm the early-leaver, the one who engages sincerely with others but, on the inside, is dying to...
Dear Friends: Life takes unexpected turns; we can't see around the corners that we approach and, in truth, it is just as well that we cannot. I rounded a corner in the past week, one that was inevitable and, yet, dreaded. My sister--my big sister, Carol--fell gravely ill...