In the middle of the earth in the land of Shire...

I've had enough family members demand photos of where we live that I've finally gotten around to it. The picture quality is far from spectacular since it was snowing at the time, but I thought snow would be as picturesque as anything, at least until the leaves come back.

And so, I present to you the parsonage...

Front view

Another front view

Rear view

And yes, the building right beside us is the church building. It's nice to be able to walk to work without even having to put on a coat, but it also means there isn't much point in opening the blinds on that side of the house...

Don't Play With Fire

Preached on February 25, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: Luke 18:10-17; Revelation 8:1-5

This Sunday was the first Sunday in Lent, and at Pocono Lake, we're taking this season to focus specifically on how we as a church can serve God better. We want to know how he wants us to enter into his work in the world. And since Carey and I are new to the church, that means we (as a church and as pastors) need to spend time intentionally seeking God. One way to do that is through prayer, which is the focus of this week's sermon. This sermon talks about how we pray and what happens when we pray. I'll give you a hint: prayer is not a chance for us to tell God what we want him to do.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

Copyright information

It's taken me longer than I'd hoped, but I've finally updated the copyright information for the content of this site. There is now an icon and information for more details at the bottom of this page as well as at the end of every sermon, but it basically comes down to what I said before: don't take my stuff and call it your own, and don't make money off of me without asking first.

The official lingo is a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License, which means that you're free to use my stuff without asking provided you comply with the following stipulations: give credit where credit is due, don't use my stuff for commercial purposes, and don't change my stuff unless you're willing to put an identical license on the modified result.

It's really a shame that I have to go to all this trouble, especially since these stipulations are, in my mind, simply being polite, but such are the days in which we live.

What To Eat

Preached on February 18, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: Exodus 16:1-4a; John 6:32-35, 41-60

This Sunday was our first celebration of the Lord's Supper since we arrived at Pocono Lake, so I decided to preach on Jesus' statement that he is the bread of life. His allusion to God's gift of manna in Exodus 16 isn't too hard to pick out, but why does he keep talking about chewing?

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

Azatiwada and the Song of Deborah

Below I've included a link to a paper I wrote last year for a class I took at Asbury. I'm not really sure why I'm posting this, since it's fairly technical and I can't imagine anyone would be interested in reading it, but I suppose it's just possible that someone will someday find this paper in a Google search for research material and actually use it. The presenting reason I'm posting it, though, is because in my sermon titled "How to Go" I mentioned that in the ancient Near East, a ruler could be judged by the quality of the protection he or she offered on the roads under his or her control. That claim is actually based on research, believe it or not.

The paper in question compares some lines from the Song of Deborah with some claims made by a ruler named Azatiwada in an inscription bragging about how great he was. They're not explicitly connected in any way, of course, but they both make the assumption (or so I argue) that one standard way of judging a ruler's quality and right to brag is how well they take care of their roads. Nothing earth-shattering, I suppose, but it does shed some light on a variety of obscure passages throughout the Bible.

Click here to view this paper.

How To Go

Preached on February 11, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: John 13:31-14:7, Hebrews 10:19-25

When Jesus calls himself "The way, the truth, and the life," he means that he is the way that God promised us to bring us to himself. He's talking about us being adopted into God's family, and that changes everything.

Click here to view the manuscript of this sermon.

Where To Go

Preached on February 4, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: Ezekiel 34:1-6, 17-19; John 10:7-18; 1 Peter 5:1-5

Jesus calls himself the "door" and the "good shepherd." Anyone who doesn't come through the door, he says, is a thief and a robber...

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

How To Stay Alive

Preached on January 14, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7, John 15:1-11

Jesus calls himself the vine, and those who want to stay alive must be grafted into him. If he is our source of life, though, he also gives us what we need to bear fruit.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

How To See

Preached on January 7, 2007 at PLWC

Reading: John 8:12, 9:39-41

This is the first sermon in a series looking at Jesus' "I am..." statements in John's gospels, where he describes himself in terms of something else. In this sermon, we see that Jesus is the light that give our eyes, which are blind on their own and cannot see the God that created them, sight to see God.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.

Some introductory remarks

My intent in this site is to give me a place to deposit sermons and such in case anyone is interested in reading them. I assume that I'll be including more content and variety down the road, but for now, I'm not sure what that will be. I also assume that most people who look at this site will be people who already know me and know how to contact me, but if you're not, then feel free to leave a comment on one of the posts and I'll be happy to get in touch with you. I certainly encourage feedback on anything I've posted.

I'll also be posting more on my copyright policy later, but for now, just don't take my stuff and call it your stuff, and don't make money off of my stuff without giving me some of it. I don't get too hung up on "intellectual property rights," whatever those are, since the things I preach are the product of countless other peoples' thoughts anyway.