Don't Throw It Away

Preached on May 27, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: Exodus 19:1-8; Acts 2:1-13

Church holidays trump national holidays, so this Sunday we focused on Pentecost. Celebrating Pentecost is too often an afterthought in some churches, which is interesting since they wouldn't exist had the Spirit not come all those years ago. As we saw in this sermon, Pentecost actually goes much further back than the Pentecost described in Acts 2, and that helps us understand exactly what the Spirit was doing on that day in Jerusalem.

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Cow at Shaker Village

I lack the finesse it takes to turn a cow into high art, but I still can't help liking this picture. This shot comes from Shaker Village near Harrodsburg, Kentucky, taken sometime last year when I was studying at Asbury.

Cow at Shaker Village

The Rest Is Coming

Preached on May 20, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: 2 Kings 2:5-14; Acts 1:3-11; Ephesians 1:13-14.

Last Thursday was the day in the Christian calendar set aside for remembering Jesus' ascension, and next Sunday is Pentecost, so today we focused on the transition between the two. Jesus is gone, but he sent us the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Spirit is the last of the major characteristics of the church that we're looking at during Eastertide, and it's one of the most important.

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The Dysfunctional Family of God

Preached on May 13, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: 1 Samuel 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:11-12, 5:1-5

It's Mother's Day, of course, and rather than preach a sermon about mothers like too many other preachers do -- I've actually heard hymns sung to mothers in some churches, believe it or not -- we decided to focus on the church as the family of God for this week. Family imagery is all over the place in the Bible, and Ephesians is no exception. Fortunately for us, God's family is no "ordinary" family.

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Between the Head and the Feet

Preached at PLWC on May 6, 2007.

Reading: Ephesians 1:15-2:5, 6:10-18; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

Sorry it took me a while to post this sermon; last week got away from me. We celebrated communion together on the 6th, and so that seemed like an ideal time to talk about how the church is the body of Christ. It's a common enough way of describing the church, but when we push a little harder on what Paul is saying in Ephesians, we see that the church-as-body image is even deeper than it's usually given credit for.

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Technically a hippeastrum, not an amaryllis

My mom loaned us one of her amaryllis bulbs to take care of for a few months, and shortly after she brought it to us, the thing took off like a beast unleashed. It almost immediately threw forth a flower stalk so fast that I could just about watch it grow. Fortunately, it was in fact a flower stalk, not a poison-tipped tentacle, and it recently started blooming:

Amaryllis

I'm sure it's considered very amateur in photography circles to keep taking close-ups of flowers, but a) I don't run in any photography circles, b) calling me an amateur would be a compliment considering my level of commitment to photography, and c) flowers are, by and large, pretty, so they're nice for taking pictures.

Mysteries and Solutions

Preached on April 29, 2007 at PLWC.

Reading: Genesis 32:22-30; Hosea 2:21-23; Ephesians 1:7-10, 3:2-6

Suffice it to say that Paul had some pretty profound things to say about what God did when he created the church. This week, we're looking at what it means when Paul says that the church is the revelation of God's wisdom.

Click here to view a manuscript of this sermon.