For five weeks now we have been studying the Beatitudes, one of the greatest and most beautiful passages, I believe, in all of the Scriptures. The Beatitudes are not only one of the greatest and most beautiful passages, they are also one of the most challenging of passages, especially when we dig in deeper and […]
Tanya has two brothers, one of whom retired from the Air Force in July of 2015. As I was on sabbatical at the time, we traveled to his retirement ceremony, and as we enjoyed the program I thought about his story of survival training many years before. He was dropped in the wilderness with almost […]
If I were to ask you to list adjectives that you would be pleased to have attached to your name, what would you say? Perhaps you might say kind, loving, compassionate, smart, or funny. There are any number of other adjectives you might choose, but I would feel very confident in guessing that meek would […]
Listening to the radio last week I heard the song Alone Again, Naturally, by Gilbert O’Sullivan several times. If you are from my era you probably remember the song, which is a nice, catchy, bouncy song, at least musically. Lyrically, it is very depressing, and includes the following lines. Would you like me to sing […]
Today we begin a new series of messages, based on the Beatitudes. The Beautitudes are a section of Scripture that I was surprised to realize I have not used as a series of messages. Outside of a couple of sermons with the context of the Sermon On the Mount, I have not preached on the […]
I attended college in northeast Tennessee, at Milligan College, near Johnson City. Growing up in northern West Virginia, in the foothills of the Alleghany Mountains, I felt as though those hills were very confining. The valleys in my home area were very narrow, but in Tennessee, the mountains were further apart, with wide valleys and […]
A couple of weeks ago I walked onto an elevator at a hospital in Louisville. This hospital has about the slowest elevators in the entire city and I was on the 9th floor. The elevator filled quickly with people going down to the first floor, a trip that would not be quick. Two of the […]
Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King; Let every heart prepare him room, And heaven and nature sing. —by Isaac Watts One of the most popular Christmas hymns is Joy to the World, which is kind of ironic, as it was not written to be a Christmas song, and […]
Today we begin a series of three Advent messages titled What the World Needs Now. Some of you, when you hear the phrase What the World Needs Now, will think of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David song (am I dating myself?). I had been thinking for a couple of weeks about what theme to […]
There are few things as classic as a church play. Whether at Christmas, Easter, or any other time, the church play is a spiritual rite of passage. I was in my share of church plays when I was a kid, especially at Christmas, but I was not, unfortunately, much of an actor, so I didn’t […]