Here’s a portion of it:

Several years ago a friend of mine and I went to a weekend Blue Grass Concert in North Wilkesboro, NC. After the Friday night festivities we stopped at a Mexican restaurant on the way back to the cabin we were staying in and noticed that — at a table nearby — there was a woman and a man holding hands across the table, talking quietly, gazing into each other’s eyes. They were obviously in love. My friend and I noticed what was going on at that table – and both of us reached for our cell phones at the same time and said: “Excuse me. I have to call my wife.” I’ll never forget thinking about what was motivating the calls. It was that picture of a deep, satisfying, relating conversation. It made us think: That’s what I want to participate in with my wife. I want to talk to her. I want to call home.
Jesus’ followers might have seen something in the way Jesus related to his Father, and said: “Teach us to pray like that.”

You can read the entire sermon here.

Yes — America does have talent!

Once again (the 5th time in 14 years) the issue of ordination of those in same – sex partnerships will be debated in our Presbyteries as a new amendment to our Book of Order is now proposed. It reads that officers (ministers,elders, and deacons) submit “joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ” in all aspects of life, but removes the requirement that they live a life of “fidelity within marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness” that is in the Book of Order now.

The Assembly sent out for study by the denomination a majority and minority report on same – sex marriages and took no action on calls to allow Presbyterian ministers to perform same – sex marriages in states where they are legal.

I pray that these upcoming debates will not bring a split in the denomination I love — but more than that I pray that we can come to a consensus of a Biblical view that marriage is to be between a man and a woman. Please join me in praying for our denomination as we enter another time of debate and discussion on this issue, and praying for God’s will to be done.

Anyway — I have now posted last Sunday’s sermon — based on Luke 10:25-37 and entitled “Go And Do” .

Here’s a portion of it:

What will it take for us to learn how to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength,
and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself

What will it take for us to learn to
Go and do likewise
What will it take for us to learn to
Go – and do?

You can read the entire sermon here.

I have also posted today’s sermon to my sermon blog. It’s based on Luke 10:38-42 and entitled “Be Prayerfully Active”. Here’s a portion of it:

A few Wednesday nights ago we were discussing the “hard sayings of Jesus” in our study of James Moore’s book

Yes Lord I Have Sinned (But I Have Several Excellent Excuses)

and we named some of the “sayings of Jesus” we found hard to follow such as “turning the other cheek” or giving someone our cloak when they ask for our coat or going “the extra mile” for someone or loving our enemies. I must admit that this passage we have before us today is one of those “hard passages” for me that I struggle with. It is not one I like to preach on – in fact I can probably count on 1 hand the number of times I have preached on it very often in the 25 years I have been in the ministry. I suppose my struggle with this passage comes in feeling like I have to identify with either Mary or Martha – and live like either one or the other – and I am not comfortable with having to make that choice. Yea, this is one of those “hard sayings of Jesus” or “hard passages” for me.
What about you?
Do you feel you have to identify with either Mary or Martha in this passage?

You can read this entire sermon here.

Here’s a portion of it:

Friends — America has been called a great nation. This is very true — America is a very great nation. However, America is only truly great if Americans have a truly great faith in God — truly give to God the things due God and to our country the things due our county — and live in God’s ways – sharing God’s love with all people – and working for God’s kingdom of love, justice and peace on earth. America is only as great as our faith in God.
America has been called a Christian nation.
Indeed, our country was founded upon Christian principles — but we must return to those principles — truly give to God the things due to God — and deepen our faith in God. America is only a Christian nation as long as we — Americans — are a Christian people. Once we stop following God and Christ, we can no longer be considered a Christian nation. As a nation, America is only as Christian as we — it’s people — live out our Christian faith and let our Christian faith determine what we do as individuals — and as a country.
America has been called a strong nation.
Once again, this statement is only true if we — as Americans — have a strong faith in God – a strong commitment to giving to God the things due to God and to our country the things due our country. It’s only when we let our strong faith in God and our strong commitment to God determine what we do as individuals — as a community — as a Church — and as a nation that we can be considered a strong nation.
Only if we commit ourselves to acting on our faith – working for God’s love and God’s will for a world filled with God’s love, justice, and peace – can we be considered a great nation. America’s greatness, America’s virtue as a Christian nation, and America’s strength depends upon the depth of the faith of its people – and that means the depth of our commitment to give to God the things due to God.
America’s greatness, America’s virtue as a Christian nation, and America’s strength depends upon our ability to confess our sins – humble ourselves – and pray for God to forgive us – and find God’s new ways for us to live.

You can read the sermon here.

Here’s a portion of it:

We are all “possessed” to some extent — aren’t we? There are times when all of our lives seem out of balance — out of kilter.
At these times we can come to Christ. We can give our problems to Christ — the one who cares for us and can heal us and make us whole.
If you feel possessed by problems and worries, let Christ possess you and fill you.
Let Christ make you whole.
Take that first step — and let Christ possess you.
Then — step out in faith — with Christ — to make the other steps necessary for healing and wholeness in your life.

You can read the sermon here.

Here’s a portion of it:

A minister who works at a large city church tells the story of a prostitute he befriended as she came to his church for food.
Maggie was her name.
The first time he saw her, he says, she was selling herself on the street like hundreds of other runaway teenagers he had seen before. Lost in the big city, doing what they had to do to survive. Most of them were the used, abused, and neglected of the world — the children whose experience had convinced them they were unloved and unlovable.
His church offered them hot coffee, sandwiches, and a safe place to sleep if they wanted it. Some just took the coffee and the food and went straight back into the night. Maggie was one of those. But — one night Maggie hung around. She seemed to need to talk, so the minister sat beside her on the curb and listened. She told him about her family — the abuse she had taken from her father — how she had run away. And how she now felt that no one loved her.
The minister assured her that God really loved her.
She shook her head “no” and walked away.
A few weeks later he saw her again – and they started talking. He again assured her of God’s love. This happened for several months – until finally one night she said she wanted to give her life to God.
If God could love her, she said, she could love Him.

That’s what it’s all about, my friends.
That’s what it means to remember to love.

You can read the entire sermon here.

Here’s a portion of it:

The 1984 movie “Footloose” tells the story of how a young man named Ren McCormack. The actor Kevin Bacon played the role of the teenager who, with the help of his friends, changes the attitudes of many folks in a small town. The main attitude that is changed is the dislike the adults in the town have about teenagers and their love for dancing — but the attitude of the town leaders towards young people in general is changed in other ways also.
It was a great film about how attitudes can be changed – with great music and dance numbers — and is one of those “feel good” movies that was a big box office hit.
There are many scenes in the movie where it seemed that Kevin Bacon – paying the role of Ren McCormack — was dancing some very fancy steps. When the move the movie was released, a lot of people wanted Kevin Bacon to duplicate many of those steps on stage and live TV shows. That’s when there became a problem.
The problem was, he couldn’t dance very well at all.
He tells the story that his son came to him shortly after the movie was released and said, “Dad, that movie was awesome! All those dance moves you did were really cool! Can you teach them to me?”
Bacon laughed and said: “Well, son, that wasn’t really me. That was a stunt man.”
“What’s a stunt man?” his son asked.
Bacon replied: “That’s a guy who dresses up in my clothes and does stuff I can’t do.”
His son then asked him:
“Well, gee, dad, just what did you do in that movie?”
“Well, son,” Bacon said sheepishly, “I guess I got all the glory for things I had not really done.”
With that in mind, Kevin called the studio where the movie was filmed and asked who actually had danced ion the movie. When he got in touch with the folks who had been his “doubles”, he asked them if they would appear with him on live TV talk shows and show how they had done some of the moves they performed. He even got them to teach some of the moves to his son.
He decided that he wanted to clear up the misconception that he had performed all the dances in the movie – and wanted to give credit where credit was due.

If you are wondering what this has to do with the Luke 7:11-17 passage, click here to read the entire sermon.

Here’s a portion of it:

The Walt Disney animated film classic Fantasia is a wonderful and spellbinding combination of animation and classical music that has been loved by young and old alike for 70 years. Since it first came out in 1940, Fantasia has been one of the most beloved animated films ever. It was one of my favorites as a child – and it still is!
If you have seen it, you might remember the final scenes.
As Mussorgsky’s Night On Bald Mountain plays a bat – winged Devil directs dead bodies and skeletons that dance around the mountain. It seems the Devil is in complete control of the chaotic scene — until Church bells ring for morning prayers. The Devil frowns and disappears and the dead go back to their graves. As dawn approaches there is a procession of flickering lights going up mountain. To the music of Schubert’s Ave Maria the same mountain the Devil had ruled from seconds before is transformed into a holy place. It is as if the world is transformed. It is as if the Spirit brightens the world – – not only by the rising sun but by the “tongues of fire” as it were from the individual lanterns, carried by those who are filled with a desire to worship and share God with others.

You know — that is much like what the Spirit did at Pentecost – is it not?
The image our passage from Acts 2 gives us of:
“what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.”
transforms and changes the disciples. The Spirit touched them – and their lives were transformed and changed — and before long the city of Jerusalem was transformed and changed – and in time the surrounding countryside was transformed and changed – and in time the world was transformed by folks who were filled with the Spirit and filled with a desire to worship and share God with others.

You can read the entire sermon here.

Here’s a portion of it:

Randy Pausch was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. In the summer of 2007 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given only a short time to live. On September 18 2007 he gave a talk in front of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon entitled “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. The talk was not about dying – but the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others to come true, and of seizing every moment in life. He said:
“time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think”
The talk was a summation of everything he had come to believe. It was about how he had tried to live his life.
Within days videos of the talk were on the internet and he was asked to appear on talk shows and was the topic of stories on new shows. He and his attitude about life were an instant phenomenon and inspiration for others all around the world. He then published a book – The Last Lecture – where he combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come. He died on July 25 2008 – but his witness lives on. I would encourage you to go to internet and search for “the last lecture” and watch the videos – or buy his book – to see how one person can have such passion for life and make such an impact on the lives of others.

You can read the sermon here.