Apr 2007
Who Can We Trust?
04/29/07
Easter 4
Psalm 23/John 10:22-30
Dear friends in Christ?
Who can we trust today? What voice, when we hear it, do we have confidence that it will lead us truthfully? That is a very good question. It seems that with each passing year we grow more and more skeptical that anyone is truthful and trustworthy. Read More...
Psalm 23/John 10:22-30
Dear friends in Christ?
Who can we trust today? What voice, when we hear it, do we have confidence that it will lead us truthfully? That is a very good question. It seems that with each passing year we grow more and more skeptical that anyone is truthful and trustworthy. Read More...
Let’s Be the Church!
04/22/07
Easter 3
All Lessons-Year C
Dear friends in Christ, Grace to you and peace….
Many years ago when I was a youth director while a student in seminary, I heard a saying that has stuck with me and that I think about often, “Change is inevitable, growth is optional.” Whether we want it or not, change will come. You can’t avoid it. The question is, will you grow from it. Will you use change positively, so that as a result you become a better person and life becomes better. Read More...
All Lessons-Year C
Dear friends in Christ, Grace to you and peace….
Many years ago when I was a youth director while a student in seminary, I heard a saying that has stuck with me and that I think about often, “Change is inevitable, growth is optional.” Whether we want it or not, change will come. You can’t avoid it. The question is, will you grow from it. Will you use change positively, so that as a result you become a better person and life becomes better. Read More...
A Faith that Lasts
04/15/07
Easter 2
John 20:19-31
Dear friends in Christ,
A week ago yesterday, in the early afternoon, I was in the sanctuary here with Joe, our youth director, finishing up a few final details for our Easter Sunday service the next day. We were talking about Easter morning. We both agreed, Easter Sunday is the greatest morning of the church year, certainly from our perspective as Christian leaders. There’s no question it is a lot of work getting ready. There are flowers to be ordered and arranged. Services, bulletins, and an Easter sermon to be prepared. There are all kinds of youth and adult leaders needed to serve the annual Easter breakfast. I could go on, but you get the idea. Read More...
John 20:19-31
Dear friends in Christ,
A week ago yesterday, in the early afternoon, I was in the sanctuary here with Joe, our youth director, finishing up a few final details for our Easter Sunday service the next day. We were talking about Easter morning. We both agreed, Easter Sunday is the greatest morning of the church year, certainly from our perspective as Christian leaders. There’s no question it is a lot of work getting ready. There are flowers to be ordered and arranged. Services, bulletins, and an Easter sermon to be prepared. There are all kinds of youth and adult leaders needed to serve the annual Easter breakfast. I could go on, but you get the idea. Read More...
God’s Mornin’ is Come!
04/08/07
Easter Sunday
1 Corith. 15:19-26, Luke 24:1-12
Dear friends in Christ,
In former days in the south there were some cemeteries reserved exclusively for white people and others for African Americans. This is the story of the only white person in the state of Georgia buried in a cemetery reserved exclusively for African-Americans. This man had lost his mother when he was just a baby. His father, who never married again, hired a black woman named Mandy to help raise his son. She was a Christian woman who took her task seriously. Seldom has a motherless boy received such warmhearted attention. One of his earliest memories was of Mandy bending tenderly over him in his upstairs bedroom at the beginning of each day and softly saying, “Wake up--God’s mornin’ is come.” Read More...
1 Corith. 15:19-26, Luke 24:1-12
Dear friends in Christ,
In former days in the south there were some cemeteries reserved exclusively for white people and others for African Americans. This is the story of the only white person in the state of Georgia buried in a cemetery reserved exclusively for African-Americans. This man had lost his mother when he was just a baby. His father, who never married again, hired a black woman named Mandy to help raise his son. She was a Christian woman who took her task seriously. Seldom has a motherless boy received such warmhearted attention. One of his earliest memories was of Mandy bending tenderly over him in his upstairs bedroom at the beginning of each day and softly saying, “Wake up--God’s mornin’ is come.” Read More...
For God/For Us
04/01/07
Palm/Passion Sunday
Luke 23:1-49
Dear friends in Christ,
A couple of months ago we were having an informal conversation at our outreach team meeting about the challenge of getting people interested in church these days. There continues to be a general interest among people in what we might call “spiritual matters,” but for many this does not translate into involvement with a Christian church. Many are still drawn to some traditional rites of the church, like weddings and Baptisms, but that’s about as far as it goes. Many feel they have their individual spirituality, but there’s no need for the community of faith as we’ve know it in the church. Read More...
Luke 23:1-49
Dear friends in Christ,
A couple of months ago we were having an informal conversation at our outreach team meeting about the challenge of getting people interested in church these days. There continues to be a general interest among people in what we might call “spiritual matters,” but for many this does not translate into involvement with a Christian church. Many are still drawn to some traditional rites of the church, like weddings and Baptisms, but that’s about as far as it goes. Many feel they have their individual spirituality, but there’s no need for the community of faith as we’ve know it in the church. Read More...