A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian in Boise on July 26, 2014. Luke 15:11-32 A friend shared this quote with me a few weeks ago, and it really stuck with me: Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week. ~ Alice Walker My Sabbath activity tomorrow will…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church on June 28, 2014 (This was at our Saturday Evening Sabbath Service. We’ll be doing this, instead of Sunday worship, the last week of each month.) Exodus 18:13-27 Thank you for being here tonight. I truly am grateful for your willingness to try something very different. I know…
A sermon preached on Pentecost at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho June 8, 2014 Acts 2:1-21 Today we celebrate the birthday of the church, as we remember the day the Spirit descended and helped a bunch of disparate Jesus followers coalesce and come together with one purpose—to proclaim the good news of God, regardless…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho on Ascension Sunday, June 1, 2014. Acts 1:1-11 This past Thursday the church calendar celebrated the Ascension, which is the 40th day after Easter, when the church commemorates the Ascension of Christ into Heaven. We live in a world where people do not get carted…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho. May 18, 2014 Acts 4:5-21 John 21:15-17 The day before our story begins, as we heard last week, Peter and John were walking into the Temple in Jerusalem and a lame beggar, who had sat at the gate every day for years, asked them for…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho May the 4th Be With You, 2014 Acts 2:36-47 I confess I read this passage and don’t recognize the world described. We started today at the end of a long sermon of Peter’s. This sermon will be shorter. I don’t expect crowds of people to…
A Sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho on April 6, 2014. Ezekiel 37:1-14 John 11:17-45 Over spring break, Alden and I joined 50 other people from Boise High on a tour of Berlin, Prague, Krakow, and Budapest. One of the stops on our trip was Auschwitz-Birkenau, two Nazi concentration camps. It was…
Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7 Matt 4:1-11 I’ve not been a huge fan of this story from Genesis. I’ll confess that right now. Eve makes bad decisions that have caused women misery for yearrrsss. Adam doesn’t seem to make any of his own decisions, but is happy to let Eve take the fall. And the snake—I hate…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho on March 2, 2014 Exodus 24:12-18 Matthew 17:1-9 Did you notice any similarities between the text from Exodus about Moses and Matthew’s story of the Transfiguration? I hope you did. And the author of Matthew’s gospel certainly hopes you did. Matthew, if you recall, tends…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho and Boone Memorial Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in Caldwell, Idaho February 23, 2014 Matthew 5:38-48 “There are six hundred passages of explicit violence in the Hebrew Bible, one thousand verses where God’s own violent actions of punishment are described, a hundred passages where Yahweh expressly commands…
Glass Overflowing 