A sermon preached on Christ the King Sunday, Nov 20, 2011 at Southminster Presbyterian Church, Boise, Idaho. Matt 25:31-46 Ezekiel 34:11-16 This morning is Christ the King Sunday. It is a day to pause at the end of the church calendar of “ordinary time”, before we head into the season of Advent next week. And…
A sermon preached Nov 13, 2011 at Southminster Presbyterian Church, Boise, Idaho. Matthew 25:14-30 I shared this text with the people who gathered Tuesday night for Committees, and their first reaction was that this parable prompted an “Occupy Jerusalem” tendency in them. Much like the people who have been camping outside Wall Street to protest…
A sermon preached November 6, 2011 at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho. Joshua 24:1-25 In our text this morning, Joshua tells the people their story as God sees it. Long ago your ancestors—Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor—lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond…
A Sermon Preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church October 30, 2011 Joshua 3:1-17 Today is the day we celebrate Reformation Sunday, the day in October 1517 when Martin Luther nailed his 95 complaints to the door of the Cathedral in Wittenberg. (As an aside, looking out at the doors to our church, the Building and Grounds…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church Oct 23, 2011 Deuteronomy 34 (Please watch this short clip before you read the rest of the sermon.) Those were Martin Luther King Jr’s final words from the sermon he preached the night before he was assassinated in Memphis. I have seen the Promised Land. For him, it…
A sermon preached October 16, 2011 at Southminster Presbyterian Church, Boise, Idaho Exodus 33:12-23 Moses had a different relationship with God than just about anyone in the Scriptural record, other than Jesus. Certainly different encounters with God than I have had. Before the passage you heard this morning, God had told Moses, “your people are…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church September 25, 2011 Matthew 21:23-32 Between the parable we heard last week, and the one we just heard this morning, Jesus did a few things you might want to know about. Minor little things. Like a triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a colt. And a small little moment…
Here is my newsletter article for October. It is likely controversial, and so I wanted to publish it here so that we may begin the conversation that needs to take place. I don’t presume that everyone will agree with me about this topic, and so, especially if you do not, please help me understand your…
A Sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian in Boise, Idaho July 31, 2011 Matt 14:13-21 This is the only story about Jesus that is told in all 4 of the gospel accounts. There is more agreement about this story than there is about his birth or his death and resurrection. In Mark and Matthew’s gospel, Jesus…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho July 24, 2011 Gen 29:15-28 When I read this story, I feel like I’ve just read someone’s diary and exposed the hidden secrets of a family. It just doesn’t seem right. Surely Rachel and Leah deserve some privacy so that they can deal with the…
Glass Overflowing 