Year: 2006

Scripture: Jonah 3 and 4 I was having some trouble this week with how to approach this last of the sermons on the book of Jonah, which is why I came up with such catchy and creative sermon title: Jonah Part Three.  When I have trouble coming up with a sermon title, it’s usually a … Read more

Scripture: Acts 3:1-10 The question for this morning is: What does the reading from the book of Acts that we have heard have to do with the book of Jonah that I have just spent three weeks’ worth of sermons on. There is an answer to that question, but to get to the answer I … Read more

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37 One thing leads to another. Last week I tried to describe how Jonah led me to the story about the lame man at the Beautiful Gate and his interaction with the apostles Peter and John. I said that that was not a story about having pity on someone but was about, among … Read more

Scripture: Job 1 and 2 At the suggestion of the worship committee I’ll be spending the remaining weeks in August with another book from the Hebrew scriptures, the book of Job. There was a lively discussion in our worship committee meeting that led to this, and then Faye Arnold, Mary Dockery, and I continued the … Read more

Scripture: Selections from Job Introduction to scripture: This is the second of three sermons on the book of Job. The book of Job is a fairly lengthy book that happens to lend itself to a series of three sermons because it is basically divided into three parts. There is a brief opening section of a … Read more

Scripture: Job 38 and 39 In a different lifetime I spent about a dozen years teaching part-time at a UCC college near Chicago. Mostly I taught courses in my doctoral field which was US religious history. Sometimes I got roped into teaching other courses, including some I didn’t really want to teach or didn’t feel … Read more

Scripture: Mark 10:27-37 Several weeks ago when I was concluding a series of three sermons on the book of Jonah, I found that after the third sermon I had some left over thoughts that had come up as I was thinking about Jonah and so three sermons spilled over into three and a half. Maybe … Read more

Scripture: Jeremiah 8 Tomorrow is September 11, 2006, the five year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. I have had in my mind for some time now that I would need to say something today in relation to that anniversary, that my preaching would have to deal with this … Read more

Scriptures: Psalm 33; Micah 6:6-8 I have a small collection of thoughts to offer today, and I apologize if some of them may sound a bit more like discussions of church life as opposed to broader and loftier spiritual reflections. But I won’t apologize too much, or too sincerely. Just as my thoughts were sort … Read more

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33 I think probably you will not mind if the sermon this morning is a little on the short side. It’s a day of some transitions. As you’ve heard, by the end of the day, the pews will be gone from the sanctuary, which in itself will be a significant change and which … Read more