The past four weeks have been spent emptying us of our selfish desires so that we might be more filled with the things of Jesus. If you’re not a Jesus follower, then I understand this sounds a little corny but give me a few minutes and maybe something here will make a little sense.
Our first sermon series of the year is about losing more of ourselves so that we can get more of Jesus. We typically start our year with resolutions and goals and empty promises. But if you’re like most of America, you’ve already given up on those resolutions and replaced them with the same old way…
Today is Epiphany and it was one of Mr. Bill’s favorite days of the year! If you’re not sure what Epiphany is give me a minute and I’ll explain. But first Mr. Bill was a great friend and my personal mentor. He walked with me through some pretty rough stuff and always pushed me to…
Why do we celebrate Christmas? Why do we gather around a tree with our family and give each other gifts? Why is it ok for a large man in a red suit to invite children to sit on his lap and no one finds that wrong? Why is it that we tend to fill our…
As children we focused on getting presents! And it really was all about the presents and the bows and the stockings and the fun new toys. But as I got older, I started to act like Christmas was still about the presents. Just in a little different way. I started to treat Christmas like it…
This year as we journey toward Christmas we are looking at Christmas from different angles. Our theme is It’s all about the presence. Yes I know. It’s a fun play on words. But it should get us thinking a bit. We live in a world that thinks Christmas is all about the presents when in…
It’s pretty easy to give words to Jesus. It’s way to simple to twist the words of the Bible to make them say just about anything we want. Over the past few weeks we’ve touched on just a couple of these statements that Jesus never said but we kind of think he said. The goal…
Growing up I went to church just about every Sunday. I didn’t have an option. My parents even made me acolyte (fun church word for light the candles). The pastor asked me to read the readings when no one else was around to do them. And over and over the message that was taught, often…
I still remember the day. I was driving from Cincinnati back to Marysville and I was going down State Route 38 almost to London. When around the curve he came. It was a State Highway Patrol doing his job but man I really didn’t want to see him that day. I was traveling at a…
This week is a pretty special week for those of us who are in the Lutheran Church world. This week, if you’re following a church calendar of any kind, you’ll notice was the week of the reformation. Now this isn’t something we go around talking about everyday so perhaps a quick history lesson is in…
