Merry Christmas!+Litu...
What is it about the "M" word that worries people? We find out that the "M" word can teach us about our faith.Luke 1:26-38 26And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among...
Finals are next week and I'll be spending most of this week preparing. Posting has been very limited over the last several weeks, but will pick up soon. I'm working on a 10-15 exegesis on 1 Samuel 28, an extra-credit book review, take home final exam and normal finals preparations. Hope you're having as good a time as I am. Stay blessed...j...
My undergraduate work was in Sociology. Reading Lendbeck’s work (The Nature of Doctrine: Religion and Theology in a Postliberal Age ) reminded me of much of what was scrutinized discussed and explored in those studies. Specifically, there seems to be a major tie to the idea of the sociology of religion. Religion transcends cultural boundaries; it is found in an overwhelming majority of societies. Each religion is essentially a peoples’ attempt to explain the...
Some of you will have heard this story before. It was new to me. I don't usually use this type of material for church activities. However, I did share it with the church at our evenining worship service. I gave them the disclaimer that I didn't know if it was a true story or not, but thought it had something to think about. Our Scripture that evening was Deuteronomy 34:1-12 (Moses' death). I did not compare the stories, but we focused on the importance...
Top Ten Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election. This was sent as a forwarded email. I'm sharing it because it kind of goes in line with what I was going to put on the church marquis next week (you'll just have to wait and see, won't you?)1. The Bible will still have all the answers.2. Prayer will still work.3. The Holy Spirit will still move.4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.6. There will...
Oak Haven United Methodist Church has completely paid its apportionments for the 2008year! Two months early by the way. This was something we celebrated on Sunday, of course. The last several years have been difficult for the church. The city of Irving has been through some changes during this time. That has had an impact on the work of the church. We've gone from staffing a full time pastor to now having a part time minister. Membership has declined...
This was a fun one to do. I didn't use the OT reading in the morning. Instead, at our evening service, I brought everything full circle. Hopefully, it made sense. I gave everyone homework for the evening service; if I have to suffer why can't they? Anyways, I included the benediction at the end of this recording. It caught a bunch of people off guard, but was a great way to finish our time together. I've wanted to do the whole song in some way (you'll...
Some of us blog for no apparent reason. There are many others of you that I would love to see begin blogging. Either way, Blogsessive.com has provided the 10 Commandments of Blogging. I couldn't help but think most of these would be appropriate to sermon writing! So, what makes a blog worth going back to read? It'd be interesting to hear what you think. With so much going on right now what has saved my blogging is Blogger's Post Options. I am able to...
Has anyone worked on one of these for the Bible? It would be cool to see how we got all the way here. A breif History of communication from ljudbilden on Vimeo.+neator...
Of course you know Christmas is only 61 days away. That means your real shopping time is down to 60 days! Maybe this is a gift you can share for the holidays:Excuse me if I've posted this before. It is pretty funny. Well, maybe if you're Karl Barth (Yes, I just threw that in to show you I have been paying attention in class). Stay blessed...j...
Corporate worship means a lot to me. I’m not quite sure where I would begin describing how and why joining a group of believers for worship encourages my faith walk. I was taught very early, and have recently heard a phrase that encompasses the thought so precisely, that you don’t go to church to worship; you go worshipping. That is, you recognize the presence of God with you not just in a pew, but everywhere else you are. This recognition completes you,...
A tourist is picked up by a cabbie in New York on a dark night.The passenger taps the driver on the shoulder to ask him something.The driver screams, loses control of the car, nearly hits a bus, drives up on the sidewalk, and stops inches from a shop window.For a second everything went quiet in the cab, then the driver said, "Look friend, don't EVER do that again. You scared the daylights out of me!"The passenger apologizes and says he didn't realize that...
I think we have some new readers (listeners) to the blog. Welcome; we're glad you came. To listen to past sermons, read the passages and click the little triangle button to begin.Meeemeep! This sermon is from Sunday October 19, 2008. Stay blessed...john Matthew 22:15-22Paying Taxes to Caesar15Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to traphim in his words. 16They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians."Teacher," they said, "we know you...
So, what happens to all the stuff you have online (blogs, pictures, etc) when it's time to trade your keyboard for a pair of wings? I had actually wondered about this before. There aren't too many things around here I think I would have to worry about. Still, I had no idea it could be so complicated. People sure do take themselves seriously sometimes. Read the article here: What happens to your web stuff when you die?Maybe this is a call for me to put...
A new young monk arrives at the monastery. He is assigned to help the other monks in copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand. He notices, however, that all of the monks are copying from copies, not from the original manuscript.So, the new monk goes to the head abbot to question this, pointing out that if someone made even a small error in the first copy, it would never be picked up. In fact, that error would be continued in all of the subsequent...
Now that I've cleaned my screen, I'll share this video with you. It's pretty cool. I'm not sure its phsychology more than it is mathematics. Either way it'll make you try a second ti...
This was the first sermon my mom (and brother) ever heard me preach. I was told I had to behave. We also had a dear friend visiting as well. You'll have to forgive some of the recording. We noticed the battery to the lapel mic was dead right when the service began. I tried to boost the sound on the recording (where the pulpit floated away from me); so, some parts will vary in their sound quality (and most of it will vary in it's content quality). Stay...
The one spiritual exercise I had always been uncomfortable with was the labyrinth. Uncomfortable is the wrong word—something to describe “a waste of time” would be more appropriate. In recent years, I had seen more instances where participating in the labyrinth was available at various conference events (i.e. Bishop’s convocation, retreats, Annual Conference, etc). I had done some investigation into what was involved; however, I concluded this was something...
Oh, so much truth and pain in this hilarious little video. I hadn't seen these before; I'll be looking for new episodes.+L&am...
Is life the only thing that is not fair? This sermon is from two Sundays ago (September 28, 2008)....
Just for fun here are some supposedly true courtroom quotes: * Lawyer: "Can you describe what the person who attacked you looked like?" * Witness: "No. He was wearing a mask." * Lawyer: "What was he wearing under the mask?" * Witness: "Er...his face." * Lawyer: "This myasthenia gravis -- does it affect your memory at all?" * Witness: "Yes." * Lawyer: "And in what ways does it affect your memory?" * Witness: "I forget." * Lawyer:...
Prayer as a conversation between God and us is a common idea. This personal dialogue is often spoken of as a gift. Indeed, the promise of prayers heard, cared for and answered by the Creator is beyond measure. Wrapped in this talk also is the commonly emphasized bidirectional nature of a conversation; that is to highlight our responsibility to participate by speaking and listening. These ideas provide a great illustration for engaging in a lifestyle of...
Let's face it: You only want me for my sermons!
Every week I spend time preparing words I pray will be 1) faithful to God and 2) helpful for all us to grow in our understanding of who God is and what our response to God should be. The sermon play below should have most of our sermons available. It also includes scripture reading links you should make use of as well.
If you are having trouble viewing the player below, you can visit my sermon channel here....
This was too funny not to post. Is he worried he won't see any more church offering plat...
I had forgotten to put this sermon up yesterday. One day at one of the Mercedes churches I did a lesson with members of the youth group. Part of the activities was to think of an advertising slogan that could be used in church (i.e. God's like scotch tape; you can't see Him, but you know He's there). Mine was from the Payless shoestore commercial; they're slogan was the title of this sermon. Who knew all these years later I'd get to used it.Exodus 16:1-15Matthew...
The family was able to return to Galveston and get a first hand look at the damage from the hurricane. Mom said it's everything you see on television and worse. There's no way the TV can portray the stinch and desolate feeling accurately. One of my sisters was able to send me pictures of the house. It is still standing, but there is little hope anything can be done to repair it. Wow! That's an emotion that is difficult to explain.I don't know if that...
My mom found out their house is still standing. As of Monday night there was still about a foot and a half of water inside. My sisters both know their apartments have water damage. The rest of my family have yet to find anything out about their homes.I still haven't decided which is worse--coming back to see your home in ruins (beyond repair) or coming back and not seeing your ho...
It was just a small idea. We change our marquis each week to reflect (hopefully) this week's sermon. I thought I would post those here. You can also see what's going on at Oak Haven. Stay blessed...j...
Television newscasts have not done a good job in providing information--as far as I am concerned. The most info I have been able to get has been from a business that is running at less than full capacity and another company's building. The Galveston County News provides good information and pictures describing some of the clean up and devastation. Here is there website: The Galveston County NewsStay blessed...john and glo...
We know there are many of you who have been in prayer for the people who live on the Gulf Coast. Particularly, I know you have been praying for our family. I can’t tell you how much that means. Here’s a quick update:My mom and step dad are with my grandparents in High Island. The town is surrounded by water; so, there’s not getting out right now, but they are fine.My dad and his family went to Victoria; they will heading back today (Sunday) to Texas City.Two...
The question arose: Do you think the catholic church was too pragmatic in its approach to the lapsi (those who lapsed in their confession of the Christian faith in the face of persecution), or do you think the Novationists were too harsh? Why? Also, why do you think the Novationist position did not prevail? Here is a little detail about the Novationsists. Essentially, they were a group of early church believers that openly opposed allowing those people...
So, the question had to do with being in a new/unfamiliar church setting and focusing on what is coming next at each interval of the service/program (do I stand here, what does this mean, why do we do this, who is that big headed guy up front in the black dress, etc). For our purposes, we’ll make this a small discussion regarding church visitors. You want your visitors to feel comfortable enough to participate in your congregation’s worship time. Perhaps,...
Here's something I think we'll let the kids play. It's called Anatomy Arcade. Use the mouse to correctly place bones of the body.+U...
We Remember: I remember: A teacher making us turn off the television and getting back to schoolwork. So, we all used to internet to keep up for a while until we protested and made her turn it back on. Wanting to go to help so bad. I had no clue how I would get there or what I would do. Wondering where it was going to happen next. I think many of us wondered how many more targets there were going to be.Going into class and looking it up on foxnews.com....
I don’t know what your schedule looks like. You’re probably busy and have a million things to do. Believe me I totally understand. I want to offer to you a great way to focus on what matters (Luke 10:41-42). Have you ever sat in your church’s sanctuary alone? Of course, that would probably mean you would have to contact your pastor or figure out some way to get in the building. Whatever it takes, try it. Here at Oak Have our one building makes it something...
The other day I was having a conversation with someone. This person was describing how they ended up in Perkins. Perkins wasn’t the first choice to be. No, there wasn’t another seminary lined up. Rather there was a job in a church in New Mexico (I don’t remember exactly what the position was, but something to do with children). The church flew in this applicant to participate in a few weekend activities including a Sunday worship time. As far as this...
Okay, so I'm getting more and more info about things in the North Texas Conference. Here is an event coming up that should be worth anyone's time:The North Texas Conference Lay Speaking Ministries is pleased to offer an outstanding workshop on Teaching and Preaching to conference Clergy and Laity. Our leader will be the Rev. Dr. Alyce M. McKenzie, Associate Professor of Homiletics, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University. Rev. McKenzie offered...
This is from an email I received: Dear colleague,There are many churches all across America that use traditional worship as their primary way of doing worship services. Jim Bankston, pastor of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in Houston believes in the importance of traditional worship and St. Paul’s does only traditional worship. The large United Methodist Church I served for over 30 years in Tulsa does both traditional and contemporary worship. We are...
Maybe letting the Eagle out of the bag early wasn't the worst thing I could have done. Next Monday I'll be at Irving stadium watching the Eagles play that other team. A few members of the church invited me to attend. They did say if the Eagles win they wouldn't be at church on Sunday. Can I tell my DS this really great story why our church attendance was down this one week? They also said I couldn't wear any Philadelphia paraphernalia. We'll see what happens....
We have all heard, probably many times, the advantages of having a support system when raising children. Our family has certainly been blessed with that. So, we say (or at least we used to) “It takes a village to raise a child.” Yes, our children are often times in need of so much direction and guidance. There are so many things they have to learn about themselves, about their faith and about who we pray will be their Lord. Many families seem to...
Since our recent move I have not had an internet connection at home. I found out quickly that many of our beloved hotspots are no longer free, but you can subscribe to their monthly services. We also learned that our library closes kind of early. There was no connection in my new office either and it was only last week that I started going to school each day. So, I’ve been without a consistent internet connection for about a month. Next week that should...
Some of you may recall previous blog confessions. Those were a good thing for me. Here are my confessions upon making a move to a new town, church and school. I confess:This is the nicest parsonage we’ve lived in.Only in the last several days have I had my own time for grieving over our move.It still feels like I’m filling in for the senior pastor.I want to keep tabs on what the youth are doing in Bandera (Hello Generation X).During the weekdays, I have...
A few weeks ago, prior to the move, I mentioned my reading of one of Joel Osteen’s books. That book was Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential. It seems I have lied to you and myself. I had promised to finish it, but that just isn’t going to happen. First, I’m already well into several books for classes. Secondly, I just don’t consider it worth my efforts to complete it (there is a department store receipt serving as a bookmark...
Prior to classes officially beginning, I attended two orientations. One was the school’s general overview of studies and programs. The second was actually a retreat, of sorts, to introduce and address the importance of our Spiritual Formation class. It was an all day event (I only mention that so you would have pity on me and the others for having to sit in a chair all day listening to one person speak). Before the retreat, we were to have read What...
