Postmodern Renaissance Culture Revolutionary

This sermon is part of the ongoing effort to clear my mind of the funk/existential crisis/emotional upheaval I experienced in the earlier part of this year. It is not, as my oldest son presumed, a sermon on what ticks me off (his assumption was that he would feature in a large portion of a sermon with that topic). What Makes Me Tick JUST A WORD OF WARNING!!!! There will be a little bit of undressing (nothing distasteful).

That title is not an imperative sentence. It is a description. It is who I am. I am a geek. I love all forms of geekiness. Computer games, comic books, action figures, Dungeons and Dragons, sci-fi movies and television shows. I am a broad based geek. How did it start? How far back does it go? Where did it all begin? This is my origin story. I don't remember much about my childhood. There are scraps here and there. I remember traumatic events. I remember a few mistakes. There aren't many "happy" memories. I don't know why that is. It is one more thing I'm sure a therapist could help me discover. But there are some things I do remember. Geek things. I remember television shows that were my favorites: Superfriends, Six Million Dollar Man, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Battlestar Galactica. Batman, Space: 1999.  Star Trek, the original series is one I don't remember watching. I remember movies that I watched: Star Wars, Buck Rogers (yeah, it...

Recently, Houston has been a news magnet in the Christian world. I'm linking to the snopes.com entry only because it includes the sources and dates if you want to inform yourself. In a thumbnail sketch, here is the issue: The mayor of Houston signed an ordinance into law that was controversial.  Opponents of the ordinance began a petition drive to repeal the law. The petition was declared invalid by the city. The opponents filed a lawsuit against the city. The city attorneys responded and part of their action was to subpoena the sermons of 5 area pastors dealing with certain topics. The news world erupted in a frenzy of tree- and atom-killing as they printed/published/posted/aired reports about this issue and the blogosphere launched its own rhetoric, saber-rattling campaign. Got it? Okay. Here is my question: why would a pastor be offended/angry/persecuted if someone wanted copies of their sermon? I would be delighted if someone asked for a copy of all of my sermons o...

Here is the sermon outline for September 28th, 2014 sermon. Family Religion: Identifying the Head Ephesians 3:14-19; 5:21-29 Household Religion If our faith leads us to believe that we are part of God’s family as the church, then our families should reflect our faith Our families should seek to preserve unity among its members through working together toward a single purpose, having attitudes that result in peace , tending to one another with our words The next part of Paul’s “family rules” speaks to households Ephesians 5:21-24 & 33b speak to wives in relation to their husbands Ephesians 5:25-33a speak to husbands in relation to their wives Ephesians 6:1-3 speak to children in relation to their parents Ephesians 6:4 speak to fathers in relation to their children Ephesians 6:5-8 speak to servants/slaves in relation to their master Ephesians 6:9 speak to masters in relation to their servants/slaves Paul is explicitly speaking to the rules of househ...

I was asked to preach at the Bishop's Retreat last week. Here is the text of that sermon. Gideon, Minecraft, and One Bad Summer Judges 6:11-14 We have all been where Gideon was: confronted with God's messenger with the word we were called to do a great thing. We are here today because we have all shared in this experience. There is comfort in knowing that we have this miraculous moment in common. Then why did the idea of standing up here this morning weigh so heavily on me? I had a bad summer. I had a couple of events  in Spring that made me wonder if I was any good at what I do. I was in a funk when Annual Conference rolled around. At Annual Conference, we were confronted with the need to change direction if we wanted to be strong in the near future. I hear the burden of doing something to change direction in order to continue our rich heritage and tradition. But in the emotional place I was, I heard, "you aren't doing enough and what you are doing i...

The Bible has been used to justify or condemn many argued point. And rightly so. When believers are confronted with a situation that the revealed word of God has spoken to, there is a need to speak boldly to that issue. Sometimes, though, we encounter a situation or an issue that isn't clearly justifiable or condemned. Alcohol and drinking alcohol seems to be one such issue. Before I attempt to lay out a Biblical argument regarding alcohol, I want to deal with some myths that I have heard related to the subject. Myth #1. Water wasn't healthy enough to drink so wine was drunk regularly. Wine was a common drink at meals and there was a thriving wine industry in Israel. But you also have to taken into account that wells and cisterns were common for water. There are many accounts of wells in the Bible itself. Isaac's wife was selected when she drew up water to give someone a drink. Jesus even talks to a woman at a well about drinking the water there. Also keep in min...

Yesterday I examined Micah's calling to God's people that we are to show love through Mercy, Justice, and Living Evangelism. It seems that, according to Micah, unless we get out and show other people a tangible, meaningful love through acts of mercy, justice, and living evangelism, our worship will be empty and meaningless. John Wesley, when encountered by people passionate about growing mature in their love of God, formed then into groups to help grow one another. Wesley gave them three rules to live by: avoid doing harm do as much good as you can be intentional about discovering God's love in as many ways as possible (most of the time with others) These societies became the Methodist church. These rules are part of our basic DNA. At this present time, they are a recessive gene in many places. But we can recapture these essential traits. We can show love in these three ways through these three rules.   We love people around us by avoiding to cause them harm but ...