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There are two proposed sites in Jerusalem for where Jesus was crucified and buried.   The first site which has tradition dating all the way back to the second century is the church of Holy Sepulcher.    The massive church building is shared by a very complex arrangement of Catholic, Orthodox, Coptic, Syrian, Armenian, and Ethiopian, Christians.    … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Mark 4:35-41 February 24th, 2007 has got to be somewhere in like the top three scariest days of my life.  At the time I was the youth minister at Epworth UMC in Indianapolis, and that youth group had a tradition of an annual ski trip.  Now, I think it was on that particular trip … [Read more…]

Scripture:  2 Corinthians 4:3-6 Tomorrow, I turn forty.   While I realize in the grand scheme of things that is not really that old, approaching this age has caused me to be more aware that I am not as young as I used to be.  One of the examples that really sticks out to me are … [Read more…]

Scripture: Mark 1:29-37 The way we understand fame has changed.  It used to be that fame was only for a small elite group, that it seemed that everyone knew.  At one point in time long ago, the way to tell if someone had made it to fame was if they were invited to appear on … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Mark 1:21-28 Even though it is the end of January, I am beginning to think of warmer times.  It is about this time every year that I begin to plan for church camp.   Obviously that did not happen last year, but we are cautiously optimistic that this summer camp might still happen.  I have … [Read more…]

In 2012 a group of historians erected a monument to honor Abraham Lincoln for President’s Day.  There is nothing unusual about this, because there are all kinds of monuments to Lincoln all over the place.  What made this particular structure unusual was the building material used.  They built a tower constructed entirely of biographies written … [Read more…]

Scripture: Mark 1:14-20 In a couple of months, I am going to need some help from a few of you.  My son really wants to go fishing.  Up to this point he has only been fishing at some Cub Scout events and at private ponds.  However, all winter he has been watching fishing related TV … [Read more…]

Scripture:  John 1:43-50 In some ways it was a bit of being at the right place at the right time.  After all, when the Netflix documentary Tiger King premiered on March 20th of last year which was a time when a lot of people were looking for something to do.  It turns out a lot … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Isaiah 1:15-18 It is inevitable that every year is going to have a number of celebrity deaths, and it is likely that many of those deaths are going to resonate with the people who really connected with their work.   Looking back it seems that 2020 had more of those than normal.  On more than … [Read more…]

Scripture:  John 1:1-18 Right now people are in a few different places mentally.  For the first group, once it was December 26th, Christmas was over.  It was time to get all of the decorations down, packed away, and the house organized for a new year.   For the second group, they have high aspirations to get … [Read more…]