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Have you ever been going about your day either shopping at a store, eating at a restaurant, or maybe sitting in a waiting room when a particular song plays?  For every person the song is different, but as soon as you hear it, very vivid memories from another time in your life come flooding back.  … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Revelation 21:10; 21:22-22:5 There is wisdom that is passed down in every family.    Every family has traditions, sayings, inside jokes, or proverbs that seems to be unique to that family.   Even if we do not realize it, these family quirks influence us, shape us, and teach us.   I know for me and my siblings … [Read more…]

Scripture: Revelation 5:1-14 If you have younger kids or grandkids then there is a really good chance that you long ago lost count of how many times you have heard the lyric, “We don’t talk about Bruno-no-no-no.”   Even if you do not have any children around you, there is still a decent chance you have … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Luke 24:13-35 I once was at church district meeting.  It was February, and it came up that my birthday was in a few days.  It turned out that someone else in that group also had a birthday coming up, and we in fact shared a birthdate.  This led someone to comment, “what are the … [Read more…]

Last month we had the privilege to confirm five young people and welcome them into church membership.  One of the things emphasized in Confirmation is that being confirmed is not the end of the journey.  It is just one milestone in a long faith walk.   It is the sincere hope that the confirmation process equips … [Read more…]

Scripture: Luke 24:1-12 Ignaz Semmelweis was a doctor who represented the best impulse of physicians:  He wanted to save lives.  His first posting was as an assistant physician in the Vienna Obsterical clinic in 1846 where he helped with the delivery of babies.  Semmelweis though was mortified by the high rate of mortality among mothers, … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Luke 19:29-40 A few years ago I attended a seminar by Dr. Leonard Sweet.   He is a prolific Christian author and thinker who has written over sixty books.   During the time of this seminar he was working on a book entitled From Tablet to Table, and much of that research was influencing his talking … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Luke 7:36-50 Every country has things that make it unique, and that is true for the United States as well.  Some of the things that set us apart from other countries in the world are odd and surprising.  For instance, yellow school buses are uniquely American.  Some of the other differences are positive.  Visitors … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Luke 15:11-32 I do not want to be presumptuous, but one of the things you may have figured out about me over is that I really like Star Wars.  Growing up we had the original Star Wars on VHS and I watched it so much that I wore the tape out.  So that tape … [Read more…]

One of my absolute favorite things to do in ministry is teach Confirmation classes.  I have a lot of reasons why I love confirmation, but one of those reasons is that I really like the material covered.  Confirmation classes go through and highlight the most foundational beliefs that we hold.  Confirmation covers what we believe … [Read more…]