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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…]

Scripture: Luke 2:21-32 Introduction “It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.” ― Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes There is a trite saying:  good things come in small packages.  You may have even thought that this Christmas with a package or gift … [Read more…]

Scripture:  Luke 1:26-38 I think for a lot of people of the most iconic elements of the Christmas season is the music.   A lot of radio stations switch to only playing Christmas music.  If you have been in a store in the past month then there is a good chance you heard Christmas music.  Given … [Read more…]

John Wesley gave the Methodist societies three general rules to follow.  These general rules are one of the foundational cornerstones of the Methodist movement, and they are still our guiding principles to this day.   The first general rule is “do no harm.”  It was out of a desire to follow this rule that we made … [Read more…]