OF CREEDS AND CONFESSIONS

“Ours is not a creedal church,” I often hear. By that we mean that we don’t officially hold churches and their members to any of the historic statements of faith from the first few centuries of church history, such as The Apostles’ Creed (late 4th C. AD), the Nicene...

SINGING LESSONS FOR ROCKS: Palm Sunday, 2019

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” Luke 19: 40 I hope you’ll indulge me in one of my favorite activities, while I preach: playing with clay. I’ve got two pieces here, one of which I played with a few days ago and left on my desk,...

UNPLANNED: A Movie Review

“Where are the fathers?” I kept wondering, as the movie progressed. “Their ‘loser boyfriends’ sometimes ditched them at the clinic while they were having their procedure,” the main character of the movie, Abby Johnson, said. The movie I am here reviewing is Unplanned,...

SO WE CAN CALL HIM “CHRIST….”

 Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. 3 Mary therefore took a pound[a] of...

YOU CAN ALWAYS COME HOME: a drama

What might dear old Dad have said after his younger, prodigal son, requested his share of the inheritance, while dear old Dad was yet alive? The original drama below, by Pr. Mathew Swora, based on the parable which Jesus told, recorded in Luke 15: 11-32, is an attempt...

However Great Our Hunger…

"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;  my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,  as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,  beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better...

OF CITIZENSHIP AND IDENTITY

17 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. 18 For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction, their god...

THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES

 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you...

THE DIVINE COURTSHIP

John 14: 1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will...