Text: 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 Did you know that what we have in this letter of the Apostle Paul is a component of one of the first Christian fundraising efforts? You see, in the mid-1st century, times were particularly hard in Judea. A terrible famine in the year 46 was compounded by Roman taxation and instability in the region, particularly in Jerusalem. As…

Message for September 6, 2020 Text: Psalm 32 Eleven years ago, I went through a brief period of depression that alarmed me enough to seek medical treatment. I was especially alert to this because my mother struggled with depression, and took her life at the age of 40, and this episode came upon me around the 25th anniversary of her death, at…

Message for August 23, 2020 Text: Psalm 5 The psalmist (who, in this case, is believed to be King David) says: Lord, in the morning you hear my voice. In the morning I lay it all out before you. Then I wait expectantly. – Psalm 5:2 Often, when the Psalms are read in worship — and I’ll admit I do this myself…

Message for July 12, 2020 Text: Song of Songs 4:1-7 When he read through the passage for today’s worship video, Albert looked up from the paper and asked, “Where in the Bible does this come from?” “The Song of Songs,” I replied. “It’s the erotic love poetry of the Bible.” I explained that the book is traditionally attributed to King Solomon, allegedly…

Message for June 14, 2020 Text: Ezekiel 31:3-7 I’m willing to bet that most of you tuning in to worship today had not read or heard this particular Bible passage before. That’s because not only is this passage not part of the lectionary, the entire book of Ezekiel is almost completely overlooked by those who put together that 3-year cycle of scripture…

Message for April 5, 2020 Texts: Mark 14:32-52 and Ephesians 6:11-17 As I sat down to begin writing this sermon, it was Wednesday, and the Internet was down at my house. I had been acting up over the past few days, coming on for a few minutes or a few hours, and then going down again. Albert was been trying his patience,…