As a pastor, I have officiated at many funerals. As a ritual, funerals are meant to help us process our very real grief and loss as well as set our sorrow within a larger horizon of meaning. Within a Christian framework, a funeral is a reminder that this earthly life is temporary, bound by limits. …
Tag: resurrection
Brief Reflections on the Book of Acts #1: Witnesses
Over vacation I began reading a chapter of The Book of Acts each day. I only started later in vacation and I wasn't very consistent. So I thought what I might do in order to have some measure of accountability is post a brief reflection on a chapter from Acts each day. The plan is …
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Hope in the Face of Death
Here is my sermon from this morning on the story of the raising of Lazarus in John 11:17-44 and Paul's words about Jesus' return in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. I hope it encourages you. Here is the text of the sermon, if you'd prefer to read it: It was filmmaker Woody Allen who once famously said: …
Living Now with Eternity in Mind#1: Living with Hope
This is the first of a series of sermons I preached a number of years ago on 1 Peter. Looking at my files, I realized that some are missing. It's possible that some are missing because my laptop wasn't working and in for repairs and therefore prepared my notes by hand. So I will post …
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No One “Goes” to Heaven: Redux
Below is my sermon from this past Sunday, which in turn is based on an earlier blog post. I must warn you, if you listen to it you will hear a barking dog. There is, however, no theological significance to the barking dog. You see, during our current COVID lockdown my family and I provide …
grace notes 