Text: Acts 15 The book of the Acts of the Apostles is the story of how the good news of Jesus spread from Jerusalem, through Judea and Samaria, to the ends of the earth. Along the way, the culture and traditions and scriptures of our spiritual ancestors encountered a variety of peoples and backgrounds. When…
The Body of Christ
we are the church
A Way Forward? 25-cent words
Texts: Philippians 4:8-9, Matthew 22:34-40 This past year as I taught confirmation, one of our lessons focused on how we are all theologians. I wrote that word up on the board and one of our students exclaimed – WOW! That’s a 25-cent word! There was an old idiom that you shouldn’t use a 50-cent word…
A Way Forward? Fixed And Free
The United Methodist Church is at a crossroads. On the one hand, we do incredible work together because of our connection across the globe. Missionaries go from everywhere to everywhere. We are present amid disaster and crisis providing relief. New faith communities have been formed in West Des Moines, Camaroon, and Russia. And these things…
You Are Family
As a child, when I feel down and skinned my knee, there was nothing I wanted more than to be held in the arms of a parent. Their soothing words helped me to know that this moment of crisis was only temporary and that I would be okay. When I was a bit older, I…
The Spirit of Kindness
One afternoon when I was serving the church in Marengo, a young woman walked into the church and asked to use the telephone. Not a problem, I said. We talked for a bit and I learned she had just been released from the county jail, was 80 miles from home, and no one was coming…
The Wealth in our Wallets instead of the Well-being of the World
This afternoon I watched the United States join two nations… Syria and Nicaragua… in being the only three nations in the entire world that are no longer signers of the Paris Climate Accord. As I listened to the justifications, what I heard over and over again was the mention of a few economic sectors that…
The Hope of the World is Us
The President of the United States is currently weighing whether or not to withdraw our nation from the Paris climate accord. Political leaders within our country are skeptical about the science behind climate change and its causes. One congressman said this past week: “As a Christian, I believe that there is a creator in God who is…
From Everywhere to Everywhere (2.0)
This Sunday, I was making my way back from our bi-annual Global Ministries meeting and so took the opportunity to do a brief rewrite of the message I preached at Ingathering: This quadrennium, I have the honor of serving on our General Board of Global Ministries: Last fall, in our opening worship, we read the…