“I alone am left. “ That was what Elijah had started to believe in his heart, as Trevor shared with our congregation last week. But Elijah was not alone. He was not the last of the faithful prophets. In fact, right there in that very cave, Elijah hears the name of the one who would…
Kenotic Words
worship, sermons, lectionary
Reflections a week after General Conference… #umcgc
As Psalm 146 reminds us: human leaders and human institutions aren’t everything. They won’t save us. We are finite and we make mistakes. Only God is forever faithful. Yet, any denomination or tradition comes from God’s followers attempting to live out their faith and their discipleship together. Fully knowing that we are not perfect, we…
Tears, Comfort, and Old Hymns
This morning, our church choir shared some of the great hymns of the faith with our church in a cantata style celebration of music. Instead of our traditional Easter cantata, we picked some of our favorite hymns, our fearless leader researched their stories, and we presented a morning of lessons, messages and songs. And tears…
Blessed are the Debonair
This morning, we celebrate God’s good creation. We celebrate the gift of this world… this earth that has been placed in our care. And I’m sure you are wondering as you heard the scriptures for today and look at that sermon title… what in the world do these things have to do with creation care?…
Untitled
Later this morning/This morning, I’m sharing these words with our Confirmation Class – 10 remarkable young men and women who have worked hard all year long to arrive at this moment. This sermon is in part for them, but it is also a message for all of us and so I hope you are willing…
A Different Kind of Proof
A man named Bob Ebeling thought he was a loser. Mr. Ebeling was an engineer on the Challenger Space Shuttle and discovered that the O-ring seals in the rocket might not hold up in the cold temperatures of the 1986 launch. He and fellow engineers pleaded with NASA to stop the launch, but they decided…
See(k)ing Jesus
I’m sometimes asked what the difference is between Christians who are out there serving people in the world and regular, ordinary people, who are out there serving. So many of our businesses here in Des Moines are great proponents of volunteerism. Every time we go to a Meals from the Heartland event, or collect stuff…
Prodigal Rabbi
A couple of weeks ago, Trevor and I were at a workshop about how we change our thinking in the church from membership to discipleship. We talk a lot about membership. We are preparing our confirmation students to become members. We are about to have a new member class. And it’s almost like once you…