Category: Uncategorized
-
Thursday Morning Update–September 1
Good Morning Friends of Emmanuel Church, As we begin a new school year and end our summer vacations, we are gearing up here at church for some new experiences. On Sunday, September 4th, the sermon is entitled “No Harm, No Foul.” It is based on Matthew 18:15-20. The theme of the sermon is Forgiveness. After…
-
Sermon of August 28, 2011–“Shaped, Not Sheltered”
Wow, there were a LOT of sources consulted on this one–conversations with friends, Karl Barth’s Romans and John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Relgion for starters. The information about honesty, giving, and trustworthiness comes from Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone. The information on possible causes for the London Riots came from a few sources–a couple of…
-
Sermon on August 14–“A Family Reunion”
Genesis 45:1-15 Today’s sermon was about ethics and virtue. Joseph’s story is a great introduction into the religious virtues. Here’s the sermon: A Family Reunion 1 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he…
-
Sermon of August 7, 2011–“Talking Trouble”
I’ve been interested for a long time in the idea that it’s not the content of an idea; it’s the process. There’s been a lot of writing about that lately in many fields of study–church administration, family life, work systems and so on. This sermon is a way of looking at Elijah’s problem from this…
-
Thursday Morning Update –August 3, 2011
Good morning friends of Emmanuel Church, Whew! Last week was a busy one with the Vacation Bible School and the launch of “Emmanuel’s Emergent Experience,” a new worship service being offered the last Sunday of every month at 6:30 p.m. Tomorrow is the Golf Outing which supports Camp Living Waters. I hope you will pray…
-
Thursday Morning Update–July 28, 2011
Good morning friends of Emmanuel Church, Tonight is the final night of our Vacation Bible School–“The Big Apple Adventure.” All are invited to see the final program and share in some ice cream. The program runs from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. I’d like to take a moment to thank all the volunteers and Chris Ericson,…
-
“Life’s Little Disappointments”–Genesis 29:25
I’ve got to be honest here. I’m not sure if this story is meant to be funny or depressingly sad. I took the latter tack in this sermon. Maybe some other time, I’ll preach how awful this story is. The sermon is at the bottom of this post. 15 Then Laban said to Jacob, ‘Because…
-
Sermon of July 10
“Esau: Like you but with poor impulse control” I’m not an economist–but I am very interested in the psychology of money and resources. I’ve discovered in my ministry that the key is not how many resources a ministry has but what kind of theology leads you to use the resources. The United States in the…
-
Sermon of July 3rd–“A Practical Sermon for Impractical People”
My idea in this sermon is that Jesus’ ethical teaching is meant to be literally understood–following the powerful ethical writings of John Howard Yoder, Stanley Hauerwas and Glenn Stassen. In other words, the easy yoke of Jesus is a burden placed on us–and Jesus expects us to be able to joyfully bear that burden. The…
-
Thursday Morning Update: Worship, Vacation Bible School, Emmanuel’s Emergent Experience
Good morning Friends of Emmanuel Church, First off this morning, I wish you all a safe and healthy holiday weekend. On Sunday, July 3rd, we will be worshiping God and celebrating our nation. Hymn sing starts this week–so I’m sure we can sing some patriotic hymns. The sermon is called : “A Practical Message for…
Emmanuel Reformed Church of the United Church of Christ 