I was reminded this week by a colleague that prophetic preachers approach both sermon-writing and ministries with the Bible in one hand, and the newspaper, or in my case, the smartphone, in the other. I mean, otherwise, we are too tempted to preach feel-good messages in a vacuum, sermons that have no ability to prepare you think theologically about the world’s problems, sermons that leave you ill equipped to see God in the midst of pain or to be encouraged by the deep truth that love does eventually conquer all. Sermons aren’t meant to make us feel good about ourselves. They are supposed to fuel us up and fire us up and send us out into the world, ready to do the hard and painful work of kingdom building as children of God and followers of Christ.  To read/download this sermon, click on 20170819 Racism is a GIant

A man was traveling on a ship when it sank in the ocean. He managed to survive, and made a small raft of some of the ship’s cargo and eventually drifted to a deserted island. He built a little shelter and lived on what little food he had been able to salvage from the wreckage. Time after time he had attempted unsuccessfully to attract the attention of a passing ship.  Click on  20170709 Life gives you lemons Joseph to read/download this sermon.

When I was a child, my family got the most adorable blonde lab puppy. He was fearless! The kitchen in the house where I grew up was a little lower than the rest of the house, and you had to step down just 1⁄2 a step to go into the kitchen. And that little puppy just could not seem to figure it out. Click on 20170702 Jacob name

I saw a movie recently about a pair of corporate spies who are hired by different companies to, well, spy on each other, so that these companies could outsmart their competitors. Somewhere along the line, the two spies figure out who the other one is, fall in love with each other, and devise an incredible plan—they’re going to team up and pull the ultimate heist on their employers. Click on 20170625 Getting Rachael too to read/download this sermon.

In 2002, Steven Spielberg made a movie called “Catch me if you can” about the amazing story of a man named Frank W. Abagnale. At the age of 16, Abagnale’s parents divorced and he was so devastated by it that he ran away from home. Click on 20170618 Running Away from God to read/download this sermon.

Someone dialed a wrong number and heard the following voicemail message: “I am not
available right now, but I thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my
life. Please leave me a message. If I do not return your call, you are one of those changes.” Click on 20170604 Pentecost change to read or download this sermon.

(“Unprecedented” clip from Sully https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RZPch3-hBo)

Have you ever thought about the Heroes from our Bible stories? We tend to put them up on pedestals and hail them as examples we strive to be but whose character we likely could never match. But consider what we know about each of them: Click 20170528 Film & Faith SULLY to read/download the sermon.

The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe is one of my all time favorite stories, one that connects deeply to the child within. I first read this book when I was 12, and I’ve experienced the story via book and film dozens of times since then, most recently this past week. Every time I read it or watch the film, I am able to find myself, my own dreams, hopes, expectations, worries and insecurities in the adventures of particularly the four main characters: Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy. Click 20170521 Film and Faith Narnia to read/download the sermon.

What would you do if I you had to live the exact same day over and over on an endless loop for thousands of times? Click 20170514 Groundhog day to read/download the sermon.