Read this post today from internetmonk.com and felt it was worth reposting.  Some excellent thoughts here as we continue to celebrate the Eastertide season.  Jesus is risen!  He is risen indeed! —— By Chaplain Mike. Many of us in our Christian traditions learned to celebrate Christ’s resurrection on a day—Easter Sunday. Easter is the great [...]

The shot above was one of the many incredible moments of the U2 360 concert at Soldier Field on Sunday night.  Never having been to a U2 concert, I cannot compare it to previous U2 performances, but I have to say that its definitely in the top 5 of shows that I have been to [...]

What a wonderful Easter celebration in worship yesterday.  It was truly a blessed time of gathering together as God’s people to celebrate our risen Savior.  Thank you all for being a part of it.  Our focus yesterday in worship was on John 20:1-18 as Jesus appeared to Mary of Magdala in the garden.  It was [...]

On this beautiful Easter morning when the shouts of “Christ is risen!” ring throughout communities of faith throughout the world, one who was a far better preacher than I could ever hope to be shared these words nearly 1600 years ago on an Easter morning.  John Chrysostom, pastor in Constantinople celebrated the resurrection in this [...]

We all do it.  One of the first things we do when we get up in the morning is take a look in the mirror.  When you do that, what do you see? As we prepare for worship this Sunday (click here for Sunday’s scripture readings), take a few extra moments the next few days [...]

Moving into 1 Chronicles after finishing 2 Kings, we come into the first nine chapters to find name after name after name. It is chapters like these that people who volunteer to read in worship often dread. Names like Azrikam, Azmaveth, Jehoiarib, and so forth often trip people up. It is very easy to skip [...]

I have connected deeply with Michael Wesch’s work at Kansas State University. He has put together some marvelous work on the ways that students learn (or don’t learn) today and the ways that the educational system is not meeting students where they are at. On his blog, he recently posted a re-visiting of his “Vision [...]

This week I am preaching at FPC on the Missional topic of what it means to be “In but not of” the world.  The focus scripture passage is John 17:6-19.  I have been struggling with this passage in connection with some of the “tension” things I have been discussing lately.  The tension of the already [...]

This Sunday, I will be preaching on Jesus’ parable about the tenants of the vineyard in Matthew 21:33-46.  Its parables like this one that make me like the “easier” ones like The Lost Sheep or the Prodigal Son.  In this story, we have tenants who take over a newly-created vineyard, servants who are beaten, stoned, [...]