Sermons

Maybe you all had a similar experience to mine. When I was younger, often when I’d leave the house for one reason or another, my mother would call out, “Remember who you’re representing!” I’m not sure if she meant that as a joke or a warning, but either way the implication was the same: the … read

Can all mysteries be explained? Nearly sixty years ago, my aunt and uncle were married. She was a refined North Carolinian woman, the daughter of a senator, a law school graduate. She was always well read, loved cooking, and was the most gracious of hostesses. He was from Tacoma, back in the days before the … read

If you were to buy a package of sunflower seeds to snack on, and if you bit off the kernel to get to the wee seed, and if you were to look at that seed for a few seconds, you might marvel at the fact that such a plain little thing, if planted, will grow … read

While on study leave in January, I learned a new preacher’s trick: the four-page sermon, in which the sermon is structured in four parts: problem in the text, problem in the world; grace in the text, grace in the world. Now I’ll admit that the four-page sermon has been a bit of a struggle this … read