Month: April 2019
Not Yet Fully Awake by Dr. Matthew Milliner
April 29, 2019
And in our gospel passage, Mary of course – like all of us on this side of death – is not yet fully awake. She makes first contact with the resurrected Jesus, and it’s about as awkward as Peter embarrassing himself by trying to pitch a tent on Mount Tabor. Mary’s problem is that she thinks Jesus is dead, and when she sees that he’s gone, she consoles herself by saying, “they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
Lost in Translation
April 25, 2019
Lost in Translation: Lessons from Language Can Help Us Share the Gospel By Rev. Dr. Kimberly Reisman, Executive Director In…
Tammie Grimm ~ Keeping the Feast and the Fast
Mary Fletcher was the first woman John Wesley permitted to preach in the 1770s. Her journals, diaries, and letters embody the largest collection of Methodist papers in existence with the sole exception of John Wesley’s papers. There are times I’ve wondered if a Lenten fast is nullified by Easter feasting. But in reading Mary Fletcher’s journals, noting the ebb and flow with which she made entries, I understood her seasons of profuse writing were not negated by the seasons of terseness.
Brian Yeich ~ What Providence Looks Like
April 24, 2019
“Providence does not mean that we have no free will. God’s providence does not rule out human freedom. Providence is not opposed to cooperation with God. Providence does not mean we are off the hook or that we have no sense of responsibility when it comes to spiritual growth. Rather, we cooperate with God as we grow in our faith by practicing spiritual disciplines or the means of grace.”
Philip Tallon ~ Make Buildings that Won’t Be Burnt Up
April 22, 2019
A wise art teacher used to say, “Make art that won’t be burnt up.” He meant, make art that will outlast the last judgment. Make art that will count as one of the “glories of the nations” brought into the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:26). Beauty attracts us, even when our reasons are unconvinced.
Edgar Bazan ~ Remember Me
April 19, 2019
In his own weakness and suffering, Jesus learned yours. He knows of your suffering; he knows of your pain; the things you can’t tell anyone else, he knows them all. Whatever is your experience right now, today, we all are offered salvation.
Maxie Dunnam ~ Serving Like Jesus
April 18, 2019
As we practice the disciplines of submission and serving, we are freed from the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way, and we find the freedom to value and serve others.
Karen Bates ~ Egg Salad and Easter Sunday: Preaching the Messiness of Hope
April 15, 2019
I wondered how hungry the man was to steal an egg salad sandwich from a convenience store. I also wondered how he would have reacted to the customer’s kindness. He left without knowing his debt was paid. He was free to go. The food belonged to him.
Elizabeth Glass Turner ~ The Terrible Precipice of Knowing: Black Holes, Enlightenment, and the Divine
April 10, 2019
There is a moment you stand on the brink, or the brink stands on you. The inexorable draw pulls you…
Evangelism and The Short-Term Mission Trip
April 8, 2019
By Rev. Dr. Robert Haynes With the coming of spring and the anticipation of summer, many churches in the United…