I have had a few nicknames conveyed by coaches and youth groups – Sledgehammer, Turquoise, Dr. P, Abraham Lincoln (it’s a long story about seminary Greek and a blizzard), Dr. P, P, P-Funk, Triple P and one of my favorite swim team coaches called my brother “Purdue” and me “Purdon’t”.   If you had a spiritual […]

When our unchurched friends think about the Bible, they often picture a compendium of  “thou-shalt-nots”, “oughts”, and flat out “nos”. Deuteronomy 16 offers an unexpected command to give ourselves over to celebration, to feasting, and to renewal. The Passover Feast rules revisits God’s weekly calendar: “on the seventh day will be a celebration for the […]

The Psalmist sings:  “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens!  Praise God, all of you who are God’s messengers! Praise God, Sun and moon, and all of you bright stars!  Praise God, You mountains, every little hill,  sing praises, you fruit trees, every cedar tree sings praise!  Praise God, you young people and […]

“Lord, teach us to pray!”  This week, I somehow locked onto the disciples needing to ask Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” In Matthew, Jesus teaches the basics of prayer right after calling the disciples. Luke goes through 11 of 24 chapters before a disciple asks Jesus to teach them about prayer. Luke’s order is […]

30 years ago, about two years into our 34 years of marriage, Connie, the dog, and I were watching football on TV.  I enjoy hollering at the players, the referees, and the commentators. Connie and our dogs have found this ridiculous. Nevertheless, Connie is fun to watch football with. During college, Connie taught cheerleading at […]

Pulling away from the taco truck, Timothy eased the delivery truck out into unusually heavy traffic. It seems there was a parade or protest or something going on. Patrick bellyached, “Timothy, would you look at those people waving the Mexican flag right here!”  Timothy rolled his eyes and said, “Patrick, didn’t you dress up like […]

On Friday,  the sermon I sent to the staff did not begin with my sharing our United Methodist principals around abortion. It does today. In seminary a professor counseled us to read the church’s official statements during difficult seasons, because these statements offer collective wisdom often born by difficult deliberations, something we can never do […]

Once upon a time, a pastor was trying to describe the Mystery of the Trinity to a group of children in the three minute window her church allotted for a children’s moment. Our United Methodist Discipline describes the Holy Trinity in our Articles of Religion saying:  Article I — Of Faith in the Holy Trinity […]

God Emboldens Us June 5, 2022             Paul Purdue The second chapter of Acts reads like a creed or is it a poem?  When Pentecost arrived, the church was together. and they saw something like tongues of fire.  A tongue of fire alighted and rested over each one of them. […]

I had a nice sermon ready about Jesus’ Ascension- mystery and humbly looking for Jesus.  However, I awoke this morning at 4am, remembering that we are two years past George Floyd, two weeks past Buffalo and a few days past the terrible events in Texas. I felt the need to write a different sermon. The […]