I watched the C-span video of President Trump standing in front of the boarded up “church of the presidents.” He was holding someone’s Bible. For a minute, he seems to be trying to figure out the best way to hold it aloft- clasping and shifting his grip. We pastors usually hold it up with two […]
Author Archives: paulrpurdue
Jesus grieved and grew angry at the church’s hardness of heart. (Mark 3). Compassion signals the presence of Christ. Jesus calls us to love others as ourselves- even strangers and opponents. Hard hearts allow us to regulate, isolate, and direct our love to people like us. The Incarnation shatters these boundaries by entering human suffering. […]
Things looked bleak in the Thirty Second chapter of Jerimiah. Babylon had laid siege to Jerusalem. Famine, fire, and disease engulfed Jerusalem. King Zedeikiah imprisoned Jeremiah for telling the truth. Inside prison, the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah prompting the prophet to purchase a field. Jeremiah ensured the parchment contract would endure by […]
Sunday, I stepped to the pulpit, anointed my hands with sanitizer, and fumbled with how to best remove my mask before preaching. We are wearing masks to model compassion and identify with our vulnerable neighbors. The mask is an outward sign of our inner commitment to “watch over one another in love.” Unfortunately, my mask’s […]
The Acts’ 17 story sadly mirrors todays’ headlines. Imagine, a crowd fired up by their reactionary preachers. They rally in the Thessalonian square to defend traditional values. They shout down new ideas. The people turn violent and attack Jason’s house. They hope to bring Paul and Silas to justice before the people. Unable to find […]
I don’t believe the same beliefs that my mother did but we share the same faith. I don’t fear the same devils that my grandparents did but we share the same hope I don’t cherish the same laws that my father did but we share the same love Faith advances unseen Hope preserves Love never […]
I want to invite you to imagine that the Bible simply ended with Jesus’ Ascension. Jesus ascends and sits down in heaven. Imagine: that forty days after Easter, the disciples gather atop Matthew’s mountain. The Risen Christ speaks “peace be with you” and shows them the wounds in his hands and side. Jesus shares a […]
Asbury Theological Seminary received a multi-million dollar donation to build a state of the art preaching center, among other directives. So in 1995, I took a preaching class inside the state of the art multi-camera studio chapel. Four camera angles was a terrifying prospect; I hope it is helping us in these days of quarantine. […]
I loved church camp for memories like when we collected a bounty of unwanted cubed carrots and constructed a vegetable castle, catapulting it with field soggy peas. Or on Talent night, when a camp staffer did not spot our middle school sacracaism and implored the entire assembly to imitate my youth groups’ very enthusiastic applause. […]
Every morning an hour before sunrise, the dawn chorus begins. While it is dark, cardinals, doves, starlings, and wrens raise songs to the new day. Even before Mother Sun appears, she brushes the clouds with pink, yellow, violet, and blue swirls. The heavens declare our belief in God “even when the sun is not shining.” […]
pastorpaulpurdue 