When the time had come. Elizabeth spent five months in seclusion sometimes feeling judged, she spent 9 months of pregnancy, she spent hours breathing and pushing John into the world. Zechariah spent 10 months in silence. When the time has come to raise a child, begin school, start a career, end a relationship, retire, move, […]
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Earlier in chapter one, Luke tells us that Elizabeth “was righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord,” but she and Zechariah were unable to have children and were getting on in years. Each year, Zechariah went to Herod’s temple to serve as a lay priest for several […]
Luke opens the “Good News” of God’s coming Kingdom (Luke 8:1) with a little contrast: “During the rule of King Herod of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah”. There were tens of thousands of lay priests in Israel but one King. King Herod was an agent of the Roman Empire having been appointed by […]
I zipped through heavy traffic rushing to Smyrna for the first available appointment to renew my passport. When I arrived I checked the time, it was 6 minutes before the requested “arrive 15 minutes before your appointment”, but six people before me waited for one post office clerk. At the window a loud customer was […]
In 2008, the General Conference of the United Methodist Church changed our membership vows adding the word “witness” to the membership pledge 10 young adults will take today. We promise that we will faithfully uphold our congregation with “our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and our witness!” (resourceumc.org-witness) The idea of Christian witnessing makes a lot […]
One February maybe 20 years ago, we pulled our little pop-up camper to Disney World’s Fort Wilderness, the cleanest campground on earth. Around Christmas, I began digesting the 528 page The Unofficial Guide to Disney World With Kids guidebook. I reread sections and highlighted pages with Post-it notes. We executed the plan; waking up early, […]
After Dad’s funeral and the church lunch, Dad’s younger brother David washed Mom’s dusty wine glasses and suggested we have a round of toasting to honor my father. So as the grandchildren played in the front yard, we pulled dining room chairs into mom’s living room and each of us shared a few reflections on […]
Driving back from our All Church Retreat last night, I thought about the Talent Show I had just left. Traditionally children, as young as four, share jokes with the congregation. One of our younger children delivered her “Knock Knock” joke and the congregation burst into hearty applause. You should have seen her face light up […]
My plan was to preach about how prayer fosters stewardship within us: as prayer connects us with God, who is generous, we become generous. I planned to talk about how prayer is much more than asking, but instead grounds us in God’s grace. My sermon was tracking along nicely until Thursday when a request to […]
Now, you need to understand that Connie and I once spent the night in a tent with our dog who had just been sprayed by skunk. We are dog people, maybe to a fault. In our 35 years of marriage we have had 4 dogs: Millie the wonder dog, Sandie a beautiful English Bird Dog […]
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