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Here's a link to the sermon I gave today.

The Church is a Sign (click on the link to go to my audio page and there you can download the recording.) Act 9:32-43 was my jumping off point. This is my response to death and suffering in the world. What follows is an edited text version of the sermon....

The law makes clear my obligation to both God, my creator to whom I am indebted for my being, and to the rest of creation. The law shows me how I am to relate to God and his creation in such a way that I do and be that which I was created for. All of creation exists to glorify God – which means it exists to make the creator known. The law, written upon our conscience and revealed through prophets, is the guidance God h...

The other night I went to a talk given by Marcus Borg. There was much of what he said I found to be true and insightful. I agreed whole heartedly with a large proportion of his critique of modern American “Conservative” Christianity. However, though I agreed with him in regards to some of the problems, I did not agree with a single one of his solutions. There is much I could say about Borg’s theology. I wil...

Last Sunday I preached at my church, Zion Lutheran, on John chapter twelve. In my sermon I consider three main questions: Who is Jesus? Why did he come to Earth? Why did he die? I’ve got some other past sermons that I’ve been meaning to post, but since this one is really for preparation for Easter I wanted to get it up on the web before then. I don’t get to preach on Easter so this...

I’m not a fan of zombie movies, or any other type of horror movie, that takes glee in showing people get killed. I don’t watch The Walking Dead to see people (even if they are undead) get their heads smashed, stabbed, or blown apart – I could do with much less of that on the show. What I like about The Walking Dead and post-apocalyptic stories, zombie stories being a subgenre, is how they can be parables f...

In America we like to do business with businesses who give money to charities – we want to know what they’re giving to and they want to tell us. Quite plainly this is a form of marketing, which isn’t to say these businesses are completely cynical and don’t care about the charities they give money to. Many, if not most of them would give money anyway; at least the owners would, even if no one knew abou...

I’ve been working on my taxes for last year and being as in the eyes of the IRS my business and me are pretty much the same thing an interesting question in relation to tithing came up. Now, if you read my last post on tithing you’ll know I don’t believe in it (not that I don’t believe in sharing resources). My taxes this year illustrate some of the problems with tithing.

The other day I was at a Bible study and the pastor was teaching from John 15:5 where Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” His stated focus was on the “I am the vine” statement of Jesus. He focused on what he felt it meant to remain in Jesus. And being as it was a men’s Bible study he focu...

In 1 Corinthians 1:23 Paul says, “we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” But what makes Christianity foolish? Is it because faith, Christian faith in particular is irrational, requiring the suspension of reasoned thought? Is Christianity only for people who aren’t too bright? Does Christianity stand in opposition to common sense and reality? Is it because we beli...

In the story of Les Miserables we have a very powerful illustration of the theology of law vs. Gospel. (As a side note, the law is not always opposed to the Gospel; God’s law serves the process of redemption. But when its purpose is not understood it is forced to stand in conflict against the Gospel. ) In Jean Valjean we see a man redeemed by grace, a man who understands God’s mercy. He understands the gift God h...