A mother mouse was giving her baby mice their first tour of the barn. She and the children walked from one end of the barn to the other. They were enjoying their walk until they came face to face with a large cat who seemed quite eager to pounce upon them. But, rather than succumb to cruel fate, the mother mouse drew up her face, looked the cat straight in the eye . . . and began to loudly bark like a dog! The cat was so startled that it turned tail and ran away. The mother mouse turned to her children and ...
I love Thanksgiving. We could celebrate Thanksgiving several times a year as far as I'm concerned. Storyteller Donald Davis had a kindergarten teacher named Mrs. Rosemary who also believed in celebrating holidays more than once a year. She liked a good celebration, and saw no reason to wait until a holiday came along before celebrating it. In fact, every Monday morning Mrs. Rosemary's class celebrated a different holiday. In an average school year, the children might celebrate Memorial Day, Valentine's Day ...
This is Trinity Sunday. The Trinity is an interesting and puzzling concept--God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But it fits in nicely with our theme for the day which is interdependence. It is impossible to think of God as Father without also thinking of God as Son and God as Holy Spirit. It is also impossible to think of creation without a Creator, and a Creator without created beings. And thus we come to our lesson for the day. You are probably familiar with the modern telling story of the creation from ...
In 1939, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt prepared to receive a diplomatic visit from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain. Every detail of their visit had to be planned meticulously. Only the finest accommodations, food, and entertainment would be appropriate for the royal couple. But on the second night of the King’s visit, Eleanor Roosevelt decided to break with protocol. She invited the King and Queen to come to the Roosevelt’s private cabin for an ...
In his excellent little book, How Can It be All Right When Everything Is All Wrong?, Professor Lew Smedes says that one source of our salvation is to cultivate a sense of wonder. He reminds us that Jesus was a source of wonder to all who came into contact with Him, from the humble shepherds who were struck with wonder at the sight of blazing angels sashaying around the Judean hills to the Wise Men from the East who came and laid their gifts at Jesus’ feet and wondered. All His life Jesus made people wonder ...
In Ludington, Michigan, there is a street called “No Name Street.” I don’t know why. Perhaps the city planner simply ran out of names when they got to this one. Perhaps there was a comedian in the crowd. But how would you like to live on “No name street”? Imagine explaining that to the IRS! I. NAMES ARE FUNNY THINGS. My own name, which seems so simple to me, is often mispronounced. They want to call it Strobie. When they do, I tell them that I am a minister and each Sunday I get to wear a “robie.” I ...
Today I want to begin by sharing a story that I once told at the annual Thanksgiving meal that we lovingly shared with the homeless persons in the greater Easton area with the help of our brothers and sisters in Christ at the Salvation Army headquarters. Perhaps one or two of you who were there will remember it. There was a very wealthy Texas oilman who had a gorgeous daughter, and he wanted to find her a man who was brave and courageous like himself. He decided to throw a huge Texas-style barbecue as a ...
Today, we continue in our series on the epistle of James by examining verses 19-27 of the first chapter. I like the translation of verses 19 & 20 which reads: "This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God." The first thing we need to review from James is: exactly what are we supposed to know? What is already assumed? We know that James is speaking to a group of believers of whom he is ...
In September 1991, the ruling government of the Soviet Union admitted something it had denied for nearly 60 years. During the Stalin era, officials once forgot to set the national clocks back one hour when they came off winter daylight-saving time. They were so embarrassed by the oversight that the Soviet government stayed on the wrong time and denied the whole thing for nearly six decades. (1) The issue of time is at the center of our Biblical text for today. We would do well not to deny its crucial ...
I have had the privilege of seeing the play, Fiddler on the Roof--both on Broadway and in a variety of other settings. It is a very moving and memorable play. The play begins with the "fiddler" balancing on a steep rooftop in the village playing his fiddle. The main character, Tevye, points to him and suggests that the fiddler symbolizes all the people of the village. Yes, that does certainly describe us as a people. Trying to balance family, careers, hobbies, church, faith and a host of other things. ...
Recently, my distinguished colleague, Dr. Rodney E. Wilmoth of Omaha, Nebraska, shared in a printed sermon some information about what I believe to be a sad legacy and memorial left by a man, John Jacob Astor. When he died in the 1800s, he was considered to be the richest man in America. However, the memory that many people had of him was anything but rich and honoring. He was born in the village of Waldorf in West Germany. He left home at age sixteen and eventually found his way to America by ship. The ...
Good Friday is not an easy day on which to preach, nor is what happened on Good Friday easy to explain. Many thoughtful Christians have a difficult time understanding how this very bad day in the life of Christ has become for Christians a good day. What's more, many find it perplexing to say that Jesus died for their sins because he died some 2,000 years before they were born. Then perhaps most perplexing of all are those theories of atonement that come to us in the New Testament, theories steeped in a ...
In an interview with a London newspaper, actor Christopher Walken revealed that he likes to bring a little fun to a movie set by pretending that it’s his birthday. In the morning, as the makeup crew is preparing him for the shoot, he will act a little sad. Invariably, some kind-hearted makeup lady will ask if he’s feeling all right. Walken will mention off-handedly that today is his birthday, but he swears the makeup lady to secrecy. In a matter of hours, the cast and crew of the movie throw together a big ...
It's easy to slap some people down. Little kids, poor people, beggars, the handicapped, foreigners, old people, minorities ... the list goes on. Sit down and shut up and be grateful for what you have. What do you know? Who asked you? You should be seen and not heard. Those are things we say -- or maybe have had said to us. That's assuming the person in question isn't being ignored into oblivion. We sinful human beings sometimes waver between abusing and ignoring someone who offends, disturbs, or makes us ...
If you were to visit the Library of Congress and look up Jesus of Nazareth in the card catalog of authors, you will not find a single entry. Thousands of books have been written about Jesus, but he himself wrote no books, not even a pamphlet or tract. He was able to write, we know. When a woman accused of adultery was brought to him, Jesus "bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger" (John 8:5). Giovanni Papini suggested that he chose the sand on which to write "expressly that the wind ...
Over the centuries rank and file church members have grown up in the presence of stained glass saints. Sanctuary windows throughout Europe and America have featured thousands of them -- monumental, brightly colored portraits of men and women whose lives were right with God. Their faces are placid and trusting. Their heads are often enveloped by golden auras or haloes. All of them were heroes of the faith, either from the Bible or from Christian history. They are spectacular representations of spiritual ...
Many years ago a teacher was asking the kids in her fourth grade class to name the person whom they considered the greatest human being alive in the world today and the responses were quick in forthcoming and also quite varied too. A little boy spoke up and said, "I think it's Tiger Woods. He’s the greatest golfer in the world, ever" A little girl said, "I think it's the Pope because he cares for people and doesn't get paid for it at all." Another little girl said, "I think it's President Bush because he's ...
A man was sitting in a psychiatrist’s office. He was complaining about an obsession that was ruining his life. “It’s baseball, Doctor,” he said. “Please help me. Baseball is destroying me. I can’t even get away from it in my sleep. As soon as I close my eyes, I’m out there chasing a fly ball or running around the bases. When I wake up, I’m more tired than I was when I went to bed. What am I going to do? The psychiatrist sat back and folded her hands. “First of all,” she said, “you have to make a conscious ...
Listen to a letter I received from a friend of mine in Laurel, Mississippi, a few months ago. "A few years ago when Lessie and I moved back to Laurel I took on the job of trying to sell a farm that was left to Lessie and her two sisters and one brother. After a period of a year or so of being unsuccessful at the task, I decided to buy the other shares and keep the farm in the family for future years. The farm was overgrown because of many years of neglect. One of the beauty spots of the farm that I always ...
Pastor John Ortberg was giving a bath to his three children. Johnny was still in the tub. Laura was out and safely in her pajamas. He was trying to get Mallory dried off. Mallory was out of the water, but was doing what has come to be known in their family as the Dee Dah Day dance. This dance consists of running around and around in circles, singing over and over again, "Dee dah day, dee dah day." It was a relatively simple dance expressing great joy. When Mallory is too happy to hold it in any longer, ...
Some of you have known me long enough to know that one of my favorite theologians is Charles Schultz, the artist who gave us the wonderful Peanuts cartoons. In one of my favorite cartoons, Lucy comes storming into the room and demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus. “These five fingers,” says Lucy. “Individually they are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a ...
I begin with a story. Bishop James Baker died in 1969, having lived to be ninety. In all of his years – and even in his last years – he had a zest for life. Even though he was too blind to read during those last years, volunteer readers kept him up on current events. His mind was agile and alert. He had a keen perception and a way of getting at the heart of things – probing their meaning with clear insight. He was the bishop of the Methodist Church who was responsible for founding the Wesley Foundation ...
Convictions and opinions are not the same, are they? Someone has said, “Opinions are many, convictions are few; opinions change often, convictions rarely do.” Opinions live on the surface; convictions go deep. Opinions thrive around the gossipy edges; convictions live near the center of life. One way to tell the difference is to ask, What would you make a sacrifice for- of real money, of significant time, of patient suffering, even of life if necessary? The more you would pay, the closer you move to the ...
I think it was Harry Truman's phrase: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." It represented a certain toughness of character which was typical of Harry Truman. Truman didn't want to do certain things, including being president. All you have to do is see the picture of him at his inauguration to realize that he really wanted to be some place else. But his sense of duty, his sense of loyalty, his sense of personal responsibility led him to do his best in situations he would rather have ...
I have just returned from my vacation, part of which was spent in Canada fishing for salmon. I notice there always seems to be a curiosity when I come back from a fishing trip to know if I caught anything, and if so, how big was it? I can usually exercise the necessary latitude to describe my catch appropriately, but this time I was with several members of this congregation. They happen to be in this service this morning as well, so I am forced to limit what I say, and this is it. There is more to fishing ...