Humorous newspaper columnist Dave Barry once made an interesting observation: “If there really is a God, who created the entire universe with all its glories,” wrote Barry, “and He decides to deliver a message to humanity, He will not use, as his messenger, a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle. Barry’s probably right. I certainly would not look to a TV preacher--even one with a good hairstyle--to bring me an accurate depiction of God. But I have to ask what would Dave Barry do with John the Baptist? ...
Endings can be sad. Your son calls you unexpectedly from college and wants nothing more than to tell you about his studies and his new girlfriend, and you're sad when the call has to end. Or you attend the symphony and are swept up by the glorious music and are very sorry when the finale comes. But of course, those are temporary endings. Other endings are much more permanent. I just retired from seminary teaching after forty years of classroom work. While the newfound freedom and release from duty are ...
This is the fourth and final Servant Song in Second Isaiah, and because of its content, it has been called the Suffering Servant Song. As with the Servant Song that we dealt with on Passion Sunday, it was originally a prophecy considering an idealized Israel. Second Isaiah set before the exiles in Babylonia the task of giving their life for the sake of the world. Israel was despised and rejected in exile, cursed by all who saw her plight. But there would come a time when God would deliver her from ...
I spent last Sunday and Monday with my father down in Perry County, Mississippi. He’s 90 years old. It was not a planned visit. His left leg went dead on him -- that’s the way he put it -- his leg went dead on him. The doctors said it was a blood clot. The arteries were too hardened to deal with the clot through surgery and they were afraid they would have to amputate the leg. Thankfully, that has not been the case and we are grateful. Being there with him brought back powerful memories of my mother. She ...
Preaching is an awesome responsibility - to mount a pulpit and proclaim God’s word. I remember my first visit to China in 1979. The Bamboo Curtain was just being drawn a bit. Miraculous things have happened since then, as you very well know. But back then you couldn’t meet publicly with Christians - so, on my trip we met in secret. I remember being with three couples in a hotel room in Beijing. It was as near to what I think it must have been in the early church when Christians gathered in the catacombs to ...
A couple of years ago I was smitten in my heart by a word I heard in the ordination service of the Free Methodist Church. It was verses 4 and 5 of Ezekiel 2. Listen to it: “The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them. ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’ And whether they listen – for they are a rebellious house – they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (NIV) Get the setting in mind. Ezekiel is sharing his personal story of God coming to him in a vision, and ...
In September of 1997 there was a groundbreaking service for a Catholic cathedral that is going to be constructed in Los Angeles. The Diocese of Los Angeles commissioned the famous Spanish architect Jose Rafael Moneo to design the building. Their hope is that the cathedral will be completed by the beginning of the millennium. It’s to be a peculiar witness to the glory of God. There were models of the cathedral at the groundbreaking service and on the basis of the models a Los Angeles Times reporter wrote a ...
In September of 1997 there was a groundbreaking service for a Catholic cathedral that is going to be constructed in Los Angeles. The Diocese of Los Angeles commissioned the famous Spanish architect Jose Rafael Moneo to design the building. Their hope is that the cathedral will be completed by the beginning of the millennium. It’s to be a peculiar witness to the glory of God. There were models of the cathedral at the groundbreaking service and on the basis of the models a Los Angeles Times reporter wrote a ...
Last September, there was a groundbreaking service for a Catholic cathedral that is going to be constructed in Los Angeles. The Diocese of Los Angeles commissioned the famous Spanish architect Jose Rafael Moneo to design the building. Their hope is that the cathedral will be completed by the beginning of the millennium. It’s to be a pectacular witness to the glory of God. There were models of the cathedral at the groundbreaking service and on the basis of the models a Los Angeles Times reporter wrote a ...
I was driving down Poplar Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares in Memphis, when I noticed a bumper sticker on the car in front of me. In large letters, it said, “I AM A GENERIC CHRISTIAN.” Well, that got my attention. I never thought about anyone being a generic Christian. I saw that something else was written on the bumper sticker and I wanted to know what it was. I’m afraid I got dangerously close to the rear end of the fellow, so that I would be close enough to read what was there. It said, “Ask me ...
This is not exactly camping season. Nevertheless, over the six weeks of Lent we are going into the wilderness as we prepare for Easter Sunday. And while we make our journey through the wilderness, we’re going to tell stories, wilderness stories, from the Bible. To get you in the mood, I found a list of camping tips by a man named Bruce Cochran which was printed in the Sept. ‘96 issue of Backpacker magazine. The list is too long to read in its entirety, so I’m only going to mention a few: When using a ...
You don’t have to raise your hand, but is there anyone in this room who worries about your appearance? Most of us, right? You may remember the time-honored story of the woman who was working in her front yard when a moving van pulled up next door. Her new neighbors drove up behind the moving van. While the movers were unloading the van, the new neighbors walked over and greeted the woman. She was a bit self-conscious because she had dirt on her hands and face and was wearing dirty, old clothes. A few days ...
Call To Worship Leader: Clap your hands for joy, all peoples! People: Praise God with loud songs! Leader: God goes up to his throne. There are shouts of joy and the blast of trumpets, as the Lord goes up. People: Sing praise to God; sing praise to our king! Leader: God is king over all the world! People: Praise him with songs! Collect O Lord, our God, we worship you as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We give you thanks that after his resurrection Jesus left his disciples to be with God the Father, but ...
Call To Worship If you have ever felt that God has forgotten you, and left you to face life's problems alone; if you have ever tried to carry out God's will for your life, but did not feel adequate to the task; then welcome to this time of worship. May each of us experience a renewal of our faith, a reminder of God's constant love and presence, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Collect Eternal God, you know our needs and concerns. We know that you stand ready to hear our prayers whenever we turn to you. We ...
Perhaps you have heard the story of the star-thrower, first published by Loren Eiseley in his 1969 book The Unexpected Universe. He tells of walking along a beach "littered with the debris of life.... Along the strip of wet sand that marks the ebbing and flowing of the tide, death walks hugely and in many forms. In the end the sea rejects its offspring. They cannot fight their way home through the surf which casts them repeatedly back upon the shore. The tiny breathing spores of starfish are stuffed with ...
[While King Duncan is enjoying a well deserved retirement we are going back to his earliest sermons and renewing them. The newly modernized sermon is shown first and below, for reference sake, is the old sermon. We will continue this updating throughout the year bringing fresh takes on King's best sermons.] The title of today’s sermon, “Panic Room,” has nothing to do with the IRS forms some of you still have at home, waiting to mail. Surely you have your papers in order. However, it is about fear. In 1947 ...
Ladies, what would you think if your husband came home with a box of Valentine candy and twelve long stem roses? In July? Well, he certainly would get your attention! Today I am doing something I love to do—preach about a familiar seasonable passage, out of season! Why? First, it is the next text we come to in Mark. But, second, liberated from the church calendar and from some of the expectations and trappings¾helpful and unhelpful¾we are free to explore deeper meaning and richer application for our lives ...
In 1933 Bishop Fulton J. Sheen published a little book on the seven words of Jesus from the cross. Sheen begins his Good Friday sermon with a story about Adam. When Adam had been driven from the Garden of Paradise, and the penalty of labor imposed upon him, he went out in quest of the bread he was to earn by the sweat of his brow. In the course of that search, he stumbled upon the limp form of his son, Abel, picked him up, carried him upon his shoulders, and laid him on the lap of Eve. They spoke to him, ...
Bob Hope died in 2003 at age 100. Before Bob died, his wife Dolores asked him where he wanted to be buried. And Bob, in his usual comedic style, answered, "Surprise me!" One night when Bob was in his prime he reported his activity for the day. "Today," he said, "my heart beat 103,369 times. My blood traveled 168 miles. I breathed 23,040 times. I inhaled 438 cubic feet of air. I ate three and a quarter pounds of food and drank two pounds of liquid. I perspired one and a half pints. I gave off 85 degrees of ...
Try to visualize yourself on the way to church. Not too difficult? Let's make it a little harder. Imagine that the year is 55 A.D. and that the place is the city of Corinth in Roman Greece. You are a member of the thriving church that has grown up there and you are on your way to a meeting at the house of Gaius. Lots of people will be gathering both from the church that usually meets at the house of Gaius and also from the churches that meet in the houses of several other Christians. News has been passed ...
Abraham believed God. What more powerful statement of faith can there be than those three simple words? Abraham believed God. Let's make a very important distinction about this statement. It doesn't say that Abraham believed in God. It says, "Abraham believed God," and because of his belief in what God said, Abraham was credited with righteousness. It wasn't just that Abraham believed "in God" as in the belief that "God exists," or that some superhuman being created the universe. Abraham believed what God ...
I have an announcement to make. Today's sermon is not for everybody. It was not planned for a general audience. It was not written to whom it may concern. No, today's sermon is intended for people who have a hard time feeling forgiven. The rest of you can listen in. Once in a while, I run across somebody who has difficulty feeling that the good news of the gospel is for them. They don't have any problem believing all the outrageous things that church takes to be true, like God becoming a human or the ...
Father's Day sermon This is the third Sunday in June. I am usually not here on this Sunday, because it is during this week that the sessions of the Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church in this region are held. They are continuing today at the University of Redlands. But I have been away for several weeks on vacation prior to this week, so I thought it would be prudent for me to show up here. Besides that, as you have heard, this is Choir Recognition Sunday, and I wanted to be here also for that ...
On this third Sunday in the season of Easter, we look at yet another resurrection appearance, this one from the Gospel of John. The disciples are despondent. The world has collapsed around them. Their Lord has been crucified. I suppose that by the time this story takes place, which is at least a week after the Resurrection, we can assume that they have heard of the Resurrection, if they have not actually experienced the Resurrected Christ. Although we know that some did see him, if you think of the Upper ...
Much to my surprise the title of this sermon, "Scandalous News," has caused a lot of people this past week to take notice. They would ask me, "What are you going to say?" I said, "I don't do previews." I did say, though, "It's not what you think, but it's probably much better than you could ever imagine." Titles can be misleading, but I have to put something out there on the billboard that will catch the attention of people who are traveling 70 miles an hour. But I do have some standards, I want you to ...