I grew up in a Methodist preacher's home. Papa was strict about the Sabbath Day. No work was allowed on Sundays. When Mama pointed out to him that cooking and cleaning were work, Papa knew he was cornered. So, he took us out to lunch on Sundays, but he felt bad about making the restaurant personnel work on the Sabbath. Papa did not like the idea of watching television on Sundays, but I noticed th...
One sabbath he was going through the grain-fields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?" And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high pr...
Have you ever made a wrong turn and found yourself going the wrong way on a one way street? I did that not long ago. It certainly was unnerving. One man, who made this mistake said, "I just figured I was late and everyone was coming home." God has a clear one way street for living the good life: "Believe in me and serve your neighbor." That’s what the sabbath day is about: rediscovering God and ou...
One of the churches where I served was located next to a Jewish synagogue. That synagogue was served by a rabbi who quite typically walked to the synagogue on the Sabbath, though his house was some distance away. It was not that he didn't have a car, but that for him it was improper to drive on the Sabbath, for that constituted work. Sometimes I would see him riding a bicycle to synagogue. I sugge...
We are all fundamentalists about something. Jesus was a "Love Fundamentalist."
Most of us are fundamentalists about fundamentalism. We think we are either fundamentally against it or fundamentally for it. But contrary to what some of us may think, "fundamentalism" isn't the private domain of one group of people. "Fundamentalists" can be found in all walks of life.
The jogger going out at 5:30 a....
Caleb was probably the laziest boy in the whole village. At least that was his reputation, although no one had ever done scientific study on the question. Caleb could sit in one position - usually, shaded by a tree and upon a matting of soft grass - for hours. He could sit there and watch the clouds move across the sky from daybreak to sunset. Actually, he was never out of bed at day break so the ...
In any list of unusual animals, you are likely to find the sloth. The sloth lives in trees, much of the time hanging from a limb by its four strong feet. The encyclopedia says, "Sloths sleep, eat, and travel through the forest upside down." It's a strange thought ... the idea of living upside down. If we did it, we would certainly see things differently. In a world where flowers grow down and ball...
Whenever you consider the meaning of a Bible text, it is always good to look at the context. As we consider the meaning of Jesus' words to the man with a shriveled hand, we need to look at what happened before he spoke these words. The context of Jesus' words to the man with the shriveled-up hand in Mark 3:5 is conflict with the Pharisees in the areas of fasting, the Sabbath, and worship. The reas...
A veteran senior angel was giving a brand new freshman angel a tour of the heavens. The freshman angel was wide-eyed and awe-struck as he saw the vastness and majesty and wonder of God’s incredible universe.
When they came to the Milky Way, the senior angel said to the freshman angel: “Come over here, son… I want to show you something special… Look down there! That tiny planet is called Earth. It...
We know the importance of taking breaks. "You've got to stop and smell the roses." "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy — and Jill a rich widow." Even the Bible affirms the premise — one of the Ten Commandments: "Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy ... Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work .....
The Gospel Reading shows Jesus in a position of conflict with the religious leaders of his day, a position we find him in repeatedly. This time it is over the observance of the sabbath. This is a story we need to hear, not only to understand the life of Jesus, but to apply it to ourselves as religious folks. In Jesus' critical encounters with the Pharisees or scribes or the Jews, we must avoid the...
How's your blood pressure today? I want to read you some very interesting results from some extraordinary legal cases.
In 1964 a California woman was driving a Porsche after having had several drinks. While driving 60 in a 25-mph zone, she had an accident in which her passenger was killed. Porsche was ordered to pay $2.5 million for having designed a car that was too high-performance for the aver...
Genesis 1:1-2:3, Luke 5:33-39, Luke 6:1-11, Luke 7:18-35, Mark 2:18-22, Mark 2:23-3:6, Mark 3:7-12
Sermon
Lori Wagner
Props: Visuals of Hubbel Space Photos and/or eclipse photos
[Begin running about 30 or more Hubbel photos as you begin your sermon. If you want to take an especially creative field trip, deliver your sermon inside of a conservatory or planetarium with stars above and the Creation story displayed.]
Part of the “human” in human being is to be fascinated with space. We lie back and imagine images i...
There are not ten commandments; there are only nine.
That other one, the one about resting and not working on the Sabbath, that’s really just a suggestion. No one, not even the most observant Christians — with the possible exception of Hobby Lobby and Chick-fil-a — take it all that seriously, and even they simply close their businesses. Whether or not they actually rest and remember, as the comma...
How many of you grew up watching either the originals or the re-runs of Wile-E-Coyote and the Roadrunner? Throughout the series of cartoons, we laughed, as Wile E Coyote was continually foiled in his attempts to catch the super-fast and super sly roadrunner. Time and again, the coyote’s efforts and plots come back to bite him, so to speak, as he blows himself up, plunges off of cliffs, and gets po...