“You’ve raped our women, and you are taking over the country…” This is what Dylann Roof is reported to have said to a person who survived his terrorist attack on Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. His goal? He wanted to start a race war. And this is the week we get…
Category: worship
worship
An Afternoon with the Ordained
Today I was privileged to head out to an ordination service for a pastor in our local association. As I was hopping into a friend’s car to begin the trek to the church, it dawned on me I hadn’t been to an ordination service for a while. In fact, I believe I accidentally slept through…
The Gospel in stained glass – Baptism
Jesus’ baptism is, perhaps, one of the most underplayed elements of the Gospel story. Christians seem to enjoy focusing on the amazing willpower of Jesus in resisting the Devil’s temptations in the wilderness, and so gloss over this watershed moment. We shouldn’t do that. Jesus’ baptism is generally regarded as the start of his public…
Stained Glass – Resurrection
This is the center panel of the stained glass window in Central Baptist’s sanctuary. The whole front window is, to me, some of the most fantastic stained glass I’ve ever seen – but this center panel is the most striking. This is as things should be. It is, after all, Jesus’ resurrection. There’s a lot…
Considering the other
This week I preached on Hebrews 10:19–25. The sermon was ok but, for me, the most compelling section was the last paragraph – so I’ll spend some time unpacking it’s ideas a bit more fully this morning. More and more I’ve been hearing, from Christians near my age and younger, how we don’t need the…
Worship Zombies
Normally on Monday’s I post my sermon manuscript as my blog entry. Today I’m breaking my typical practice for two reasons. First, while the sermon this week was adequate, I didn’t particularly care for it 1. I thought the manuscript, despite several deep edits, lacked flow. It was ok, but not really worth re-sharing. Second,…
