John 15:1-8 A few days ago in my exercise class we were asked to do mountain climbers at the same time we did planks while bracing our forearms on the stability ball. I expect even if you have no idea of what I’m talking about you can guess it wasn’t easy. For you see, my ‘core strength’, …
Month: April 2012
Of Sheep and Shepherds
Psalm 23 John 10:11-18 I don’t know much of sheep and shepherds, it’s true. A long time ago when I preached on a Good Shepherd Sunday, I confessed this truth. As he shook his hands with me after worship that morning, John Spangler offered to educate me. John was a hard man of few words and to …
You Are Witnesses…
Luke 24:36-49 It’s just a couple of times that I have been called as a witness. Both times were in family court. Once was on a Christmas Eve long ago when I was asked to stand before a judge and describe the erratic behavior of the woman whose future was in question. Thankfully he stopped …
Scars and Stories, Doubt and Faith
John 20:19-31 I can still remember the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach when the trailer lurched forward and caught my dad’s hand between it and the hitch on the back of the family station wagon. I was twelve, maybe thirteen years old. That would have made my sisters eleven, ten and nine. …
The Gift of Good Friday: It All Belongs to God
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 On Wednesday morning I got called away as it appeared to those closest to him that Cliff would not make it through the day. Cliff is my brother-in-law’s dad. He is 92 years old. He has been widowed for many years and in these last years has depended on the attentive care of …
A Gap in the Story: Easter Thoughts
Mark 16:1-8 There’s a gap in the story. And for now, at least, I’m not speaking of the one that comes at the end of this resurrection account but one that’s there in the story right before the narrative of our Gospel Story. One where the details are entirely left out — perhaps because those first listeners to this …