2024 September

Books in the Gap

Books in the Gap

Let’s start off with a quiz. There are five questions. Name five books that were written in the 19th century. (This one is easy. There are a ton of great books from the 1800’s. Do you have your five in mind?) Here a handful that you could have chosen: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky Frankenstein by Mary Shelley The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and, last, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo All those books from the 19th century! How about naming five great books from the 18th century? This is a little more difficult, but still very doable. You could have listed. . . . Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift Tom Jones by Henry Fielding Candide by Voltaire The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge The

A People-First Culture

A People-First Culture

This sermon is based on Philemon 1:8-16. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: The old campground rule says it this way: “Please leave things better than you found them.” I like that. I even want to do that. Even if it is impossible and we can’t leave things “better,” we can at least try really hard not to leave them any worse. But for better or worse, for richer or poorer, before you can make things better, you need to be sure what you are doing won’t make them worse. And the only way you can do that is to know what its “best version” would look like. For instance, take the church. If we want to make our church better, we first need to know what a healthy church looks like. And then, with that as our target, we can strive

History in the Gap

History in the Gap

Everyone needs a little history. And if the history you need is a bit wacky, then may I suggest you read any of Leland Gregory’s books on “Stupid History.” My favorite story that he includes in his first volume is the story of the famous Greek playwright, Aeschylus. Aeschylus lived a great life until he didn’t, but to understand his demise you have to understand the hunting practices of eagles. Apparently, eagles found tortoise meat a real delicacy. However, there was an obvious problem: that meat was covered by a hard shell. But eagles are incredibly smart. They figured out that if they dropped a tortoise on a rock from a sufficient enough height, it would crack open and provide a great feast for the working eagle. Now, eagles have great eyesight, but on one tragic day, an eagle mistook Aeschylus’ bald head for a shiny rock and dropped a

A Culture Committed to Doing Good

A Culture Committed to Doing Good

This sermon is based on Acts 10:34-38. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: The old campground rule says it this way: “Please leave things better than you found them.” I like that. I even want to do that. Even if it is impossible and we can’t leave things “better,” we can at least try really hard not to leave them any worse. But for better or worse, for richer or poorer, before you can make things better, you need to be sure what you are doing won’t make them worse. And the only way you can do that is to know what its “best version” would look like. For instance, take the church. If we want to make our church better, we first need to know what a healthy church looks like. And then, with that as our target, we can strive

Intro to the Gap

Intro to the Gap

We love going to New York City. We go there for the US Open. We go there for Broadway plays. We go there for pizza (we absolutely go there for the pizza). And we go there for the people-watching (I’m not sure there is anywhere better). And we go there to ride the subway. That’s not completely true. We don’t go to NYC for the subway, but when we are in New York, we take the subway everywhere. And we love the subway. Sure, it is old and “well-used,” but it gets you there on tim, and you don’t have to pay for parking. However, if there is one thing I want from my subway, it is for that invisible conductor in the sky to warn me upon my departure to “mind the gap.” I’ll even settle for “watch out for the gap” or “don’t nap on the gap,” but

The Healthy Church

The Healthy Church

This sermon begins our new series and is based on Colossians 1:3-6. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: The old campground rule says it this way: “Please leave things better than you found them.” I like that. I even want to do that. Even if it is impossible and we can’t leave things “better,” we can at least try really hard not to leave them any worse. But for better or worse, for richer or poorer, before you can make things better, you need to be sure what you are doing won’t make them worse. And the only way you can do that is to know what its “best version” would look like. For instance, take the church. If we want to make our church better, we first need to know what a healthy church looks like. And then, with that as

Religion

Religion

This sermon is based on James 1:26-27. You can also view each week's sermon/worship service on our YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5ncsq_QNvCv61bIwKUpP5A SERIES OVERVIEW: To have a favorite or not to have a favorite, that is the question. Okay, “Hamlet” is loaded with possible favorite quotes, and it is hard to pick just one. But if I had to, it would be when Polonius interrupts Hamlet in the library and asks, “What do you read, my lord?” And Hamlet replies, “Words, words, words.” Now, Polonius is an accomplice of the evil king and Hamlet is feigning insanity, so we can’t take everything that is said here at face value. In fact, we all know that something is rotten in the library. Besides, if Hamlet didn’t believe in the power of words, he would never have uttered a single soliloquy. No, methinks the lad doth protest too much here. See, words matter. They are