On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before a quarter million people and delivered what has been hailed as the greatest speech ever given in the

I believe the birth of Jesus was an historical event. It actually happened. A baby was born to a virgin. He was born in low circumstances and visited by shepherds, celebrated by Magi and announce

In the first two chapters of Luke's gospel, Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, sings about peace (1:79); the angels announce peace (2:14); and an old priest named Simeon thanks God for dismiss

Well, this is just so 2020. Besides the fact that there were locust swarms in Africa, murder hornets in the U.S., raging wildfires in Australia, Washington State and Oregon, a bitter and conteste

We're beginning a new message series on the book of Ephesians at Twickenham this week. You can watch or listen here at 10:00 central on Sunday mornings, or here if you can't make it at that time.Why E

In 1967 at Stanford University, Dr. King delivered a speech entitled, The Other America. With characteristic eloquence he described the very different economic, social and political con

 Lately, I've been reflecting on Paul's comforting words in 2 Corinthians 4. In verses 17 & 18, he gives us two more reasons to hang in there even when we feel like giving up. For our li

There are about a thousand ways Mother's Day can be hard. You want to be a mom, but so far, God has not blessed that dream. Or the mom you had wasn't there for you. While everyone else is expressing g

In times like this, you turn to the Bible hoping to find something to get you through. Then you discover that the book you are trying to understand, understands you. For example, in 2 Corinthians 4:8

This pandemic wasn't sent by an angry god; it was the backwash of a broken creation.  A year from now, or maybe two, we'll look back on this moment with a lot more clarity. We'll know who the her

Do you count the items the person in front of you has in their cart in the grocery store express lane? Do you honk your horn at people if they don’t smoke their tires the second the traffic light turns green? Do you ever pass slower drivers on the right and give them the evil eye as you go by? Do you line surf at Walmart? If you answered yes to these questions, you, my friend, have a wait problem.

In last week's post, I made the not-so-subtle suggestion that your church probably isn’t as friendly as you think. Even if you have all the expected contingencies – greeters, welcome stations, stand-and-greet sessions in the worship service, etc. – your church probably is not near as hospitable as you imagine. The reason is that when you walk in the door you know enough people and enough people know you that it feels like a family reunion.

I bet you think your church is friendly. It’s probably the friendliest church ever. You have greeters in the parking lot, in the lobby, even in the sanctuary. Every Sunday you see lots of handshakes, hugs and little groups of people huddled up in corners talking, laughing and loving on each other.

I had this routine when I was a kid. I’d come home from school, pull a sleeve of saltines from the box and lay a dozen crackers out on the counter. I’d take three of those processed cheese squares and quarter them, put a piece of cheese on each cracker and stack them up.

I’m preaching a series these days on the letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. Last Sunday, we focused on the church in Ephesus – the church that had forsaken the love they had at first. In the past, I interpreted that to mean that they had fallen out of love with Jesus.

Do not fear getting older, for with age comes many advantages. Senior discounts on McDonald’s extremely hot and delicious coffee, for one. The freedom to filter less of what you say or write for another. And perspective. You can look back across the decades and see with greater clarity personal, historic and culturally important events and trends to which you were oblivious in the moment.

(Photo by Wyron A on Unsplash)

Here’s a great question to ask the next time you play a round of Would You Rather: Would you rather know the future or remember the past? Think about that for a moment. We’ll come back to it.

We’ve been silent for awhile. Thank you for your patience. The following will explain.

***

On December 24^th, 1950, my wife’s father, Kermit Hammond, drove one of the last trucks onto a U.S. Navy ship at the port of Hungnam, North Korea. Moments later, army and navy explosive teams blew up abandoned allied weapons and supplies to keep them out of the hands of the advancing Chinese Communist forces.

When I was a child, I read the Bible like a child. The only thing that distinguished the heroes and heroines in scripture from the superheroes I saw in Marvel or DC Comics was their costumes. And the comic book heroes were way better dressed than how I imagined their biblical counterparts might have been.

Sometime during the middle of 1933, my grandfather boiled a pot of water to use for his morning shave. His youngest child, a daughter who had yet to take her first steps, reached up and pulled down on the handle. Her shrieks rang out and the months to come were hard and sad for her parents, her eight siblings and for the child herself.