Know Tea

I had a sermon prepared for today, the Second Sunday after Epiphany.  It was all about Jesus turning the water into wine, and about the New Wine that God promises us in the Bible.  I think it was an interesting, entertaining, and compelling sermon.  I hope it was.
That was before the earthquake.  Before you and [...]

[Read more →]

What is Christmas?  You may think you know the answer already, and maybe you do.  After all, you’re here, right?  Preaching on Christmas Eve can be the proverbial preaching to the choir.  But we are creatures of our time and of our culture, no matter how hard we try not to be.  Because of this, [...]

[Read more →]

If you listen to people like Bill O’Reilly and/or listen to Christian radio (and I’m going to assume there’s a whole lot o’ overlap there), you’re used to hearing about the “war on Christmas” this time of year, every year.
This year, American Family Radio (a Christian radio network based in Tupelo, MS) published its “naughty [...]

[Read more →]

I ended my first on this topic with this thought:
This is the shape of the Church Calendar that has been in place since the Fourth Century.  It not only predates the Reformation of the 16th Century, but it even predates the Great Schism (between East and West) of 1054 by almost 600 years!  So this [...]

[Read more →]

The last post gave some background on the origins of the Church Year and why Christians have celebrated the seasons of the Church Year since at least the Fourth Century AD.  In short, observing the seasons and rhythms of the Church Year gives believers a sacred sense of time:  a way to celebrate God’s mighty [...]

[Read more →]

This post is mainly for the great group of talented musicians we have at our church now, but if the rest of you want to listen in, that’s fine.
Being a liturgical church in a mostly non-liturgical part of the country, visitors usually run into some things that require explanation.  On the most basic level, there [...]

[Read more →]

. . . and what it is, is wrong.
A friend sent me this link last night.  I of course had heard some of what had gone on at Coral Ridge.  It’s hard not to hear about it if you’re in church circles at all.  I had heard rumors that the music director and organist had [...]

[Read more →]

This Sunday, as you probably already know, is World Communion Sunday.  This year, I’d like to display on a bulletin board in the narthex some of your stories about Communion.  How do you “do” Communion in your church?  What about the church of your childhood or your youth?  What makes your church’s way of celebrating [...]

[Read more →]

Several days ago, a friend sent out a request on Facebook for people to send in the order of worship from their churches. His church is in the midst of changing their worship service and he was looking for ideas.
Here are two of the responses:
Ours is a regular service – a praise [...]

[Read more →]

I have never been in a church, as a member or visitor, that did not pass the plate (or basket or bag) during the offertory.
I know some churches don’t, but I’ve never been in one.  I’m really starting to rethink this whole “pass the plate” thing.  It all started this past Ash Wednesday, as I [...]

[Read more →]