| During the Season of Advent, these 4 weeks when we prepare for the celebration of the birth of the Christ child, we are always invited to hear from John the Baptist. John the Baptist is that strange character who appears from out of nowhere wearing the strange clothes and eating the strange diet | December 8, 2013 |
| Figuring out the future has always fascinated us human beings ever since we were young children. Our play includes time machines which can take us into the future. Then we get a little older and we play with our first Ouija board. For those of you who have never heard of a Ouija board, two players sit beside this wooden game board with letters on it and the words “yes” and “no.” | December 1, 2013 |
| I was able to attend a great football game Thursday night. I was able to go to the Clemson / Georgia Tech football game which was a great game from my perspective as a Clemson graduate since Clemson won the game. I was able to attend the game with my brother-in-law Gary and his son Mac and my friend Douglass. | November 17, 2013 |
| Today we are going to stay in the Old Testament and read from the prophet Haggai. My hunch is that very few people here have ever heard of Haggai and if you have you probably don’t know much about him. That is because Haggai is a very small book of the Bible and it is considered one of the Old Testament Minor Prophets. | November 10, 2013 |
| We are going to be reading the conclusion to Paul’s 2nd letter to Timothy. We have been reading through the letter over the past few weeks and have discovered that it is a very personal letter. | October 27, 2013 |
| The Scripture we are about to read is one which is debated a lot as to its meaning. It is used whenever people debate whether or not the Bible is to be taken literally. | October 20, 2013 |
| The Scripture we are about to read is from a letter which is entitled 2nd Timothy. We will read in the first verse that the writer is Paul but there are many who believe that Paul did not actually write the letter but a close associate writing in Paul’s name. I will assume for clarity today that the writer is Paul. | October 6, 2013 |
| Last week we read the first part of chapter 16 from Luke about the parable that Jesus told about the dishonest manager. That was a very difficult parable to understand because Jesus seems to lift up the dishonest manager as the hero in the story. I shared one possible interpretation that the parable could be about how we are called to be good stewards of the resources that we are given. To not waste our money and resources when they can be used in a way that is pleasing to God. | September 29, 2013 |
| We are about to read another of the parables that Jesus told. Last week we read two of the parables of Jesus found in the 15th chapter of the gospel of Luke. We heard last week that Jesus told lots of parables. Those stories that Jesus told that used common images to convey an important message. We heard that sharing parables is like peeling an onion where there are multiple levels of meaning. | September 22, 2013 |
| The two parables we are about to read are 2 of three parables that have been placed together by the gospel writer Luke. Each of these three parables has to do with something being lost. We will be reading about the lost sheep and the lost coin. After these two parables comes the parable of the prodigal son about a son who wanders away but then is welcomed home by his father. | September 15, 2013 |
| Seagrove, NC is an area of North Carolina known for its pottery. You drive down the road and you see lots and lots of little stores along the side of the road where you can go in and view pottery and purchase different pieces. It’s a fascinating place because each potter has a different style and coloring. Each potter shapes his or her pottery somewhat differently than the other potters even though they are using the same type of clay. | September 8, 2013 |
| I don’t know how it is at other colleges these days but let me tell you about my first day at college and compare it to our experience at Wofford College on Wednesday. As many of you know, my wife Kathryn and I took our oldest daughter, Rebecca, to Wofford on Wednesday to begin her first year of college. Before I tell you about that day, let me contrast our experience with Rebecca and Wofford with my experience with Clemson and my parents. | September 1, 2013 |
| We are going to be reading from the end of the 12th chapter of Luke. The verses we are about to read are ignored by lots of church people. This is a passage which is ignored because it seems to contradict other stories which the gospel writer Luke tells about Jesus. | August 25, 2013 |
| We will be reading from the book of the Bible called the Letter to the Hebrews. One way to understand this letter is that it is a sermon written to a group of Christians to stay strong in the midst of hardship. We don’t know who wrote Hebrews. There are lots of guesses about who wrote it but we don’t know. | August 18, 2013 |
| Thursday of this week I attended a workshop at Winthrop hosted by some social service agencies. The workshop was on understanding hope in the midst of the disease of Alzheimer’s. At my table I heard the stories of one man who was a pastor who is the sole care giver for his wife who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about 4 years ago. Also at my table was a social worker whose mother was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and who was now in a care facility in Charlotte. | July 28, 2013 |
| Today we are going to turn to the beginning of another one of Paul’s letters. This is a letter which the first verse tells us was written by both Paul and his companion Timothy. We will be reading this letter written to the church in the town of Colossae, which we call Colossians. The church that Paul is writing to was founded by Paul’s associate named Epaphras whom we will hear mentioned in our reading today. | July 21, 2013 |
| The story we are about to read is probably the most well known parable in the Bible. It is one of those stories which has made its way into our common language in our society. Any time that one does a good deed they are usually called a Good Samaritan. There is an RV club called the Good Sam club. So let us listen once again to this story and how it can challenge us and our actions. | July 14, 2013 |
| Today is the conclusion of our 6 weeks of reading through Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia, a letter which we call Galatians. We have learned that Paul writes this letter to a group of churches made up of non-Jewish people called Gentiles to give them instructions about the Christian life. The main question before them is whether or not they have to abide by Jewish laws and customs in order to become Christian. | July 7, 2013 |
| Over the past few weeks we have been reading through the letter that Paul wrote to a group of Christians that made up the churches in the region of Galatia. We call this letter Galatians. Today we are going to be reading from the 5th chapter. | June 30, 2013 |
| This morning we continue our reading of Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia, a letter which we call Galatians. This is the 4th week of our 6 weeks reading through the majority of this letter. We have learned over the previous few weeks that Paul writes this letter to a group of non-Jewish Christians, or Gentiles, who are wondering if they have to become Jewish in order to become Christian. They are wondering if they have to abide by Jewish laws and customs to be welcomed into a relationship with Christ. | June 23, 2013 |
| Today we continue reading from Paul’s letter to the churches in the region called Galatia, a letter which we call Galatians. The area of Galatia is found in the modern day country of Turkey. If you follow international news you know that Turkey has been in the news a lot over the past several weeks with anti-government protests. | June 16, 2013 |
| Today we are going to continue reading Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia, what we call Galatians. Last week we read from the first 10 verses and today we are going to read through the end of chapter 1. This letter is written by Paul to churches in the region of Galatia. The area of Galatia would be found in what is the modern day country of Turkey. | June 9, 2013 |
| Today we are going to begin a 6 week series on Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia. We call this letter Galatians. This letter was written probably in the late 40s or 50s and about 20 or so years after the death of Christ. By this time the early Christian movement was still connected to the Jewish faith but through the work of Paul and others there was an increasing number of Gentile Christians. Gentile meaning non-Jewish. | June 2, 2013 |
| Our next Scripture is going to be from the 8th chapter of the book of Proverbs. This chapter contains a description of something which Christians have struggled to understand. This chapter gives a description of what the Bible calls wisdom. | May 26, 2013 |
| I keep my old paper calendars in my closet in my office. I keep them in there because occasionally I will have a question about something that happened in the past and I can go to my calendar and retrace the history of an event. | May 19, 2013 |
| If you have a red letter Bible like this one, and you open up your Bible to the 13th chapter of the gospel of John, you will find a lot of red in chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16. Red letter Bibles use red ink to mark the words that are attributed to Jesus. This section of the gospel of John in chapters 13-16 is called the Farewell discourse. | May 12, 2013 |
| I don’t know about you but I find myself a little bit jealous when people tell me that they know exactly what God wants them to do with their life. I find myself a bit jealous when I hear someone tell me that they know exactly what God’s plan is for them. | May 5, 2013 |
| This morning we will be reading from Acts 11. Before we read this text, we need to understand that there are some things which are very clear according to the Scriptures. There are some rules laid out in Scripture which God’s people are told that they cannot break. | April 28, 2013 |
| We have certainly been exposed to some horrific images this week. First we were exposed to the horrific images of the finish line of the Boston Marathon when two bombs exploded killing three innocent victims and wounding hundreds of others. We have heard the stories of the victims and have felt pain in our hearts for their families. | April 21, 2013 |
| Today we will be reading a story about some very hard working people. A story of some very hard working people who find failure in what they do. We will be reading from chapter 21 of John but if you read chapter 20 you would think that the story would end there. | April 14, 2013 |
| If one wanted to prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ in a court of law, then the testimony of the four gospel writers in the Bible would not be good witnesses. They would not be good witnesses to proving the resurrection because their facts are not the same. They offer differing accounts that any good lawyer could pick apart. | March 31, 2013 – Easter |
| Imagine with me that you have arrived in a big city by foot. It is 2000 years ago and you have come to celebrate. You have come to celebrate the Passover. That ritual held every year to remember and celebrate that historical event from your faith tradition when God led your ancestors out of slavery and into the Promised Land. | March 24, 2013 -Palm Sunday |
| Today’s reading takes place in the town called Bethany which is located outside of Jerusalem. We need to look back into chapter 11 to better understand what happens in our reading this morning. Previously, the gospel writer John tells us one of Bethany’s residents, Lazarus, became ill. Lazarus has two sisters named Mary and Martha. | March 17, 2013 |
| We are going to be reading from Luke 15. But before reading this story, my question for us to ponder is, “what is the title for this story?” Because the title we give this story tells us a lot about the way we read this story. Some people call this the “Prodigal Son” story. If we call this the “prodigal son” story then we emphasize the first half of this story to the neglect of the second half of this story. If we call this “A Man with Two Sons” we recognize that this is actually two stories within one story. | March 10, 2013 |
| Throughout Lent, these 40 days excluding Sundays leading up to Easter, we are exploring different gifts. We have explored the gifts of opportunity and the gift of family. Today we explore the gift of intimacy. Intimacy, according to the dictionary, is “a close, familiar, and affectionate or loving relationship with another.” But for us to really understand intimacy with others, we also must seek to understand how we are to become intimate with God. To be close, familiar, and loving to God. | March 3, 2013 |
| During this season of Lent, we are exploring in worship different gifts that the Scriptures bring to our attention. Last week, a few of us gathered here on a day the snow and ice covered our roads to explore the gift of opportunity. Today the text leads us into exploring the gift of family. | February 24, 2013 |
| Celebration of gifts will be our focus in worship for the next few weeks. In looking over the lectionary readings assigned to the Sundays of Lent, it appears to me that various gifts are emphasized. Today we are going to lift up the gift of opportunity. Over the next few weeks we will explore together the gifts of family, intimacy, forgiveness and welcome, the gift of Christ, the gift of celebration and party, and the gift of Christian community. | February 17, 2013 |
| Our first reading was from Moses receiving tablets again after he broke the first tablets. In the story that Bryan read from earlier, God had earlier called Moses up a mountain and the Scripture from the book of Exodus says that God wrote on the tablets what we commonly call the Ten Commandments. So Moses then descends the mountain and he cannot wait to show the people the rules they are to live by. However, the people became concerned because Moses had been away from them for so long. So while Moses is up the mountain receiving rules to live by, the people become scared. So they influence Aaron, Moses’ brother, to do something about it. | February 10, 2013 |
| The gospel lesson we are about to read will be coming from John 2:1-12. This is a passage which we commonly recognize as the first miracle of Jesus. The gospel of John is the only one to record this event which occurs at a wedding in the town of Cana. None of the other 3 gospels say anything about this event. The other three gospels begin their stories of the life of Jesus with different events. As we begin to read this event note that nowhere does the gospel writer actually call this a miracle. Instead, he describes this event as a sign. | January 20, 2013 |
| The gospel lesson today is the story of the baptism of Jesus as recorded by the gospel writer Luke. I am going to be reading from the first verse of chapter 3 which is different than what I had listed in the bulletin. I want us to begin reading at the first verse so that we can hear everything that Luke says about the baptism of Jesus and what baptism leads into. | January 13, 2013 |
| Today is Epiphany, the 12th and final day of Christmas. Now my guess is that most of us have moved on from Christmas. My guess is that the McGregor family is probably one of the few families that are taking down our Christmas decorations today. We are now well beyond hearing any Christmas music on the radio or on whatever device you use to listen to music. | January 6, 2013 |