We have just passed Juneteenth and we are quickly approaching the Fourth of July, so freedom is on our minds. Perhaps it is always on our minds as freedom-loving Americans. And we are a Baptist church (it’s true!), so freedom is at the heart of who we are. However, Paul did not write in a time of freedom. Everyone lived …
What I Meant to Say Was… Hell Edition
I know I talked a lot on Sunday. I’m sorry. My hope is that we will continue to unpack a lot of it over the next few weeks. And, really, I’m clearly not that sorry because I’m about to say some more stuff I didn’t get to on Sunday. As many of you know, I love to talk about hell. …
Come, Ye Sinners
I lamented in church last Sunday that I miss the altar call. Certainly, it is damaging in a lot of ways. However, what I like about it is it puts a person to a decision. If Jesus is, in the words of theologian Schubert Ogden, the decisive re-presentation of God in that the words and works of Jesus put a …
Trinity Sunday Sermon
Some folks asked that I post my sermon from last Sunday. So, here it is. ~Scott Friday night, Lisa and I attended a modern dance performance by the Bruce Wood Dance Project. Sadly, it was an unexpected memorial for Mr. Wood, who died just a couple of weeks ago of pneumonia and heart failure, the ultimate end of a decades-long …
Go Ye Therefore
This Sunday is Trinity Sunday, so that will be our subject. There is certainly a lot to be said about it. However, I want to take this space to touch on another subject that is raised by our lectionary texts. One of the only places in the Christian Testament that uses a clear Trinitarian formula (Father, Son, and Holy Ghost) …
The Spirit is Moving
This Sunday is Pentecost, the birth of the Church. It is characterized as a magical, mysterious event where the Spirit of God comes upon the people with wind and fire. We often consider it unique, something that happened (or maybe didn’t) long ago. We commemorate it each year as a memory that is not our own. But my experience is …