This week’s passage might be the most well-known parable in the Bible. Since it is so well-known, we also know exactly what it means. We are the terrible son, God is the forgiving father, and the bitter brother is, I don’t know, Robert Jeffress? As we discussed last week, the beauty of a parable is that it opens more questions …
Mark: The End (Program and Sermon)
Program Sermon Outline (loosely followed) I. Transfiguration a. Elijah, Moses, Jesus b. Making tents c. Beloved Son II. The Way to Jerusalem a. Argument of James and John b. Bartimaeus III. Jerusalem a. Triumphal Entry b. Curse of the fig tree c. Cleansing the temple d. Teaching e. Anointing at Bethany f. Passover g. Betrayal h. Arrest i. Trial j. …
Mark: The End
We know how this ends, right? After an auspicious beginning, Jesus travels to Jerusalem, stirs up trouble, gets arrested, and is crucified. And for those of us who grew up in the church, we probably know the meaning of this as well. Allowing some variation in the way it is formulated, the bottom line is that Jesus’ death is our …
All Saints and All Souls
Sometimes in Texas it is hard to know when autumn begins. Even though stores are pulling out merchandise for Halloween and Thanksgiving and even Christmas, the landscape is telling a different story. But soon the leaves will turn from green to red to brown and then the trees will enter their tombs for a few months. Every year, nature speaks …
What We Leave Behind (Program and Sermon)
Program Sermon We just went on vacation. We went to a place in the Hill Country, to a little plot of land that has been in Lisa’s family for almost a hundred years. The Hagy Camp sits on a bluff above the Western fork of the Frio River, about six miles north of Leakey, Texas. Lisa’s ancestors started going there …
A Little Bit of Death, but So Much Life
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. There’s this naked lady living in a garden with her boyfriend, also naked. A talking snake tells her to eat an apple, so she does, and things go downhill fast. The God of the garden knows they’ve been bad, so they lie about it, blame each other, and get kicked out. Not …