Who Do You Love? Matthew 6:19-34 My little brother, who was actually little when I was 11 and he was first born but isn’t so little anymore, is one of those guys who intentionally lives his life care-free and unfettered.  At age 30, he is not married; he has no children.  Though he’s very well-educated he doesn’t go in for the boring old traditional rat race the rest of us run day in and day out.  Instead, he works to... Read more

Redefining Blessed January 16, 2011 Matthew 5:1–12 I know that 3-D movies are the latest rage, but I am hoping somehow that rage passes soon.  I think I might be too old for this new-fangled sort of thing.  My problem seems to be that watching anything in 3-D makes me feel sick—as in, motion sick.  Not enjoyable at all.  I keep thinking that’s ridiculous…everybody loves 3-D movies, but every time I watch a 3-D movie I start to feel like... Read more

On my way to work every morning I pass a bus stop that has been driving me crazy for months.  Hanging in the bus stop is a poster with one ominous looking (dark skinned) man in the foreground and two women behind him staring with fear in their eyes.  The poster reads, “If You See Something, Say Something.” This poster, along with other marketing strategies, is part of a wider anti-terrorist campaign in larger cities, and in DC most recently... Read more

As I packed away all the Christmas decorations this weekend I thought again how strange it felt to say goodbye to all of them, put them in boxes, stack them in storage, and not give them another thought for at least eleven months…and then, to climb into the storage closet, hit your head, swear under (or over) your breath, and drag out dusty boxes of well-loved plastic and ribbons to take them out again with the kind of anticipation normally reserved... Read more

From the Outside…In January 9, 2011 Matthew 2:1–12  On Thursday the Christian Church around the world celebrated the Day of Epiphany, the twelfth day of Christmas, a day that commemorates the coming of the wise men to visit the baby Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew.  Our word “epiphany” comes from the Greek work epiphaneia, meaning disclosure, manifestation, unveiling, or appearance—the same meaning we ascribe to the word epiphany when we use it in modern English expression.  But... Read more

I recently had the opportunity to attend the symphony, one of my favorite things to do.  The occasion was festive, the crowd was all dressed up, and the music was magical.  I loved the whole experience. But I do have a confession to make. Conducting that night was a conductor named Sarah Hicks (http://www.sarahhicksconductor.com/web/bio.aspx), and watching her do her job gave me pause.  I was, of course, non-pulsed by the thought of a symphony in a major city being conducted... Read more

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health: The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow. Crunchy numbers Madison Square Garden can seat 20,000 people for a concert. This blog was viewed about 63,000 times in 2010. If it were a concert at Madison Square Garden, it would have performed about 3 times. In 2010, there were 104 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog... Read more

Once upon a time, many years ago, a baby was born.  And anytime a baby is born, from a little one come to the world in a dark, one room hut, his mother squatting on a dirt floor while she pushes . . . to the little one whose mother felt no pain as trained medical professionals closely supervised his birth, then whisked him into the warmth of a baby warmer . . . to a little one born to... Read more

When Miracles Fly Thick Matthew 1:18–25  If you’ve been around Calvary for any length of time you certainly have heard me talk in sermons about reading books to my kids when they were little.  Some of my best memories were made curled up on the couch, holding one or all of them close, and reading: Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia…it never ceased to amaze me how they could sit and listen for such a long time, enraptured by the... Read more

One of my favorite parts of being a pastor is the conversations that often begin in the pulpit and continue through email.  Think, engage the text, wonder about your faith . . . and let’s talk about it!  Here’s an email conversation from this week. Hi Amy, I was talking with a friend after church today and wanted some clarification so she said i should email you.  It’s not about John the Baptist but about the miracles of Jesus.  I... Read more