Pentecost

For your celebration of the gift and work of the Holy Spirit among us, here’s my Pentecost sermon from a few decades ago. In a time when my own church, the United Methodist, seems to be having trouble finding room for all those whom the Holy Spirit drags in the door, maybe it’s good to be reminded of the forgiving, convening, congregating work of the Holy Spirit.

Forty Days to Ponder This Truth…

It was a joy to be back at Cathedral Church of the Advent to be a part of their Lenten Preaching Series. This was the first of two sermons I preached last week in Birmingham. The text is 1 Timothy 1:13-16.

“The Church–in its wisdom–gives us forty days to ponder the trust about ourselves, to tell the truth, that maybe the rest of the world finds difficult to tell…the truth that God loves to save sinners.”

The Future of the UMC: Fact or Fiction?

In Don’t Look Back I urged United Methodists not to become distracted by the machinations of General Conference votes, the Council of Bishops, and other factors that have little to do with the mission of the local church. However, many ask, “How did we get to this point as a church?” Rev. Susan Leonard–a friend, a pastoral leader of the South Carolina United Methodist Church, and senior pastor of Bethel UMC in Charleston, SC–offers a full, detailed chronology of general church developments, one of the most thorough and fair that I have heard. 

Preaching this week & beyond

Thanks to the folks at A Sermon for Every Sunday for including the sermon below on this week’s Old Testament text from the lectionary, Isaiah 58:1-9a(9b-12).

In addition to sermons posted with A Sermon for Every Sunday, I’ve got a weekly preaching toolkit titled “Pulpit Resource” from Ministry Matters. I walk through an encounter with a given text and look towards relating and proclaiming that text each week. If you’re looking for a lectionary-based preaching resource, check it out. You can subscribe here: https://www.ministrymatters.com/pr_subscribe.