Get Her Words Out

Buffy Season Eight #17 - Time of Your Life, Part 2

"Vampires are lurks, a spin is a lie, toy is bad, but spled is good.

Boy the English language is losing it.

I should have treated it better. . ."

*Plus and OMFG!!! moment at the end*

I have a question

Why are all the organic/gourmet breads at the grocery store too big to fit in the toaster?

Is it not green or something to want to toast my bread?

New Sermon -- Excluded Middle

For St. Paul Presbyterian, Aurora, Colorado

Text: Matthew 14:22-33

I’m going to begin this from what will seem like a weird place.

I don’t know, because I’ve only visited here a few times, but it seems unlikely that you’ve heard many sermons that have started from this place.

You see, the thing is, for years when I’ve read this text, one of the first thing that has come to my mind has been what a jerk Jesus is in this passage.

There, I said it, for a long time I have though that, in this passage, and in particular in his interaction with Peter, Jesus is a bit of a jerk.

I mean c’mon, Peter steps out of the boat, Peter walks on water, then Peter realizes how amazing, how incredible what he’s doing is, has a moment of hesitation and starts to sink.

And what does Jesus say to him, to the only other human who has even come close to having enough faith to be able to walk on water?

Not “Good try, buddy,” or “Great start, you’ll get it next time.”

Nope, all Jesus has to say is, “You of little faith.”

“You of little faith.”

Jerk.

Random Fun

Starts Tuesday Night!

Buffy Season Eight #16 - Time of Your Life, Part 1

"Buffy had an outfit crisis. We should have seen the warning signs."

Well I've never been to New York -- I want to look. . .New Yorky. . .and there could be weather."

Too Wonderful? -- A New Sermon

For First Congregational Church, Greeley, Colorado, June 15, 2008

Texts:    1 Corinthians 1:20-31
                Genesis 18:1-15

There’s a really obvious sermon to be preached about this text.  A sermon abut how Abraham and Sarah’s faith was so great that, in their old age, God rewarded them with the thing that they wanted most, a son.

The sermon would then go on to talk about how it can happen to you, too.

The person preaching the sermon would tell you if your faith is strong enough, if you pray sincerely enough, if you live rightly enough, then God will reward you with health, wealth, children, whatever it is that you most want, “Wealth and pelf and fame and name and all of that noise.”

Yes, I’m sure many a televangelist has preached that exact sermon. It’s a very comforting sermon, one that can make you feel good about yourself, about God and about your future and there are a lot of people in the world whose faith is based solidly in that sermon.

Three years ago, I did an internship as a chaplain at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.  Grady is right in the heart of downtown Atlanta, and is part of Atlanta history and culture.  Grady has been in Atlanta since 1890, and you can see in the architecture of the oldest parts of the current building the history of racial segregation, that lead to it’s being known, especially now among older African-Americans as “The Gradys.”

Buffy Season Eight #15 "Wolves at the Gate" Part 4

"My giant-sized teammate is fighting a mechanized version of herself on the streets of downtown Tokyo. . .I've been preparing for this day my entire life!"

Buffy Season Eight #13 "Wolves at the Gate" Part 3

"Ok, so just to be clear, when people ask what we did on our first date, you want me to tell them we. . .

• Dressed me up like a schoolgirl.
• Used me as bait on the streets of Japan.
• Lit a vampire on on fire.
• Then geared up to go into battle with several hundred other girls. . .
• . . .And Dracula."

"I resent that.  I would never go on a date with the two of you.  Even if you begged.  So don't bother even asking."

"Yeah, I'm not letting you off the hook on this one Harris, this is absolutely not a date."

Good News/Bad News

The Rev. Toby Brown has a post up on his blog bemoaning the diversity of beliefs in the PC(USA).  A couple of sentences caught my eye [emphasis mine]:

And this is our intractable divide--one act, like Spahr's performing of a 'marriage' for lesbians, is called good by one group and sinful by another. Yet, we all reside within one tent, one communion, one covenant community.

I read that and I don't think "Damn, that's awful,"  I read that and I think "Hallelujah, isn't that wonderful?!"

I've always thought that the whole point of the church was that it wasn't like other human institutions, that it was the place where we could be together even though we disagreed, even though we were 180 degrees apart on some things we could still worship together, sing together, and share in the sacraments together.

For me, that's a huge part of the Good News.  God, through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has changed the way things have always been.  Humans can do better than the have, can get along despite their differences, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the church is the place where that can happen.

It's a little thing I like to call "The exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven on the world."  The Kingdom is going to be filled with people who disagree with us (if for no other reason than requiring agreement to enter the Kingdom pretty much amounts to salvation by works) and we might as well get used to it now.