Imagine showing up at the baptismal font on the day of your baptism and hearing the pastor say, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Shouldn’t John have been grateful for the crowds? Hard enough in our day to get anyone in the doors to worship God! If you had crowds lining up at your church to be baptized wouldn’t you be elated? What is John thinking? What’s going on here? Bear fruits worthy of repentance, John says. Because, John knows that the crowds are … [Read more...]
Earthmovers
On Friday afternoon Minjing and I were driving home from Tukwila during rush hour. It was about 4:30. Traffic, as usual, was a mess. I tried I- 405. It was bad. I exited and tried Grady Way. It was bad, too. I tried cutting behind Fred Meyer on Rainier Ave. and that was bad. I was impatient and Minjing was getting impatient with my impatience. Well, anyone who drives through Renton knows what I’m talking about! Even if you don’t drive you probably know what I’m talking about. On top of rush … [Read more...]
What Are You Waiting For?
I’m not used to preaching at 2:30 in the morning but today is one of those days. Minjing and I returned from China yesterday afternoon so on the one hand our bodies and minds are here. On the other hand, China is sixteen hours ahead of us so our bodies and minds are sound asleep on the far side of the world. The truth is that this is really common for all of us. I don’t mean that we all experience jetlag. But I do mean that while on the one hand our bodies and minds are in the present, on the … [Read more...]
Benjamin’s Story
(This message continues an Advent series of stories that re-tell stories of our faith in the belief that God invites us to use our imaginations to hear and see in new ways God’s transforming power among us.) Stories engage our senses and captivate our thoughts. Come and listen to a story about a time when people were waiting for something and expecting someone who would change everything. My name is Benjamin. I have no claim to fame. But the story I tell is about people I knew who became … [Read more...]
The Wilderness
Stories engage our senses and captivate our thoughts. Come and listen to a story about a time when people were waiting for something and expecting someone who would change everything. The journey was going to take almost the full day, which was why the small group of young priests and temple servers decided to set off from Jerusalem at daybreak. A few months ago the first reports had started to circulate that a strange man who lived in the wilderness had started publicly baptizing people in … [Read more...]
Ordinary People
Stories engage our senses and captivate our thoughts. Come and listen to a story about a time when people were waiting for something and expecting someone who would change everything. Long ago there lived a man named John. John was a common name in that day so over the centuries following his death some confusion was inevitable. The fact that he would be associated with Jesus of Nazareth complicated things because this John would be confused with other men named John who knew Jesus, and … [Read more...]
The Deathbed
Stories engage our senses and captivate our thoughts. Come and listen to a story about a time when people were waiting for something and expecting someone who would change everything. John, the last living apostle of Jesus of Nazareth had only been back in Ephesus a few days before he fell ill. At first it was simply a fever for which he was administered cold compresses and local medicinal herbs along healthy doses of prayer offered up by those in the town that he had ministered to over the … [Read more...]