Right before I started Virginia Theological Seminary I was visiting a church in the DC area that will remain unnamed on a Trinity Sunday. Those of you who have heard me preach on special days before have probably noticed that I get a little nerdy around liturgical holidays…
One day, long, long, ago, God was looking down upon the Earth, watching the men and women he created and he saw they had become extremely wicked. There were robbers, murderers, cheats, liars, selfish, and in general not very nice folks. The holy God saw that every thought of man’s heart was continually evil…
John 17:20-26
Happy Easter! You do know it’s still Easter, right? We’re actually in our seventh and final week, but it’s still Easter time. Next week we will celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. The birthday of the church and the celebration of the Holy Spirit coming in among our midst…
Acts 16:9-15
It’s the end of the semester for a lot of our college students. My oldest daughter Elizabeth is going to be graduating this Friday from UNC Greensboro with her master’s in music education, and then on a couple of days later with her husband Danny to Connecticut where they will be living…
Acts 11:1-18
As long as I have been here at St. Paul’s Church, about 30 years I think, I have had the distinction of being the only member of the clergy staff with a southern accent. It isn’t quite as pronounced as it was years ago when I was growing up in Piedmont, North Carolina…
Acts 9:36-43
The Acts of the Apostles. We’re going to hear quite a bit from that book during the season of Easter. It’s a book that is read, traditionally during Easter because it talks about those early acts and the lives of those followers of Jesus immediately after the resurrection…
Acts 9:1-20, John 21:1-19
As the rise, celebration, and now relaxation after Holy Week and Easter has come and gone, we in the church are left with this Easter question. What do we do now? What are we to do with this crucified, resurrected Lord? How have our lives been changed by that resurrection? …
Lots of people in the past weeks have been coming up to me and saying things like, “Sally, I’m so happy for you. This is your dream. This is your passion. You’re going to get to go on to something that you’ve really dreamed about.” And I must tell you at first that I actually never dreamed that at age 60 I would be directing a nonprofit startup…
John 19:38-42
Happy Easter! He’s alive! We have passed through the darkness and sorrow of the cross and met with joy the wonder of the resurrection. And now we know that with God, endings are not really the end. In his life Jesus failed to get everyone to believe, and it was not the end…
John 18:1-19:42
When I was just starting first grade I became very ill. The pediatrician was puzzled what was causing my high temperature. I was sick but had no discernable symptoms. After several days passed and I wasn’t getting any better the doctor told my mom he had gone as far as he could; I would have to go to the hospital…