by Guy Sayles | Jun 25, 2012 |
Even when we don’t acknowledge it, human beings long for God. I believe that we’re born with a desire for the divine. St. Augustine’s well-known prayer voices this longing: “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 8, 2012 |
FDR famously said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Similarly, I sometimes think the church’s greatest threat is the church itself. These days, many people are intensely interested in Jesus, but, at the same time, profoundly disinterested in the...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 7, 2012 |
This past Sunday our Youth Choir, under the creative and visionary direction of Clark Sorrells, and with the support of 80-plus adult volunteers, presented (magnificently!) Andrew Lloyd Webber’s and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar. Jesus Christ Superstar...
by Guy Sayles | May 28, 2012 |
The opening page of the sermon I preached yesterday, as part of a service that combined celebration of Pentecost with the recognition of high school graduates British humorist P. G. Wodehouse said: “I always advise people never to give advice.” His advice about...
by Guy Sayles | May 24, 2012 |
As is well-known, in a debate over the payment of taxes, Jesus asserted that we are to “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” George Weigel called this “a revolutionary text” [“The Christian Citizen and Democracy”...
by Guy Sayles | May 9, 2012 |
The Sufi poet Hafiz said: “Fear is the cheapest room in the house/I would like to see you living/In better conditions. . . . God wants to see/More love and playfulness in your eyes/For that is your greatest witness to the Divine.” Fear is the cheapest, shabbiest, and...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 26, 2012 |
Sometimes, we need to set-aside efficiency for the sake of love and to sacrifice success for the sake of faithfulness. There are some things so right and good, so significant and wonderful, that we have to do them, no matter what. We “know” that they matter, even if...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 16, 2012 |
In an essay about the 2000 presidential election, David Foster Wallace wondered why so many potential voters, especially younger ones, seemed so “uninterested in politics.” He concluded that, more than anything else, younger people found politics boring and...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 13, 2012 |
Following are remarks I made at the April 12, 2012 meeting of the Buncombe County Board of Education. While the statement is content-specific, it does reflect my basic approach to the issue of religion in the public schools. By the way, the School Board voted to adopt...
by Guy Sayles | Apr 6, 2012 |
Writer and Lutheran minister Walt Wangerin told about finding his son reading a big stack of comic books. “Where did those come from?” “I took them from the library.” “You mean you borrowed them?” “No. . .” So Wangerin marched his son to the library and made him...
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