by Guy Sayles | Aug 13, 2009 |
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus offered two metaphors for the church on mission—two ways the church can manifest his presence: as “the salt of the earth” and as “a city set on a hill.” As “salt of the earth,” the church is on mission by way of involvement. Salt only...
by Guy Sayles | Aug 4, 2009 |
Ernest Campbell, once the preaching minister at NYC’s Riverside Church, preached a wise sermon entitled “Every Battle is Not Armageddon.” It wasn’t a sermon about end-time prophecy or an apocalyptic war in the Middle East. Instead it was a...
by Guy Sayles | Jul 31, 2009 |
Not long ago, my friend and teacher Buddy Shurden jogged my memory about something author Kurt Vonnegut once said about his “rules” for writing a short story. One of those rules was: “Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not...
by Guy Sayles | Jul 23, 2009 |
After days of being more “off the (Internet) grid” than on it, I am reconnected with the technological tools upon which I am embarrassingly dependent. Last week, my laptop and cell phone/PDA were stolen from my car, and I have been scrambling ever since....
by Guy Sayles | Jul 8, 2009 |
What follows are the opening paragraphs of my sermon from last Sunday:This personal ad once appeared in a major metropolitan newspaper: “Single woman seeking single man. Considerate, intelligent, and honest. Overweight OK, but no slobs, smokers, drinkers, convicts, or...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 30, 2009 |
In Ephesians 4 and 5, the writer offers some “house rules” for living in Christian community. Among them, are these practical guidelines for being a community of truthfulness: “We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and blown about by every wind of...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 19, 2009 |
According to the Gospel of Mark, the first words of Jesus’ first sermon had to do with time: “The time is fulfilled.” He meant, in part, that time was up. There was a note of compelling urgency in his words—of impending crisis and approaching judgment. Time was...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 9, 2009 |
The famous American novelist, Henry James, once gave this advice to his young nephew, Billy: “There are three things that are important in human life. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind.”We are living in hard times:...
by Guy Sayles | Jun 1, 2009 |
A small town newspaper reporter once said: “All the people I’ve interviewed can be divided into three categories: good, bad, and indifferent, but I’ve not written about many of the indifferent. The indifferent don’t make good stories.”Indifference doesn’t make for...
by Guy Sayles | May 22, 2009 |
Singer Jimmy Buffet once said, “I think that we ought to declare a universal ‘Ten-Deep-Breaths Day’ so that the whole world could stop and everybody just catch their breath.” Breathless describes a lot of us, doesn’t it? Running hard and fast...
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