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Thy Sea is So Great, My Boat is So Small

The wonderful twentieth century story-teller Isaac Bashevis Singer once admitted: “I only pray when I am in trouble.  But I am in trouble all the time, and I pray all the time.”  Even when we need to pray, because of the trouble we’re in, or when we want to...

Reverence and Gentleness

Prompted by a phrase in the New Testament (1 Peter 3:16), I’ve been pondering the vital importance of reverence and gentleness.   Reverence is about acknowledging our limits.  I don’t know everything and can’t do everything.  Sometimes, I am wrong about...

Prayer for Mercy

Some of you asked about the prayer for mercy which was part of my sermon today.  Here it is; I hope you will find it helpful.  O God, remind me always that my life is your gift, and that I live under, and rest in, your Mercy. Gone forever is my once-proud...

Another World in this One

French poet Paul Eluard said: “There is another world, but it is in this one.” Late one afternoon last week, after a long walk around town, I sat for a while on a bench near the courthouse in City-County Plaza.  Almost directly in front of me, on the stone-paved...

Cost, Price, Value, and Worth

Here is the Call to Stewardship from this past Sunday.  Some of you had asked to see it again: Commodities, things, labor, experiences and gifts all have cost, price, value, and worth.  Cost is the amount of money it takes to plant and harvest, mine,...

Citizens First of the Kingdom

Not long after I came to Asheville, the Republican Men’s Club of Buncombe County invited me to their breakfast meeting to tell them about myself and my hopes for our church’s future.  It’s not my practice to speak at meetings, formal or informal, of political...