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The Church’s Greatest Threat is the Church

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...

Human Jesus

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...

To Live Rather Than to Exist

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...

No Nation is Perfect

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”...

The Cheapest Room in the House

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...

Faithfulness Isn’t Always Efficient

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...