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Ephesians 4 (selection);  Mark 9:38-41 A man who was walking across a bridge on the Monocacy river not far from here came upon another man standing right on the edge about to plunge to his death. The first man shouted, “Stop! Are you a Christian?” “Yes, as a matter of fact I am.” “Well so […]

1 Corinthians 1:26-29;  John 6:35-43 Back in the 40’s, a highly popular advertising jingle for Chiquita Bananas ended with the line: “Bananas like the climate of the very, very tropical equator, so you should never put bananas in the refrigerator. No. No. No. No.” People in this country were told that the only reason the

    Deuteronomy 8: 1-3; John 6:24-35 A small-sized congregation in a college town near the Hudson River wanted to attract more college students for weekly worship attendance and other activities. So, when someone donated a few boxes of New Testament books, that church decided to pass them out to the college students on the

Mark 5: 21-24, 28-43   I love the story of Captain Hook and the nasty crocodile in Disney’s version of Peter Pan. At some point in his life, Captain Hook’s hand was bitten off by a crocodile. The crocodile liked it so much that he spent the rest of his life chasing after Captain Hook,

Philippians 4:1-7;  John 16:28-33 I’d like to begin with a story about a man who was a tremendous worrier. He worried too much, and about everything. Even worse, he was worrisome — he worried other people with his worry. He couldn’t sleep at night because he worried so much. Well, one day he came out

1 Corinthians 11:23-26;  Luke 24: 13-18, 28-32 Friends, did you ever ask yourselves why we celebrate Holy Communion, and why we do it the way we do it? Depending on your own Christian heritage, you may be inclined to talk about Holy Communion as the Last Supper, or the Lord’s Table, or even “the Eucharist,”

Acts 2:1-13;  Romans 8:26-27   At least from the perspective of Jesus’s disciples, his decision to step out of his earthly ministry soon after Easter may have been as dramatic as unsettling. He told them it was his Father’s decision. I wonder whether God’s decision to take Jesus away from them just a few weeks

Isaiah 66:13;  John 19:26-27;  Proverbs 31:26;  Luke 1:46-49   Someone mentioned a new American version of the Bible that opens like this: “In the beginning, everything was created by Hallmark, and Hallmark saw that everything created was good. . .” Friends, even if such version of the Bible exists, let me tell you something that

Genesis 32:22-31;   John 16:31-33   Today I’d like to talk about Mr. Jacob, one of giants of the Old Testament, someone who, I’m sure, must have inspired Jesus more than once. A true giant, for Jacob never stopped struggling. As a matter of fact, Jacob was born struggling. Even in his mother’s womb he struggled

Habakkuk 3:17-19;   John 20:19-29 From time to time, we may come across friendly folks who say that they would believe in God if God would only send them a sign –I take them seriously, for there have been times when I felt the same way. Frederick Buechner, a well-known preacher and inspirational writer, has read