On “Organized Religion”

What a fearful phrase this is when one stops to think about it, and how calamitous that Christians should have come to find themselves committed to its defence.  That the Church has a concern with religion – as with every other aspect of human life – no one would doubt.  That it must be organized [...]

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God’s Living Word

This week’s sermon from First Presbyterian, Boonville. The text is I Thessalonians 2:9-13. Click here to listen at fpcboonville.org This coming December, my wife Sarah and I will celebrate five wonderful years of marriage.  Five years of growing in commitment and trust for each other.  Five years of facing life’s challenges together.  Five years of [...]

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Mission and Vision

This past Thursday, the people of St. James Mission officially adopted their new Mission and Vision statements during worship.  Many months of thought, prayer, and discussion have gone into the production of this document.  Unintentionally, this process has finished on the first Thursday after the Feast of St. James the Just (October 23), from whom [...]

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Political Songwriting Revival

Driving to church last Sunday, I heard a new song on the radio called ‘I Get By’.  The artist is Everlast.  Here’s the video: What struck me about this song is how similar the feel and content is to the old folk tunes by people like Johnny Cash and Woody Guthrie.  Their work was edgy [...]

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Jesus Makes Things Complicated

I’m about to take a huge risk by sharing one of my wife’s sermons with my friends in the blogosphere.  When it comes to preaching, Rev. Sarah Schmidt-Lee blows me out of the water.  This is the woman who made me want to be a preacher.  During our dating and newlywed years, her sermons shaped [...]

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The Messenger is the Message

The text for this week’s sermon is I Thessalonians 2:1-8. Click here to listen at fpcboonville.org Back when I was in high school and college, the churches I went to made a particularly big deal about certain little things that weren’t such a big deal to other people.  These churches were really concerned about what [...]

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Slippery Slopes

Another “informed and compassionate” response from the happy elves at Crisis Magazine: You want contraception; someone else wants easy divorce. You want easy divorce; someone else wants homosexual marriages. You want homosexual marriages; someone else wants threesomes. You want threesomes; someone else wants children. You want children; someone else wants sheep. And his reason for [...]

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I Am the 99%

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Link to ‘Notes From a Dragon Mom’

This NY Times article came my way through Facebook and… well, you’ll just have to read it. This woman’s hard-won wisdom and insight reminds me of Lao-Tzu, Krishna, and Jesus.  I cite these sacred texts below, but I make no claim to have obtained the wisdom. Notes From a Dragon Mom “Therefore the sage produces [...]

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This Magic Moment

The text is I Thessalonians 1:1-10. Click here to listen at fpcboonville.org Has anyone here read or seen the Harry Potter books or movies?  I imagine that many of you have.  Personally, I’ve seen the movies but not read the books.  If you’ve not experienced them yourself, I’m sure you’re at least aware of their [...]

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