Reflections from Rick Lord on Leadership, Transformation, and Things That Keep Human Life Distinctively Human
From my sermon for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany: I suspect that most of us have a difficult time relating to the kind of biblical story we have in Mark’s Gospel this morning about an exorcism of an “unclean spirit” from a man in the synagogue and Capernaum. I have come to believe that [...]
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From my sermon for the Second Sunday of Epiphany: Part of what is going on in the story of old Eli and young Samuel is God choosing someone outside normal channels, an unexpected, unlikely one, a very young one, to do God’s work. Samuel will become Israel’s first great prophet. That God has not called [...]
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“To utter the name Jesus is to make a statement of faith as well as to give voice to a prayer. Jesus is our salvation, the One sent to redeem us, to keep us from falling away from the God who created us for a meaningful life. In the human life of Jesus, God shares [...]
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The author David Dark, in his book titled, “Everyday Apocalypse” offers this helpful insight: “Apocalyptic literature cracks the pavement of the status quo. It is the place where the future pushes into the present. It’s the breaking in of another dimension, a new wine for which our old wineskins are unprepared” (p. 12). I wonder [...]
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The meditation below is based on Luke 24:13-35 and was written by Dr. Paul Gooder, a freelance writer and lecturer in Biblical studies, and Canon Theologian of Birmingham Cathedral. Her insights into the Emmaus story inspired my sermon on this passage given at Holy Comforter, Vienna, yesterday. As we walk away, defeated and disillusioned, Jesus meets [...]
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From my Easter Sermon: It’s not theories about the historical basis for the resurrection that we need, but the practice of resurrection in our lives and communities. We build the resurrection into our thinking about what will happen to those we love and what will ultimately happen to all of us. We know that can’t [...]
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Working Preacher.org sponsored by Luther Seminary offers this Video with insightful commentary that a certain preacher may include in his sermon this Sunday.
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A Sermon for the 20th Sunday after Pentecost, October 11, 2009 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me. ”Where were you when I laid the foundation [...]
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“When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul” (1 Samuel 18:1). In my sermon today I suggested that there is between a father and his children, a bonding of soul similar to the bonding of soul between [...]
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Snippets from part one of a three sermon series I’m offering at Church of the Holy Comforter in Vienna, Virginia. David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, published a book in 2008 called “unChristian.” And in the book he outlines the results of a survey of some 400 young adults ages 16-29 “outside” of the [...]
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