Waxing Theological

4-26-15 (Easter 4B) 1 John 3:16-24; John 10:11-18 Loving In Truth And Action     You see things from time to time that go a long way to “restore your faith in humanity,” as some people like to say.  Occasionally, you see them on the news as the anchors give a rare report of some kind of “good news” or “unbelievable occurrence,” but these kind of stories are more often than not relegated to television features or websites that dedicate themselves to seeking these kinds of things out.  We’re likely all familiar with at least one or two stories of incredible heroism that perform this function - the soldier who runs back headlong into enemy gunfire to rescue the civilian child or to ensure that none of his brothers in arms are left behind.  As I was working on my sermon this week, I found this particular video of a young boy in Ohio who has Cerebral Palsy, but who decided to run a 400 meter race with his classmates:     Sometimes you ha...

4-19-15 (Easter 3B) 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 4:36b-48 What Is Revealed     There’s something incredibly compelling about “surprise reveals” in our culture.  We thrive on surprises, on the unexpected, on the kinds of things that make us gasp, look at our neighbors, and say “I can’t believe they just did that!”  We build entire experiences around those moments of revelation through shows like “Extreme Home Makeover” and “Undercover Boss” and we wait on pins and needles for the moment when the sheet is pulled away, the boss removes their disguise, or Oprah stands in front of her audience to tell them they’ve all won new cars.  Shows like “Antiques Roadshow” and “Pawn Stars” captivate our attention as we watch people bring in their treasures to find out how much they’re worth - whether it’s the Babe Ruth card that ends up being a fake or the five dollar garage-sale painting that ends up being a genuine priceless Picasso, we anxiously wait to hear the results....

4-12-15 (Easter 2B) Acts 4:32-35; John 20:19-31 Transformed From Doubt     The lectionary does something very interesting during the first Sunday after Easter as we start into the season collectively known as “Eastertide.”  In all three years of the lectionary cycle, this specific Sunday after Easter uses this text from John’s Gospel.  On Easter Sunday itself, we typically hear John’s account of the resurrection, and then the Sunday after Easter, we are guaranteed to hear the Gospel reading that we so commonly know and refer to as “the story of Doubting Thomas.”     When I saw this text come up again this year, my first instinct was actually to put my focus on the text from Acts, instead.  I thought to myself, “We just did this last year - what could I possibly add or change from last year’s sermon that wouldn’t feel like I’m just re-using a sermon year after year?”  But then I started to look at the John text again… and as I wrestle...

Over the last couple weeks now, I've been finding myself engaged in some good, old-fashioned apologetics and discussion.  You see... the Presbyterian Church has been making some news.  And some history. Oddly enough, I haven't really had a lot of the conversations I'd been expecting to have in the community - I consider myself fortunate, especially as other sister churches in our denomination are already seeing repercussions of the PC(USA)'s decision to redefine marriage as being between "two people, traditionally a man and a woman."  I haven't (knock on wood) received threats to the church .  I haven't had people storming my office demanding explanations or wondering when the first gay marriage ceremony was scheduled to happen.  Our local paper hasn't contacted me at all about the decision - which is interesting, given that the editor is a more conservative man who tends to cover some of these kinds of things in his editorials.  But I also haven...

Remember when I said that thing early in my blog about consistency? Yeah... about that. Seeing as I have had nothing posted here since September , I'm obviously more than a "bit behind" on updating this blog. However, I'm hoping to fix that - it'll mean a LOT of posting, so I'll try to space it out somewhat to keep it from being overwhelming. Sorry for the lapse - hopefully I can get back into the routine again! -Joel

9-21-14 (Proper 20, Ordinary 25 A Semi-Continuous) Exodus 16:2-15; Matthew 20:1-16                                                                     Unfair Wages     “It just isn’t fair!”     Fill in the blank after that point - older brother gets to stay up later than his younger siblings, the classmate whose parents bought him or her a car when they turned 16, but your own parents are making you borrow the station wagon when you want to go out with your friends, the co-worker who gets “employee of the month” because they kissed up to the boss while you did the extra work and they slacked off.     We’ve all f...

9-14-14 (Proper 19, Ordinary 24A Semi-Continuous) Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35                                                          Don’t Forget You’re Forgiven     Every month, our mailbox at home fills up with a handful of envelopes that I wish would just stop coming to us.  These envelopes are important - they’re not just junk mail that I can rip up and throw away, no matter how much I may want to.  Instead, they’re all emblazoned with this terrible, horrible, four letter word that we all probably know and tremble when we hear: BILL.  It’s that time again - there’s the phone bill, the car bill, the student loan bills, the insurance bills, the credit card whose balance nev...