Mindful Leader

Genesis 32: 22-30 -- Jacob Wrestles with God

I love this passage.  I really should preach four or five times on this come next summer.  But if Sara/Abraham are us, Jacob is really us.  A trickster who fools himself for a while but then his ways meet someone better at it than he is ... and God calls Jacob back to face his brother.  We all wrestle with God and I would hope and pray are marked by that struggle, but then I love this passage.  

Finally, Why Hilltop?

This wraps up the four part series on Why?  Hilltop has a vision of being a place where all can belong, believe and become.  This sermon is drawn from Galatians 3 ... 

Then, Why the Wesleyan Understanding of "Church"?

The two readings were from Genesis and Hebrews -- with an attempt to focus on the idea of Grace.  This was not a particularly scripturally based exposition of God's word.  A little history and a lot of Wesleyan Theology.  

Second, why the church?

 Sermon is a conversation among the elements of last week (First, Why God?), Hosea 2: 16-20 with an emphasis on the last two of those verses, and Hebrews 10: 19-25 with a little other scripture thrown in for good measure.  

March 8, 2015 -- Lent III

This sermon is drawn from Mark 9: 30-37.  Fear and humility seemed to me to be the two dominant themes in this text.  

January 18, 2015 -- "What would Jesus say about race relations ..."

The sermon here is more drawn from the idea of "listen for the pain" than the Acts 10: 34-43 that was read, but Peter and his carrying the Jesus story to the Gentiles does in part lead to the idea of "pain."  

The idea for this came from comments made to me from feedback in December when I lifted up some concerns over events in Ferguson, MO; Saratoga Springs, UT; West Valley, UT; Staten Island, NY, and Cleveland, NY.  The focus here was to suggest that listening to the pain being expressed was important.  

December 14, 2014

Sermon is from 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-24 and really more on the rejoice, pray and be thankful theme.  

October 5, 2014

This is a sermon from Matthew 21: 23-32 -- this passage has two parts -- the Temple Authorities asking Jesus who the Hell is thinks he is and his answer is "Think about it." I pray we offer some thoughts to think about ...

September 21, 2014

This sermon is from Matthew 20: 1-16 -- sometimes called "The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard." In reality, it is "The Parable of the Extravagantly Generous Landowner." Part of the subtext in this is the baptism of Ginny Trawick, a doubly special child: Down and (on the way) Cancer Survivor. Ginny and her family have shown special resilience and strength. Yes to God's Possible might have been the title, if I used titles.

May 4, 2014 -- "Six Important Words"

The sermon is from Colossians 3: 13 -- "Forgive as Christ Jesus forgave you."