Category: Sermons

1 Kings 3:5-15

This morning is our last Prayer Dare in our July sermon series.  As we will be worshiping outdoors next Sunday, we will not have a time to have a written report-in, but I challenge you to focus this week on praying for wisdom.  I don’t mean smarts, intelligence, knowledge.  I mean wisdom which is defined in the Old Testament as “a discerning mind which can tell good from evil.”  I think about people like Judge Barry Williams and State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby.  People entrusted with exercising wisdom after listening to the facts and interpreting the law.  Neither one of them can stop at simply knowing the law.  They have to make decisions on what is good, or right, or just.

I think about people like Trump and Clinton, running against one another for the highest elected office in our country.  To be a good president it is not enough to have experience, or money, or fame.  Continue reading “Prayer Dare: Praying for Wisdom” →

7.27.16    Preached at Massanetta Springs Bible Conference

I live in the city of Baltimore.  We are known for our beautiful inner harbor.  We are known for our crabs.   And now we are known for rioting.  I was in Baltimore last year when people’s frustrations and pain and anger just boiled over.  One day a young black man died after having been  handcuffed by the police.  It was like turning up the burner on the stove, and after his funeral, the pot just boiled over.  Some people with black skin had had enough of being treated like second class citizens, of living in poverty for generations, of the lack of sustainable jobs and recreational opportunities for youth in our city.  The anger and disappointment at not being listened to or really cared about by police or city leaders or the people who live in the wealthier sections of the city just boiled over and angry residents took it out on the local pharmacies and corner stores, breaking windows, setting fires, stealing.  Now the whole world can see that many people experience Baltimore as a place where hope seems to be locked up, inaccessible, out of reach.

But I don’t want you to think that is all there is to Baltimore.  Continue reading “Letter to Baltimore” →