Category: Sermons

Luke 10:25-37   Hands On….                3.19.17

In one of our worship services at the NEXT conference in Kansas City, we stood and held hands around the tables we had been sitting at and sang the familiar civil rights protest song, We Shall Overcome.  I was singing and swaying, as you do when you sing We Shall Overcome.  And I was watching the two men across the table from us.  One had a prosthetic arm with a mechanical hand.  The other man had two hands, and he held that mechanical hand as we sang and swayed together.  He was not afraid to touch a metal claw instead of a hand of flesh and bone.  I was wondering what I would have done if I were standing next to the one handed man.  I think I would have placed my hand on the man’s shoulder so he could feel the touch of my hand in companionship and solidarity as we sang those moving words which carry so much emotional weight.  I would not have liked holding a metal claw and singing We shall overcome.  As the tears started to sting in my eyes and the chill ran down my back, Continue reading “Hands On….” →

Luke 18: 31-19:10    We have wood floors in our house. When I have not swept the floors in awhile, I can clearly see the dust collection on the second floor as I am rising up the steps and the dust comes right at my eye level for a moment, particularly in the mid morning when the sun rays are pointing straight at the dust. I can only ignore it so long before I have to get out the broom. But there are plenty of times I go up those stairs and don’t see it at all— I might be in a hurry, I might be focused on something else, it might be cloudy or dark.
There are times when something is right in front of us but we still don’t see it. How many times have you looked for those keys or that wallet that you set down somewhere different? They are sitting right there but you don’t see them. Or looked for something in the grocery store and walked right by it several times before you notice it on the shelf?
Then there could be something that is obvious to others and not to you. Continue reading “O say, can you see?” →