Recent Sermon: A Challenge

The sermon that follows is a challenge to make lemonade from lemons. The goodness of God is our constant source of life and love, and how wonderful it is to be surrounded by that goodness, especially when things aren't going so well.

This sermon is pretty self-explanatory, except for a few things. Our Children's Ministry Director, Nikki O'Neil had our Sunday School kids play kazoos for us that morning. Watching 30 kids play kazoos in worship is about as good as it gets. I wish we had that on video.

The City of Blair was destroyed by hail in June 2014, about 4 months before I got there. Estimated property damage was over a billion dollars. That's a lot for a town on 7990. A year later people are just now getting repairs done. (Our congregation's roof is being replaced as I type.)

You see a lot of my Lutheran liturgical tradition here. I'm in a cleric, which I wear a lot here at this place, but many of you have worshiped with me for years, and never seen me in a cleric. They are "adiophora" (not essential) in terms of our salvation, and I take that seriously in this case. We chant Psalms in worship, in this case Psalm 23. My sermons always try to be about the promissory and trustworthy nature of God, in spite of our struggles and lack of available evidence sometimes that God is either one of those.

For those wondering, I do preach extemporaneously. The only note I had in front of me was the words to Psalm 23. It is a style I have come to trust over the years, although it is not the only style of preaching I do. It is my preferred style however.

 How do you trust in God's goodness? Where is the pasture the goodness of God calling you to these days?

May your tables be full and your conversations be true.