Sermons on Spiritual Life (Page 32)
Praise God!
For five years starting when I was eleven, I went to an evangelical Bible class every Sunday afternoon. This gave me a wonderful grounding in the Scriptures, which I still draw upon today, but it also left me with some rather odd ideas. For instance, I was told that you could always tell a Christian because their mouth went up at the corners. This has caused me some problems because as you can plainly see, my mouth at rest turns…
Joyful, joyful
Last Sunday I went to hear Dolly Parton at the Santa Barbara Bowl. I was amazed and enthralled by her ability to hold thousands of people spell-bound as she talked about her family and her friends, sang old songs and new, and cracked jokes for hours… I want to be like her when I’m 70. What struck me most about Dolly was her joy. Her laugh seems to erupt irrepressibly out of her, as though she has a great store…
Being an Apostle
Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 “The Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him…” In Greek, the word for ‘he sent’ is apesteilon which has the same root as the English word apostle. When we talk about “the apostles” we are usually referring to the disciples after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, when they were sent by Jesus to preach the gospel. But in today’s gospel reading, we see that apostleship is not limited to twelve men; 70, or some…
Putting a hand to the plow
Galatians 5:1,13-25 Luke 9:51-62 On Friday I went to a class at the gym. One of the benefits of taking a class is that you get to spend an entire hour looking at yourself in a full-length mirror. Consequently, as I was driving into San Luis afterwards I wondered what exactly it is going to take for me to lose weight again. Clearly, I thought, I am going to have to re-examine what I’m eating because I don’t have…