Hebrews 10:23-25

This coming Sunday is the second in a series I have titled, “Parables from Pop Icons.”

The title of the sermon is “Fear This Factor.” Using an illustration from the old TV show, “Fear Factor,” I’ll be addressing the increasing demand for thrills and how it has led to the common complaint that we are constantly bored—unless something thrilling is happening.

Obviously, this has led to the complaint that “church is boring.” It’s a common but complex complaint. Not everything is intended to thrill us. Like a bow continually bent, without release from time to time so that the bow can rest, it will become permanently bent, thus losing all of its usefulness.

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

2 Peter 1:16-19

This coming Sunday, I am going to begin a new series entitled, “Parables From Pop Icons.”

The theme is centered around cultural “reality” and truth versus Biblical reality and truth.

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

James 1:19-25

On July 2nd the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, my sermon title will be Searching for Arthur in America. The scripture is James 1:19-25.

Also, since it is the first Sunday of the month, we will observance the sacrament of Holy Communion.

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday!

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

By the time you read this, I will have returned from New York City. Anne and I went up to see both granddaughters in dance recitals. In addition, the older granddaughter acted as a kind of master of ceremonies for other recitals on the same day.

While up there in NYC, Anne and I went to the Broadway play, “The Lion King.” It all started in 1997, according to the colorful booklet that is handed out to the people in attendance.

We were seated near the front, but from what I could see, the theater was packed–on a Wednesday night! For something to endure and still attract crowds after all of these years, they must be doing something right.

I am certainly no critic, but it seems to me that a part of the success has to do with the marvelously creative way in which they tell a simple story of honesty and integrity challenged by duplicity and evil.

I am always discouraged when a movie or play ends with a sad and morally dysfunctional plot and ending. The Lion King is not that. It both illustrates and celebrates what happens when goodness is tested by evil, and goodness prevails.

Nothing is new in my amateur critique: but the point is that people not only enjoy seeing evil defeated: they also affirm, rather conclusively, that goodness can and should emerge victorious.

The play reminds me, in some ways, of the situation in the Book of Job. Evil reduces Job’s life to ruin and ashes: but in the end, because of his steadfast faith, he is restored by God. That’s a story we all yearn to hear-and of which we all need to be reminded from time to time. God is good, all of the time.

Pastor Michael

Colossians 3:20-21.

Sunday, June 18, is Father’s Day. We will return to the series on the “Other Commandments” with the 10th “commandment.”

It will discuss traditional and Biblical views of Fatherhood, versus changes in our 21st Century culture.

I genuinely look forward to seeing all of you this coming Sunday.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

I don’t read newspapers very often. (I stopped taking the Tennessean long ago because it kept getting stolen. I had it delivered to Belle Meade UMC so I could read it everyday. I was especially interested in the Sunday edition. However, someone kept stealing the newspaper that was often delivered to the front steps of the sanctuary!

One Sunday, I caught the person picking it up, and I told him it was my personal copy. After that, I just canceled my subscription.) In addition, I rarely watch the evening news–and really for the main reason I quit reading the newspaper. However, since I get the New York Times, NBC news, and local news through News Break via email and text, I still get bad news. That’s the reason I quit being a news hound. But, that doesn’t stop the bad news. It seems that the stories just get worse and worse.

Shootings, abductions, robberies, car jackings, fraud, sexual abuse–and all of the ugly things that go on in the name of politics: it’s all disturbing. Then, add to that the problems that originate in the church! I get a daily email about problems that arise in the church, and it most often centers around clergy missteps. And, I’m not shy about controversial subjects; but I hesitate even to mention climate, or recent discoveries that indicate too much social media is leading to mental issues among young people.

The reason I mention all of these things is that we are bombarded by troubling issues every day. No wonder people are on edge and express their frustration through increasingly angry and hostile displays of behavior, both in the home as well as in public.

Many of us are wondering how to handle such a harsh and divisive culture. I want to share with you a verse of scripture that I have found helpful for over 50 years. It includes the opening verses of Psalm 46. It says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present (the Hebrew reads, ‘well proved’) help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.”

One could read this and think, “Well, I don’t have to do anything. God will take care of it all.” That’s not what the scripture means. Instead, the scripture says that while these things are going on, God will bring calm to us. I hasten to add, while we gain some sort of calm, I believe that God expects us to partner with Him and help to bring peace to a troubled world. I hope you will join me as we face the challenges and work for bringing Christ to all.

Pastor Michael

On June 4th my sermon title is What Does a Bachelor Know About Marriage?

The title refers to the Apostle Paul, who was not especially keen on marriage, but had advice for those who might choose it. (1 Corinthians 7)

Of the “Other Ten Commandments,” this might be the most difficult of all of Paul’s mandates concerning the Christian life.

Because of contemporary society’s rapidly changing mores and ethical attitudes, marriage in the 21st Century may be undergoing one of the most radical transformations facing us today. I certainly anticipate this “Other Commandment” as being one of the most challenging for me to write–and deliver.

I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

Colossians 3:17.

Colossae was a once-important town near the cities, Laodicea and Hieropolis, in Asia Minor. Today, that area is part of Turkey. Paul never visited Colossae. He reserved his efforts for the largest places, intending to preach to the greatest number of people.

In the time of Paul, Colossae was a town chiefly known as a textile town. (Although Colossae is still unexcavated, the general area is still known for its textiles.) A man named Epaphras, who had previously heard Paul preach (probably in Ephesus), returned to his home in Colossae and started a church. After there arose problems in the church, brought on by traveling Christian preachers and representatives of pagan religions so common in the area, Epaphras traveled to find Paul.

Once he did find Paul (already imprisoned in Rome), he related to him the problems. Paul then wrote the letter we now know as Colossians. In that letter there is a section containing about 10 separate instructions for Christian living that I call, “The Other 10 Commandments.”

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

Colossians 3:16b

This Sunday’s sermon is the 7th in the series, “The Other 10 Commandments,” a portion of scripture in the 3rd chapter of Colossians, 3:16b.

The scripture says, “and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God.”

The sermon is based on experiences in my life and a very dramatic experience in the late father of one of my friends when I was growing up.

I look forward to seeing you Sunday.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael

Proverbs 31:10-31

The message for this Sunday will be a sermon in honor of Mother’s Day. The title is “The Mother of All Methodists”.

For some, Mother’s Day is painful because of the death of one’s mother, or because of a really bad childhood. In the case of my mother, her birth mother died in the Flu Epidemic of 1918, 3 months after my mother was born. Her father eventually remarried; but his choice was unfortunate for my mother, and one of the lady’s own sons.

However, my mother always looked forward to Mother’s Day because she still had wonderful things to celebrate. I truly hope that this Mother’s Day will be a great day of celebration and remembrance.

Blessings,

Pastor Michael