TagPrayer

Patient & Persistent Prayer

OK, let’s just be honest here … everyone knows this person we’re talking about in today’s parable.  No … I’m not talking about the judge.  You all are perfect citizens … you don’t ever have to stand before a judge …. For a speeding ticket … or for double parking … or for tailgating … …

Pentecost 19 Preview

“Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.” -Luke 18:1 The Gospel text for this week focuses on the powerful nature of prayer. Prayer is not a passive activity, but one that actively seeks God and pursues God’s will. The widow featured in Jesus’ parable is…

A Solitary Life … or Not

We live in a world that thrives on individuality.   “One of a kind” is preferred over “one of the herd.”  Being “unique” is a higher calling than being “uniform.”  “Standing out” is far better than “blending in.”  I get it.  Being unique makes us feel special, it invites others to notice us.  It helps us…

Pentecost 7 Preview

So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”  (Luke 11:9-10)  Persistence in prayer evoked the admiration of Jesus…

One Love

Traditional Sermon Easter 7 “One love, one heart. Let’s get together and feel all right” Bob Marley friends. Bob Marley. Didn’t think I would ever be singing a reggae tune in worship, but God works in mysterious ways! Bob Marley’s song about unity was written in the midst of great turmoil in his homeland of…

Faith Rituals in a Secular World

Everyone is decked out in their uniforms for their morning responsibilities.  They gather in a circle and create a bit of sanctuary amid the chaos that surrounds them … laughter, movement, local urchins running around, and beverages being consumed.  Their leader offers up ritual words for the task before them, invoking God’s blessing on their…

Disciplined Prayer

The needed change within us is God’s work, not ours.  The demand is for an inside job, and only God can work from the inside.  We cannot attain or earn this righteousness of the kingdom of God: it is a grace that is given…. In this regard it would be proper to speak of “the…

Spiritual Road Kill … Rescued

There is a great difference between the skill and the grace of prayer.  The skill is but the outside, the shape, the carcass of our responsibility.  The grace is the soul and spirit that gives it life, vigor and efficacy, that renders it acceptable to God and of real advantage to ourselves.  The skill consists…