Tag Archives: Jesus Christ

“You Will Be My Witnesses!” A Sermon on Acts 1:1-14

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Ascension_from_Vasilyevskiy_chin_(15th_c.,_GTG)

Our reading today is from the first chapter of the “Acts of the Apostles.”  Acts is the second book of Luke’s two-part work. Luke’s Gospel tells the story of Jesus’s earthly ministry, and Acts tells the story of the ministry of the church after Jesus ascends to the Father. Acts begins as Luke’s Gospel ends, with the commissioning of the disciples by Jesus and Jesus’ ascension. Both books are in the form of a letter and the addressee is a man named Theophilus, which can mean “lover of God” or “beloved of God” which means this letter can be read as addressed to us. Continue reading →

“The Healing Touch” A Sermon on Mark 1: 40-45

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Christ_cleans_leper_man

“A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, “If you choose, you can make me clean.”  Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I do choose. Be made clean!”  Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”  But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.”  —Mark 1: 40-45 Continue reading →

Karl Barth and Thomas Merton died on this day in 1968

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Karl BarthMerton.jpeg

Thomas Merton and Karl Barth died on this day in 1968, Barth in Basel at the age of 82, and Merton in Bangok, Thailand at the age of 53. They couldn’t have been more different, but they both were powerful influences on me. Back on this day in 2009 I wrote a post called “An Appreciation: Thomas Merton and Karl Barth.” To read it go here. Continue reading →

“Finish, then, Thy new creation!” A Devotion on Romans 8: 22-23

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Creation

By Richard L. Floyd

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” – Romans 8: 22-23

The Advent hope recognizes that there is something unfinished about God’s creation. In today’s passage from Romans Paul employs the metaphor of childbirth, the “whole creation groaning in labor pains,” to describe the ongoing process of creation. Continue reading →

“Thy Kingdom Come!” A Sermon for Christ the King (Reign of Christ) Sunday

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Christ the King

In every congregation I have known, including this one, we pray each week the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. And in that prayer is the petition that “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Today, I would like to explore with you what that prayer might mean. What does it mean to pray for the kingdom to come? What is the kingdom of God? And, on this Sunday when the church celebrates Christ the King, what does it mean to say that Christ is king? And what kind of King might he be? Continue reading →

“Hearing the Word of God from Unexpected Voices”

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Burningbush

Will you pray with me:

Gracious God, through the written word, and through the spoken word, may we behold the Living Word, even your Son our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen

I was just twenty-six years old when I graduated from seminary and became the pastor of the Congregational Churches of West Newfield and Limerick, Maine. If you’ve never heard of them, it is because they are really small towns. West Newfield had about 400 residents and Limerick, the big town, had about twice that. The two congregations shared nothing but me. I had two boards of deacons, two trustees, two women’s groups and two youth groups. The two nearest hospitals were 20 and 45 miles away. I put a lot of miles on my car, and I learned a lot about ministry that I hadn’t learned in seminary. Continue reading →

“All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir” by Beth Moore

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Beth Moore

Beth Moore and I are both Christians, but we are not from the same tribe. Much like Shiites and Sunnis arguing over the true Islam, Moore and I have our differences. She has lived her life in Southern White American Evangelicalism and I’ve lived mine in the rocky vineyard of New England Congregationalism. Continue reading →

“He Came to Earth that Winter Night” A Christmas Hymn

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Lyric

Christmas hymn

(I wrote this hymn in 2009. You are free to use it in public worship with attribution. To see other hymn of mine go here. The picture is from a concert I sang in with Berkshire Lyric Chorus on Friday, December 9, 2022 at St Mark’s Roman Catholic Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. I’m second from right in the top row. For a YouTube video of the concert go here.)

Reflections on the Legacy of the Westminster Confession of Faith

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(I delivered this paper on October 20, 2022 for a Webinar: Westminster Confession at 375: Historical Reflections and Contemporary Relevance. In commemoration of this important anniversary, the Congregational Library & Archives, Boston, and Dr Williams’s Library, London, brought scholars and theologians together to talk about the significance of the Westminster Confession: past, present, and future.) Continue reading →

 “Building Bigger Barns” A Sermon on Luke 12:13-21

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“Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” —Luke 12:13-21 NRSV Continue reading →