Author: John Collins

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The Commands of Jesus Create Miracles

Every week when I prepare for a sermon, I come across some gem that I don’t have room for in the sermon. Here’s the one from this week.

The commands of Jesus, taken seriously, create miracles; they open an incredible reservoir of divine resources. Apart from such commands, not much unusual is going to happen. [1]

Every time I have dared to ignore the world’s scorn and follow Jesus’s commands, I have been awed by the unusual results.

[1] Walter Brueggemann et al., Texts for Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary, Based on the NRSV—Year A (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), 441.

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Blessing of the Backpacks – Update

In response to my previous post about the blessing of the backpacks for children and youth this coming Sunday (August 13, 2017), I received the following via email:

It would be cool to have school personnel bring their work bag or something they use at work and bless them as well.  They need our prayers, too.

I think that’s a great idea! I would like to encourage school personnel to bring their work bags to worship, but even if you don’t we’ll be praying for you.

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Blessed are the Peacemakers

I’ve been trying to keep up with the news of the escalating tensions between North Korea and the United States, but I don’t have much insight to offer or advice to give. I am reminded of all times I have watched controversies escalate to an extreme that neither side wanted in local churches I served. In those instances, both sides spoke and acted rashly and hastily. I pray that won’t happen here, the stakes are just too high.

Still, God is at work in the world and hope is not lost. All that most of us can do concerning this particular crisis is to pray, but that is enough. I am praying, and I invite you to join me. Jesus said, “blessed are the peacemakers.” May we pray (and thus work) for peace (not only with and in North Korea, but for God’s all encompassing peace in the larger world) and may we pray and work for that same peace in the little corner of it that we inhabit and exert influence over.

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Blessing of the Backpacks 2017

Next Sunday Morning, August 13, 2015, we’ll have the blessing the backpacks. All children are invited to bring their backpacks up to the chancel with them during the children’s time. The backpacks, and more importantly the children they belong to, will be blessed for the new year of school.

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The Next Breakfast Club

Our next Breakfast Club gathering is planned for Saturday, August 26, 2017, at the Hitching Post Restaurant. We’re going in a somewhat different direction with a book, The Lord and His Prayer, by N. T. Wright. Paperback and Audio CD copies will be available in the Narthex (lobby) for a suggested donation of $10.00. It’s also available online in various electronic formats. If you’re new to the Breakfast Club, the basic idea is this, we read a book at home and then gather at the Hitching Post to discuss the book. You’re welcome and encouraged to come even if you don’t finish the entire book.

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C. S. Lewis on Prudence

Prudence means practical common sense, taking the trouble to think out what you are doing and what is likely to come of it. — C. S. Lewis [1]

Prudence is important, though often overlooked because it usually goes unnoticed until it is absent. Prudence is one of the four “the Cardinal Virtues” (the others are courage, temperance, and justice). These virtues were recognized by both the ancient philosophers and the (slightly less ancient) early church theologians who added the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love.

[1] C. S. Lewis, “The Cardinal Virtues,” in Mere Christianity (1952).

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Blunter Than I Am

Lillian Daniel is often blunter than I am. That means that she’s often saying what I’m thinking. Below is one such example. I’m just going to let it stand on its own.

Someone was complaining to me about why she had stopped going to her church, saying, “You know, when I was sitting there in worship I just didn’t get much out of it.”

To which I replied, “Well, it wasn’t directed toward you.” [1]

[1] Lillian Daniel, When “Spiritual but Not Religious” Is Not Enough: Seeing God in Surprising Places, Even the Church (Grand Central Pub, 2013), 173.

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It’s Fair Sunday

All week long I’ve been trying to think of ways to observe fair Sunday today (July 30, 2017). And all week long, I’ve been forgetting that we normally just encourage people to wear their western wear to church. My apologies for the (very) late notice.

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The Lord and His Prayer

We had a lively, engaging discussion of Lillian Daniel’s When “Spiritual But Not Religious” Is Not Enough this morning at The Breakfast Club. Our next book will be N. T. Wright’s The Lord and His Prayer. We’ll have paperback and audio cd copies available in the narthex soon. It’s also available as an e-book and as an audible download. The next gathering of The Breakfast Club is scheduled for Saturday, August 26, 2017, at 8:30 a.m. at the Hitching Post Restaurant.

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Arrogance Posing as Humility

I’m re-reading When Spiritual But Not Religious is Not Enough: Seeing God in Surprising Places, Even the Church in preparation for the Breakfast Club this coming Saturday. In the chapter on prayer, Lillian Daniel talks about the need not only to pray for the high minded things that we would be happy share with other people but also to pray for the little things that are unique to us, the prayers that we suppress because we feel that they are unworthy.

That kind of thinking, that reluctance to ask God for what we really want, is arrogance posing as humility. It seems humble to not ask God for our own desires, and to put other larger matters first. But doing that seems to imply we have power in all this. As if by asking God to cure diabetes before asking for a raise, we might actually affect God’s priorities. Do we honestly think that if no one asked for anything trivial, and everyone got focused on world peace, God would finally see that we had reached some quota and say, “Right, now that four billion and one people have asked for it, I will make it happen. But don’t anybody ask for a cottage by a lake right now, or I’ll get distracted.” [1]

There is a fail-safe system built into prayer. Prayer is not the monkey’s paw. [2] God’s not going to do something that not in our best interest just because we were stupid enough to ask for it. Lillian continues:

Sorry, but I just don’t think our prayer requests have that kind of power. So why pray then? Prayer is about connecting with God, about having a relationship with our divine creator. God desires that with us, and because God loves us so much, God actually cares about our trivial wants, our big dreams, and our petty grievances. This is humbling news indeed. We can come to God with anything, and God will work with it. [3]

So ask away. Take whatever you have to God in prayer and let God work with it and on you.

[1] Lillian Daniel, When “Spiritual but Not Religious” Is Not Enough: Seeing God in Surprising Places, Even the Church (Grand Central Pub, 2013), 39-40.

[2] “The Monkey’s Paw,” Wikipedia, July 22, 2017, accessed July 27, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey%27s_Paw.

[3] Lillian Daniel, 40.

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Not by Might or Power

Today’s quote ties into this coming Sunday’s sermon:

” … now may be a good time to remind ourselves that ours is a kingdom that grows not by might or power but by the Spirit, whose presence is identified by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” — Rachel Held Evans [1]

[1] Rachel Held Evans as Quoted in Jonathan Merritt, “Q&A: Rachel Held Evans on the Ills of American Christianity, and Leaving Evangelicalism,” Religion News Service, March 10, 2015, accessed July 26, 2017, http://religionnews.com/2015/03/10/qa-rachel-held-evans-ills-american-christianity-leaving-evangelicalism/.

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Kansas Kudzu

I just polished off a big bowl of Malt-O Meal* and I’m settling into work on next Sunday’s sermon. I had great success crowdsourcing part of this morning’s sermon and I want to try it again. Here’s my question: is there a Kansas version of kudzu?

*A reference to this morning’s sermon.