Events Serve Announcements Give Jesus Wept The Bible's shortest verse is found in John's gospel, John 11:35. It reads, "Jesus wept.” The context of this brief verse is the death of Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha and Jesus’ friend. According to John, Lazarus became deathly ill, and instead of making a beeline to Bethany to heal him, Jesus remained two days longer in the place … [Read more...]

Events Serve Announcements Give God on our Terms? Emptiness! God on God’s Terms? Salvation! The first two of the Ten Commandments address issues of idolatry; the first commandment prohibits the worship of false gods, while the second prohibits misrepresenting the true God. Let me elaborate  on the second commandment. The text states: … [Read more...]

Events Serve Announcements Give Discerning the Mind of Christ with Head and Heart I recently listened to a convocation address given by the president of my undergraduate alma mater. One line of his speech jolted me: “The Bible is actually very clear that we come to know the will of God through our minds and not our emotions.” In other words, the head has supplanted the heart in … [Read more...]

Events Serve Announcements Give SURE AND BEGORRA! St. Patrick’s Day approaches. I just learned that “begorra” means, in Irish, “by God,” so the expression “Sure and begorra” is the exclamation, “Yes, by God!” Leprechauns bring to mind folktales of luck. In karate, from an Okinawan/Japanese influence, I was taught that it was insulting to say “good luck” to someone before a tournament or … [Read more...]

Events Serve Announcements Give Faithful Role Models Rev. Dr. Frank Thomas’s They Like to Never Quit Praisin’ God: The Role of Celebration in Preaching argues that earlier generations of Black preachers learned the craft of preaching through careful observation of role models, as seminary training accessible to whites was often out of reach for Black individuals. Role models can be … [Read more...]