Brian's Sermons

I was fourteen years old in March of 1986, and I found myself in line with thousands of my closest friends, all waiting for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to receive the autograph of the one-and-only Jim McMahon, the quarterback of the Monsters of the Midway, the Super Bowl-winning Chicago Bears. After I shelled out entirely too much money for a poster, my brother and I waited patiently in line until I was finally face-to-face with the Super-Bowl-winning quarterback himself. I had watched many of the Chicago Bears’ games that year, most notably the Super Bowl. I knew all about McMahon’s penchant for wearing non-sanctioned headbands, his injuries, even his acupuncture. So how do you expect he greeted me when I walked up the steps to the table where he sat autographing pictures? After all, I knew all about him. If you’re wondering, he didn’t greet me at all. He didn’t even look at me. He just scrawled his name on my poster. I could tell you that I met Jim McMahon that day, ...

This summer after the storms, a guy went down to the hardware store early one morning and asked for a saw. The salesman took a chain saw from the shelf and commented that it was their “newest model, with the latest in technology, guaranteed to cut ten cords of firewood a day.” The customer thought that sounded pretty good, so he bought it on the spot.          The next day the customer returned, looking somewhat exhausted. “Something must be wrong with this saw,” he moaned. “I worked as hard as I could and only barely managed to cut up one of the trees from my lawn. I could have done it easier with my old-fashioned saw.” Looking confused, the salesman said, “Here, let me try it out back on some wood we keep there.”         They went to the woodpile, the salesman pulled the cord, and as the motor went vvvrooommmm. The customer leaped back and exclaimed, “What’s that noise??” In my experience, the Chri...

Last week we began looking at Acts 1:8, where Jesus tells his disciples, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” We spent our whole time last week on the concept of power, a concept that is sadly lacking in most of our American churches these days, where we are more known for our potlucks than our power. I just want to reiterate that this power is not our own power; it’s not that we are already good at something and then we just happen to use that skill in the church. This is Holy Spirit power, the power through which we know that in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:37) Do you feel like more than a conqueror? If you are in Christ, that is who you are. That is how God defines you. God, who created the earth in a word, calls us more than conquerors, so this is who you are. Turn to someone next to you and t...

Acts 1:8 When I was a kid, I had a paper route. I walked the route – it was about  1 ½  miles all told – a lot of time to daydream. One of my daydreams was about having super powers. I came to the conclusion on those walks that I would want the super power of teleportation. That would have cut at least nine blocks off my route. Plus, I figured that I would probably use most super powers for evil or at least for mischief if pressured. Have you ever wished for a super power? What power did you wish for? Today’s scripture is in the beginning of Acts – which is the second installment of Luke’s orderly account of the Truth concerning Jesus’ life. Luke and Acts are each about the same length, which is not-coincidentally the same length as a scroll was. At the end of scroll 1, which we know as Luke, Jesus told his disciples to stay in the city until they were clothed in power from on high. (Luke 24:49). Luke recaps the end of the first scroll with further details, as the ...

As many of you know, I am an avid long-distance runner. I have been a runner for most of my life – I joined the track and cross-country teams in 6 th grade and ran through high school. When I was in seminary, I picked up running again and have put many miles on many pairs of shoes. About five days a week in seminary, my friend Nate and I would run a 3 mile loop with my dog. I started running 5K races, but I never got any faster and I never ran any farther. Fast-forward a few years – my friend Rob, who is a United Methodist pastor up near Columbus, went and ran a marathon. I figured, if Rob can run one, I sure can. One thing I learned quickly about running a marathon was that you have to have a plan. This is true for most people training to run any distance, but it is vital for anyone wanting to run a marathon. I can pretty much go out and run any shorter race without much additional training, up to a half marathon, but not so with a marathon. To run a marathon, you’ve got to h...