Brian's Sermons

Psalm 96 There is something about music that captures us. I have been in nursing homes where there are residents who hardly recognize their own family members, yet they can sing every word of their old favorite hymns. Nothing melts my heart like hearing my own son singing “How Great Thou Art” – isn’t there something precious about a child singing? When we sing the old songs of the faith, many of our hearts are moved; we remember the context in which we learned the song or a particular time that song was sung. One Sunday, a family was in tears leaving church, and I was mystified. There hadn’t been anything really emotional about the service, not that I could tell, anyway. But at the back door they told me that this particular day was the anniversary of burying their son, and that the song we’d just finished singing was one that had been sung at his funeral. The song brought back all of the memories of that day and all of the emotion immediately welled back to the surface. Not all ...

Luke 1:46-55 In college, I had a great friend who always asked great questions. One of the best questions he would ask came out of mundane, even trivial answers.   An example would be a greeting: he’d start with “how’s your day going?”   I’d give the obligatory, “good,” and he’d ask, “What’s good about it?”   Not in a dismissive way, but in a “I really want to know” way.   Then I’d get the chance to tell him what was good about my day. This is exactly what we find in Mary’s song.   Two weeks ago, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, telling her that God had a special mission for her.   Last week, Mary hurried to the home of her relative, Elizabeth, who didn’t need any explanation, but immediately, inspired by the Holy Spirit, knew that Mary was blessed among women for her obedience.   And this week we finally get a full response to what’s going on. She starts with a word of praise, but like the situation with my friend, she doesn’t stop there. ...

Today is the Day to Choose… Joshua 24:1-24 It was the Fall of 1985; I was 14 years old, it was halftime of the last soccer game of the season, and we were tied.  I can remember the scene vividly, how our coach gave us a rousing pep talk. I can still remember the words he said to us, but they’re not really appropriate for a Sunday morning talk!  We went on to preserve the tie, the only game that season that we didn’t lose.  The halftime speech did what it was intended to do. What makes a good halftime pep talk?  A reminder of who the team is – their history, maybe even their past failures as well as their successes.  A reminder of what has brought them there; what hardships they’ve overcome to get there and what has defined them as a team.  Do you think the New Orleans Saints mentioned Hurricane Katrina before or during the Super Bowl? During times of transition or difficulty, it is always important to be reminded of what’s most important and of who you ...