Follow this link to view this Sunday's Sermon:

"Rainbows & Silver Linings"

Genesis 9:8-17

Seaside United Methodist Church

Sunset Beach, NC

February 22, 2015

"So This Is Christmas"

Click below to view "So This Is Christmas," my sermon preached on December 28, 2014 at Seaside United Methodist Church, Sunset Beach, NC.

"So This Is Christmas"

Pursue the Way of the Lord

Here is the YouTube link for my sermon preached on December 7, 2014 at Seaside United Methodist Church, Sunset Beach, NC.

"Pursue The Way Of The Lord"

Sermon MP3's

In an effort to post the audio of my latest sermons in one place I am offering them as links through this blog post. As I am given the opportunity to preach in the future I will continue to post them to the blog. For now, here are the last four that I preached during my time at First Baptist Church of Wilmington, NC.

"Happily Ever After" -- Matthew 13:24-30

"Silent Prayer" -- Psalm 62:1-8

"A Community That Responds" -- Acts 8:26-30

"Seeking Hospitality" -- Luke 9:1-10

Do Something

From time to time, each of us is called to take a risk. Perhaps it is what some would label a divine calling. Perhaps not. But we all know what it means to feel the urge to shake up our lives, yet be faced with the practical realities that prevent us from such movement.

Yet, the dare, the longing for adventure still resides in us. Some of us are pragmatic in nature, others frivolous. Some of us live lives of calculation, others of random spontaneity. But we all experience moments of un-settledness, moments where we feel as though we must make a change or risk losing our very identities. Why is that?

I believe this yearning for the risk comes from the "imago dei," the image of God that has been stamped upon us. God is the ultimate risk-taker! (Seriously, what bigger risk than to create me??!!) God is the One who is constantly willing to risk his own love for the sake of receiving ours. Like the Father of the Prodigal Son, who is willing to wear the filth of the pigs as he embraces the child whom he loves, God risks his own holiness as he embraces our filth for the sake of restoring us into God's household. God risks. God asks us to risk.

So, what do we do with these urges? Well, most of us dismiss them as impractical, perhaps childish fantasies, and move on with the rest of our lives, hoping to go relatively unnoticed in what we do and say. And, to be honest, most of the time our sense of impulsive adventure probably should be dismissed as nothing more than temporary escapist thought.

But perhaps, just maybe, we should be willing to set out on a new adventure, understanding that the risky undertaking has very little concern with outcome, but is instead greatly interested in the experience. Perhaps it is better to deal with making a mistake than with wondering if life was ever actually lived. Perhaps it is better to regret doing something, than to regret not doing something.

Perhaps.....

2012 Alive

It's January 13th. How many people have already broken their New Year's resolutions for 2012? Well, in all honestly, I have not. Now, before anyone rushes to call me a bastion of discipline, let me come clean. I have not broken my resolution because I chose not to make one this year.

Sure, I have goals for 2012. I have hopes for 2012. But, more than anything, I simply want to live and experience 2012. Resolutions tend to take us from the present, and force us to either dwell on past failures, or live for future success. I argue that the greatest resolution each of us can make is to be present in the present.

How easy it is to worry about tomorrow! How easy it is to wonder what the outcome of certain situations may be!

How difficult it can be to experience the moment for what it is.....how difficult it can be to recognize that all we have is this breath...and this one.....and this one.....

I have challenged myself to live 2012. To take every moment as the entity of its own that it indeed is.

Thirteen days into the year....I have lived thirteen days. I have not tried to live the next thirteen days, months or years. I have lived thirteen days.

It will be a struggle, and perhaps my greatest temptation will be to allow my mind to wander to the future, or dwell on the past. But I believe God is calling me, and you, to live lives in the present, for it is only in the present that we can recognize God's Presence. We will not find God by looking back, we will not find God by looking forward. We will find God by looking around, and expecting to see God breathing and moving right now, with us, in this breath....and this one....and this one....

Unpacking

Last night I had the experience of doing something I had never done before. I had to unpack my suitcase from a trip I never took. Let me explain....

Last Friday my grandmother passed away. I packed up my suitcase, my car, and even my cat Spencer's carrier, prepared to make the trek to Ohio. But, Saturday evening I came down with a pretty awful case of the flu. After very little sleep and muscles that ached, I soon realized that a trip to Ohio was not in the cards. So, after getting over the illness, I finally had the energy, and time, to unpack my suitcase last night.

I must admit, it was an odd experience. Normally when you unpack from a trip, the items you remove have some sort of new memory attached to them. Maybe you look at the sweater you were wearing when you went to dinner with the family. Maybe your mom snuck some goodies into your bag and as you pull them out you are reminded of her kindness. Or, maybe you simply unpack the dirty laundry and are jolted back to life in the real world. No matter the item, it is undeniable that our suitcases are packed with memories when we return from trips.

But a trip I never took...that was a different story. Because, you see, as I unpacked my suitcase, I was struck with the realization that this is what worry oftentimes looks like. Worry can be compared to us "packing our things" for a trip that will never happen. Worry causes us to pack our lives full of fear, of anxiety, of all of the "What If's" that life has to offer. But, by God's goodness, so often we never have to take those things down the road. We find ourselves "unpacking" the worry, because it never had to be realized. We never had to go to the dark place towards which we expected to travel. 

So what does any of this mean? Well, I have a new plan for tackling worry. Every time I sense myself beginning to worry, about the future, about the economy, about health, about my career, about anything, I am going to picture that suitcase...the one that sits in the corner, full of worry, yet never has to leave the house. And, my hope is that as I grow in the realization that God, not my worry, is in control, I will be able to stop packing that suitcase, and simply start enjoying the journey.