Muckraking is not gospel work. Witch-hunting is not gospel work. Shaming the outcast is not gospel work. Forgiving sin is gospel work.

— U.S. pastor, scholar, author, and poet (1932—)

Texts: John 1:1–18

Principle: Instead of being judgmental, God invites us to communicate truth the way he does—by incarnational living.

Objects: Half a dozen Nerf-like balls—all very soft—with "Truth" written on them in large, block letters, and a paper bag big enough to hold all the balls

Experience: Take the paper bag, filled with the balls, to the pulpit with you.

While preaching ...

The difference between Jesus' holiness ethic and that of the Pharisees is this: the Pharisees refuse to touch any unclean thing. Jesus aims to make the unclean holy.

When I was a kid in the mid-50s, Parker Brothers came out with a game for church families like ours. It was called "Going to Jerusalem." Your playing piece wasn't a top hat or Scottie dog, like in the "worldly" game of Monopoly. In "Going to Jerusalem," you got to be a real disciple. You were represented by a little plastic man with a robe, a beard, some sandals, and a staff.

In order to move across ...

Mel Gibson's film, The Passion of the Christ, tells the story of the last 12 hours of Jesus' life. In one scene Gibson uses a poignant flashback to paint an incredible picture of forgiveness and grace. The scene has no words, but uses intense, slow motion footage and haunting music to capture the deep emotion of Jesus' encounter with the Pharisees and Mary in John 8.

The scene begins in the courtyard ...

When our children were young, my husband and I decided we wouldn't watch R-rated movies. We wouldn't allow our children to watch them, so we decided that to watch them ourselves would be confusing to them. We made this decision in good conscience and never regretted it. I found, however, that it made me feel judgmental toward other parents who watched R-rated movies. I began to feel they weren't fully ...

Frederica Mathewes-Green says this about repentance:

The first time Jesus appears, in the first Gospel, the first instruction he gives is "Repent."

From then on, it's his most consistent message. In all times and every situation, his advice is to repent. Not just the scribes and Pharisees, not just the powerful—he tells even the poor and oppressed that repentance is the key to eternal life.

There's a wonderful story by Isak Dinesen called Babette's Feast, about a strict, dour, fundamentalist community in Denmark. Babette works as a cook for two elderly sisters who have no idea that she once was a chef to nobility back in her native France. Babette's dream is to return to her beloved home city of Paris, so every year she buys a lottery ticket in hopes of winning enough money to return. ...

The movie How The Grinch Stole Christmas is based on the classic holiday poem by Dr. Suess. The Grinch (Jim Carrey) is a cantankerous, self-centered beast who looks down on the town of Whoville from his home on a mountain of garbage. What he sees disgusts him. The people of Whoville (called Whos) love Christmas and all its trappings so much that their lives revolve around celebrating it. The Grinch, ...

On Saturday, June 22, 2002, the scheduled game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field was cancelled because of an eerie discovery. The Card's ace pitcher was found dead in a Chicago hotel room. Thirty-three-year-old Darryl Kile, who wore number 57, had been a major league pitching sensation for 12 years and had appeared in three All-Star games.

At a recent team physical, ...