My Name Is Nicodemus

Introduction (Framing the sermon)

This morning I will be doing something different in the sermon. I will retell the gospel story from John 3 through the ...

Born Again?

Introduction

One of the most familiar stories of Jesus, found at the opening of John 3, begins this way: "Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus ...

The Birthing of a New Humanity

Introduction

I am captivated by the conversation between Jesus and a rabbi named Nicodemus. It is located in John, chapter 3. In this text, we find one ...

Deep Hope

The person I want to be

We never stop longing to be better people, do we? There's always some aspect of our behavior or personality that we wish we could ...

The Colorful Creator

Introduction

I grew up in a family that never had a color television set. All the ballgames and TV shows—including the "Colorful World of Disney"—were ...

Life on Wings

Introduction

The biblical image of the kind of life Christians are called to live is, "The way of an eagle in the air." I have lots of experience with ...

Christ's Birth and Your Birth

Introduction

On the wall in my church study, I have a precious photograph that was taken in a hospital room a couple of years ago. It's a picture of a ...

What the World Needs Now

Introduction

In his book Telling the Truth, author Frederick Buechner describes a scene that could be unfolding on any given Sunday in any given church, ...

The Gospel According to Jesus

Introduction:

Have you ever found yourself completely confused by the multitude of religious ideologies being sold in the marketplace? I'm not just ...

The Great Reversal

Introduction

I don't know about you, but I have always been amused by oxymorons. For those of you who have never heard that term, an oxymoron is a combination ...

What About Sudden Conversion?

I am very intrigued by the new invention that is now being foisted upon some parts of the American people, whereby on closed-circuit television they ...