On September 13, 2022, the Pew Research Center and the General Social Survey released some alarming statistics. In the early 1960s, approximately 90% of the U S population identified as Christian (this percentage included children). In 2020, only 64% identified as Christian. The number of people who identify as religiously… Continue reading
Read the Scriptures (This is the third sermon in a Lenten series on sin. In the first sermon, we looked at sin as it relates to the past through the images of original and demonic sin. In the second sermon, we saw how sin relates to the future through a… Continue reading
“Whom do YOU say that I am?” Jesus asked his disciples. And Simon answers, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” “The good confession” we Disciples call it. And then Jesus sternly ordered the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. Why? Why this… Continue reading
When I was a child, my notion of church never went beyond the gathered community that worshiped in the fortress like structure on Chesterfield St. in Aiken, S.C. In fact, my concept of church was inextricably tied to that dark and mysterious building. I belonged to that church. My friend Ernie… Continue reading
Few passages in Scripture trouble Western contemporary Christians more than these verses from the Book of Acts. On the one side we have those who insist that the pattern found here (where everything is held in common) must be the practice of the faithful church—a sort of spiritual communism. Anything… Continue reading
In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul says that three abide: faith, hope, and love. Perhaps few words are as precious to us as followers of Jesus as these three terms. But what do they mean? Even these wonderful words have been distorted in our culture and unfortunately by some Christians over… Continue reading
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor and theologian who was one of the leaders of the Confessing Church in Germany in its opposition to Hitler and Nazism. Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Nazis, imprisoned, tortured, and executed on April 9, 1945, just weeks before the Allies liberated the prison in… Continue reading
