Looking for Goats

I pastor a Presbyterian Church, but my home church is the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). One of my congregation asked me this week how difficult it was for me to preach in a Presbyterian Church which understands the Sacraments differently than my home church. Baptism is one place where there's a big difference, and my impression of the understanding of Baptism among the laity made me think about my dad's initiation into the Order of DeMolay many years ago. Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky for our sermon on Baptism from Luke 3:15-17, 21-22 and Acts 8:14-17, called "Looking for Goats".

Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org.

Mr. Dumpty's Dilemma

If a player on a basketball team forgets his responsibilities to the team to draw attention to himself, we call him a hot dog, and the team suffers. If a cell in the body forgets its function and instead pursues its own aggrandizement, we call it cancer and the body may die. If we, perhaps overwhelmed by the conditions of life, forget that we are part of something greater, and pursue our own ends, we call that sin, and the Body of Christ suffers. Come join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky for this week's sermon, "Mr. Dumpty's Dilemma".

Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org.

Little Things

In the beautiful song of Mary from Luke called the Magnificat, Mary sings that her soul "magnifies" the Lord because she is so lowly, yet great things will be done through her -- things she could not accomplish on her own. Have you ever thought that you're too small and uninformed to be of any use in your church? Well...the truth is that this is exactly who the pastor of Community Presbyterian is -- untrained and unqualified. The lowest of the low. Yet, somehow, I have been given words to speak for three years. My soul magnifies the Lord. Come join the congregation of Community Presbyterian for this week's sermon from Micah and Luke titled "Little Things".

Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org.

The Only Fan in the Stands

This time of year, all the pastors get flooded with emails about people wishing them a "Happy Holidays" instead of a "Merry Christmas". People get awfully upset about than, even though "Holiday" is a contraction of "Holy Day". What are we saying to non-Christians when we pitch a fit on this issue? Join the Congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte as we examine "The Only Fan in the Stands".

Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org.

Same Ol Same Ol

I met a friend I hadn't seen in some time and asked how he'd been. "Same Ol, Same Ol" he told me. Same Ol Same Ol is comfortable, but I wonder if we don't do ourselves a disservice by settling for that. And I wonder if that's what God has in mind, too. Join the Congregation of Community Presbyterian Church for our sermon, "Same Ol, Same Ol".

Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org.

Getting Round the Grinch

The janitor at the Chapel of St. Starbuck's the Jittery asked me a good question the other day. He asked how I felt about Advent. I had to confess that the noise of the commercial aspects leaves me in a bad mood every year. When I went to the Lectionary text for this Sunday, hoping to find something sentimental, I found instead "The Little Apocalypse" from Luke going on about the end times. Very helpful. Thanks for nothing.

Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky to find out how I worked my way out of that in our sermon, Getting Round the Grinch.

Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org.

Christ the Thing

The Bible is written in metaphor and simile familiar to people of a long-past world, a world in which shepherds and kings were commonalities. When read by people who have no emotional connection to either shepherds or kings, there is a good chance of misunderstanding. This is Christ the King Sunday, the last Sunday in the liturgical year. What does "King" mean, and what are we saying by calling Christ a King? We might as well call it "Christ the Thing" Sunday. We've lost our emotional connection to kings.

Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Ky for our sermon, Christ the Thing.

Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Kentucky, was built on the casting floor of a 19th Century iron blast furnace. We use "The Casting Floor" as an image for the power of the Spirit to form us. Visit us at http://communitypresbyterian.org.