The Cheraw Brickworks

We hear a good deal of discussion among contemporary Christians as to the nature of God. Bumper stickers all over proclaim that "God is Good!" and nobody ever questions our right to judge God in this way. Whatever would lead us to stand in judgment of God and proclaim Him to be anything? Where is our sense of awe? Why is it that so few Christians pay attention to Pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite? Maybe because no one ever teaches the thoughts of Pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite. Come join the Congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY to learn that to seek wisdom, you must ask a woman by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.

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.

Superficial Christianity

Sometimes, if a preacher is to be faithful to the teaching of the church, he or she must actually preach the teaching of the church. Nobody likes to hear that, so some left to day...discomforted. Today's passage is concerned with a meeting between Jesus and a Gentile woman referred to only as "the Syrophoenician Woman". It is a harrowing tale. The woman has a desperately ill daughter. Jesus has traveled into Gentile territory, and has gone into a house, so that no one should know He is there. The woman, however, hears of him, comes to the house, throws herself in the dirt before Him, and begs that her daughter be healed. What do you think Jesus did? He told her healings were for Jews, and called her a dog for asking.
How do you explain that?  The answer I offered made several people unhappy. Perhaps it will make you unhappy, too. I can't apologize for that, because the Gospel is about leading people to change, and change cannot be made without discomfort. Come join the Congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for this week's sermon, "Superficial Christianity" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.

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.

Hoppy

I spent many a happy hour as a child in the Capital Theater, watching Westerns. It was a simple sort of world portrayed. The bad guys did bad stuff because wardrobe had issued them black hats; the good guys blew the bad guys down at high noon because that's what they do, and the townspeople swooned in gratitude.

We live in a world shaped by those westerns -- a world where people believe they are called to violently expunge people who believe differently than they from creation. Where in the world did we ever get the idea that what someone else believes is any of our business? Join us for this week's sermon, "Hoppy" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.

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.

Abiding

Sometimes, things just don't go as you anticipated. I began the week as I always do, reading the Scripture on Monday, and beginning to prepare the Sermon for Sunday. This week, the text, John 6:56-69, began with these outrageous words:

Jesus said, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my
blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father
sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever
eats me will live because of me.

My focus was on preparing a sermon on the topic of abiding. I was stopped dead in my tracks by a dream on Wednesday night. The claim that a modern man suffers from dreams sounds old-fashioned and over the top, just as Jesus' words, to eat his flesh and drink his blood, sound outrageous.

Old fashioned or not, I did as the dream instructed, and taught contemplative prayer. There is much silence. Silence is a quantity much in absence in modern life. Come join us for "Abiding" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.

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.

Elephant Soup

Sound bite advice, like "Buy low, sell high" never made anyone wealthy. Sound bite religious advice like "Do good stuff" never got anyone to heaven. If you insist on putting God off on a cloud somewhere, and keeping your relationship with Him at a similar distance -- when you die -- you will never know the wonder of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and what a loss! Join the Congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, Ky for this week's sermon, "Elephant Soup" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.

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.

Oh My Son

When David dishonored Bathsheba and murdered her husband, the prophet Nathan prophesied that the sword would never leave David's house, and that others would sleep with his wives in the sight of all. That is what happened at the hands of David's treacherous son, Absalom, yet when Absalom was killed, David mourned "Oh, my son, my son, Absalom. Would that I had died instead of you. Join us at the city gate for this week's sermon by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.

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.

Cain's Question

Cain set a precedent when God asked him where his brother was -- he did what people ever since who have been caught red-handed have done -- he tried to divert responsibility. He asked, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Today, I make the case that the rest of the Bible, from that point on, is commentary on Cain's Question. Join the congregation of Community Presbyterian Church of Bellefonte, KY for this week's sermon, "Cain's Question" by clicking HERE for audio or HERE for text.


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.