Category Archives: On the way to Sunday’s sermon

Why the Poor Are Always Us and Why Mary Was the Best Disciple

Posted on March 11, 2016 by PaulVK

  Poverty “Larry” (I have no idea if this was his legal name) used to sleep under a bush in the back lawn of the church more than a decade ago. He painted apartments for a guy who needed to … Continue reading →

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Can you embrace the Father as he sets a table for those who have hated him and destroyed the world?

Posted on March 4, 2016 by PaulVK

What happens after you die?  Americans are more inconsistent and all over the map on life after death than well meant comments at a funeral might reveal. Many who are vaguely spiritual or religious hold to the tenets of Moralistic … Continue reading →

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Silly Humanity Fears Sudden Death by Political Terror so we can linger longer in a Bad Nursing Home

Posted on February 26, 2016 by PaulVK

https://youtu.be/oxFmkg5dcyk Fear is a funny, contextual thing. If you were to listen to the current presidential debates you’d imagine ourselves under the imminent, credible threat of ISIS or North Korea destroying us all. The irony is that during much of … Continue reading →

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“Lord, Will Only a Few Be Saved?”

Posted on February 19, 2016 by PaulVK

The Question The question is always heard in a context. Why ask Jesus this Question? The unidentified person who asked Jesus this question asked it to Jesus for a reason. People were wondering about Jesus. He had exhibited power in … Continue reading →

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Why Christian obedience looks so stupid, and then again so beautiful

Posted on February 12, 2016 by PaulVK

Over the last few weeks we’ve been talking about the relationship between the story-verse and the matter-verse. As human beings we must inhabit stories yet as we saw with Jim Carrey there is an uneasy relationship between the stories we … Continue reading →

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If you use Jesus as a fish finder you may discover you want him more than fish

Posted on February 5, 2016 by PaulVK

https://youtu.be/uevbPqes7Wo The Story-verse and the Matter-verse Three weeks ago we explored finding Jesus in the story-verse and the implications of his turning water to wine. As we see in this video of Jim Carrey  at the Golden Globes the uneasy reality between … Continue reading →

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How Jesus Reveals that our employment of “The Gospel of the marginalized” can be just another trick to win at our neighbor’s expense

Posted on January 28, 2016 by PaulVK

Victims Uber Alles We are at a moment in time when there is no more moral or powerful claim to make than that you and yours have been victims of some horrible abuse of power. All of the political parties … Continue reading →

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When Jim Carry Exposed Our Despairing Story-Verse and how Jesus as Hidden Wine Maker Invites us To Believe a Better Story

Posted on January 14, 2016 by PaulVK

To Be Human is to Believe Stories Human beings are the strangest of all earth’s creatures. We are strange because we don’t live as the rest of the animal kingdom does. The animal kingdom is more reasonable than we are. … Continue reading →

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The Baptism of Jesus

Posted on January 7, 2016 by PaulVK

George Whitefield I’ve been reading a biography of George Whitefield. He was an 18th century preacher whose ministry was integral in launching what is often called “The Great Awakening” in both England and the American colonies. Whitefield was so popular, … Continue reading →

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Jesus at Twelve, Submissive and Disruptive

Posted on December 22, 2015 by PaulVK

Family In this Christmas season family is the source of our great joy, our great sorrow, hurt or anger, or both at the same time. There is a belief, not without justification that if we do right by family, or … Continue reading →

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