Today I put my hands on these old bricks, bricks surrounding a place full of memories that stretch decades into my past. My past, but not my present. I put my hands on these old bricks, asking blessing for those who do still have a …
Read MoreLent: Choosing Sacrifice
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on March 1, 2015) Mark 8:31-38. I’ve often thought of Peter rebuking Jesus as a great reminder that everyone makes mistakes. Peter has just had such a high point, being the one person who correctly identifies Jesus as the …
Read MoreLent: Facing Sin
(Message given February 22, 2015 at Newberg Friends Church) Psalm 25: 1-11 I love the fact that I’ve lived 23 out of the last 29 years in Newberg. There’s something beautiful about getting to be a part of a smaller community for that long, to …
Read MoreChrist’s Life
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on February 15, 2015) Last Sunday after the service, I had a great and very honest conversation with someone. Talking with him cemented something in my own mind, and that’s what I want to share with you today, my …
Read MorePut Them Into Practice
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on February 8, 2015) ‘Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds …
Read MoreIntegrity and Wholeness
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on February 1, 2015) Do you ever look at a word, and stare at it, and then all of a sudden the letters just make no sense any more? It just looks weird and wrong? Pageant. Pageant did that …
Read MoreTrees and Fruit
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on January 25, 2015) Play a little game with me–one of these things is not like the other. Can you find the unique one? Some of those were subtle, some really obvious. For me, after all these months we’ve …
Read MoreWho Makes it Narrow?
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on January 18, 2015) The two things Jesus teaches in today’s section of the sermon on the mount are pretty much at the core of the things I most often speak or write about. One is to reclaim an accurate …
Read MoreShared in Our Humanity
(Message given at NFC on December 28, 2014) I’m always in awe of two things about Christmas in our society. One, I’m always amazed to see Christmas decorations in stores before Halloween. It seems like it gets earlier and earlier by the year. And then …
Read MoreChristmas Goodness
(Message given at Newberg Friends Church on December 21, 2014) Who’s ready for some joy? I almost want to ask for a show of hands…things have been so difficult in the world and in our local community lately. Last week, somebody in the balcony said …
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