This week I will speak briefly to graduates at my own Alma Mater, my last official function as President of the Alumni Associations’ Board of Directors. I’m not sure how much graduates actually hear at commencement services, but should some be listening, I will tell them that from this day forward, their University days will…
Sophocles, an early Greek playwright, said, “When a man has lost all happiness, he’s not alive. Call him a breathing corpse.” He must have been correct. By the thirteenth century Thomas Aquinas, an Italian philosopher and scholar said, “There is within every soul a thirst for happiness.” So, we do need something to make us…
Nine out of ten could be unacceptable. The week-end Quarterback who throws nine incomplete passes out of ten attempts is unacceptable. The student who misses nine questions out of a ten question exam, is unacceptable. The salesperson who fails nine times to make a sale when offered ten good prospects, is unacceptable. Jesus understood this…
I am not interested in being Interim Football Coach at Penn. St. University. Having been Interim Pastor for churches with similar circumstances is enough. Fortunately, most of my 22 Interims have been for good churches with good circumstances, but not all. Whether a Pastor is guilty of sexual contact with children, extra-marital sexual relations, sexual…
Yesterday was time-change Sunday. Maybe it’s my advancing age, but I seem to like changes in time less, each time they happen. Today I will fly west and change time zones, only to fly back on Wednesday and change time zones again. Twice I have flown all the way around the world – once in…
Two post-sermon comments are lodged in my memory. The first: “Your sermons have meant so much to my husband since he developed dementia.” The second; “Every sermon you preach is better than the next one.” How does one respond to such comments? Anger would be inappropriate. Laughter would be insensitive. Silence would be unacceptable. Correction…
Many American fathers want their sons to grow up to be NFL Quarterbacks, or All-Star Pitchers, or successful attorneys, doctors or businessmen. Jewish fathers wanted their sons to grow up to be Rabbis. At the age of twelve, young Jewish boys faced their first test. By this age they were expected to have memorized the…
This is Pastor Appreciation Month. In the past twenty-six years, while serving as a Seminary professor, I have also served eighteen churches (two of them twice) as Interim Pastor; some for a few months, others for a few years. Interim Pastors are sometimes appreciated, sometimes not so much. While they fill a crucial role in…
Yesterday I preached at a church that was observing “Faith in Action” Sunday. Theirs was an intentional effort to minister to the community and they did it well with over one thousand church members ministering in thirty-five locations. Intensity is to be applauded, especially when it applies to the acting out of faith. However, consistency…
During my college days, there was a local radio program of Southern Gospel music that always began with the Stamps Quartet singing, “Give the world a smile each day, helping someone on life’s way.” During those same college years (actually 1963), Harvey Ball, a commercial artist from Worcester, Massachusetts created the smiley face. That image…