by Pastor Cecil | Sep 5, 2020 | Pastor's Blog
The Diderot Effect Romans 12:1-8 NIV Have you ever had the experience of making what should be a small change – such as paint a room or add a piece of furniture – and discover that you have to change everything to go with it? For example, Sheila buys a chair....
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 30, 2020 | Pastor's Blog
A friend sent me a link to a YouTube video featuring an Episcopal priest in Georgia who did a parody on “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton. It is really a good video! Uplifting and encouraging in these trying days. The focus of the parody is on coming together again to...
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 27, 2020 | Pastor's Blog
Romans 8:12-17, 26-27 Intro: A 51 Year Old Footprint… It was 51 years ago July 21st that Neil Armstrong descended a ladder and placed his foot on the dusty soil of the moon. With one-half a billion people watching the fuzzy black and white picture, we heard him say,...
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 13, 2020 | Pastor's Blog
Matthew 13:1-10 How times change. Just a few years ago, Time Magazine compiled a list of the most significant persons in history. Jesus came in #1. The top 5 included Shakespeare and Lincoln. The Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son’s father made the list, but not the...
by Pastor Cecil | Jul 2, 2020 | Pastor's Blog
Romans 7:15-25a Friends, this should be the last of the mailed sermons during our Covidity! Next week, unless the Governor changes it, we can resume our in-person worship with all safety precautions in place. Thanks be to God! Today’s scripture seems a little unusual...
by Pastor Cecil | Jun 9, 2020 | Pastor's Blog
Jeremiah 29: (7-10), 11 Deacon Sally at St. John’s asked me to speak to this year’s graduates using Jeremiah 29:11. She felt a nudging of the Spirit toward this verse – that this is what God wants us to hear, contemplate and share at this unusual time in...
by Pastor Cecil | Jun 9, 2020 | Pastor's Blog
A Pastoral Update for Week After Pentecost I write this the day after Pentecost, the day when “they were all gathered together in one place” (Acts 2:1). Pentecost is the “birthday” of the church, when people of every nation and language were united in the power of the...
by Pastor Cecil | May 27, 2020 | Pastor's Blog
From the Pastor… In my sermon for May 24th, I shared a story from the life of Martin Rinkart. Rinkart was called at the age of 31 to pastor a church in his native town Eilenberg, Germany in the wake of Luther’s reformation movement. Unfortunately, Pastor Rinkart...
by Pastor Cecil | May 27, 2020 | Pastor's Blog
“Holy Father, Protect Them” John 17:6-12a (NIV) This reading comes from what some call the “real” Lord’s Prayer where Jesus prays for the disciples. As I read this scripture, I remembered classes I took in Scotland on worship and the Trinity. Much of the professor’s...
by Pastor Cecil | May 8, 2020 | Pastor's Blog
With Mother’s Day here, I thought of how my mother would remind me to wash my hands after coming in from playing outside. Trust me when I say I could get dirty as a rambunctious boy! Still, children have a way of resisting such advice and may have to be reminded more...
