Day One
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We've Got Spirit, Yes We Do!
I may not remember everything about my high school days, but I do remember the cheerleaders and several of their spirited yells. One of their yells was, "Two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar, all for LaGrange, stand up and holler!" And whenever our football or basketball teams seemed to hit a dry spot, our cheerleaders would eye the stands and yell out, "We've got spirit, yes we do! We've got spirit, how about you?" From across the field the other team's fans would respond and yell back...
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Lover
Let's listen in to Jesus speaking in St. John's book. Jesus says, "My prayer." He is praying as he speaks and prayer is the first thing in this passage. Jesus prays. We should pray. Imitate him. Jesus says, "My prayer is not for them alone." His prayer is not just his merry band of devotees. It's for us, too. Jesus says, "I pray also for those who will believe in me." That's you. That's me. Here in the future. Prayers have power. They last into the future. How have his prayers lasted?...
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The Beginning of the End of the Beginning
Uh oh! How many times have you said that? That "oops" moment when you stop and figure out something has gone wrong. Maybe it's just something minor like putting up dishes in the wrong cabinet or maybe a major, life-changing revelation that things are going down hill fast: with your life, your marriage, your child, your job, bad news from your doctor. We either fix it fast or worst of all find the downhill slide irreversible, and "Uh, oh" becomes "O God, please help me." The "oops" moments...
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Peter's Invisible Fence
Down came the blanket with those creepy, crawling snakes and vultures and other weird animals on it. In fact, the heavenly blanket came down three times. And each time the blanket descended, Peter said, "No, not me!" Peter's response to God's picnic invitation was not mere squeamishness. Peter found the menu repulsing. None of those animals was acceptable food. Peter's "no" welled up from deep within him. An observant Jew, Peter had spent a lifetime trying to remain ritually clean. His "no"...
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Dr. Fred Craddock on Advent, Part 4: God Is With Us
We're honored to present this special Advent series by one of America's most beloved preachers, the Rev. Dr. Fred Craddock. This series is taken with permission from his "Sermons Preached at Cherry Log" CD set. In this audio sermon for the fourth Sunday in Advent, "God Is With Us," Dr. Craddock offers a moving and powerful look at the Nativity story in Matthew 1:18-25. For more information on CDs of sermons, lectures, and other resources by Dr. Craddock, please visit his website...
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Dr. Fred Craddock on Advent, Part 3: No Wind, No Fire,...
We're honored to present this special Advent series by one of America's most beloved preachers, the Rev. Dr. Fred Craddock. This series is taken with permission from his "Sermons Preached at Cherry Log" CD set. In this audio sermon for the third Sunday in Advent, "No Wind, No Fire, and God," Dr. Craddock shares surprising insights about Jesus and John the Baptist from Matthew 11:2-11. For more information on CDs of sermons, lectures, and other resources by Dr. Craddock, please visit his...
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Getting There
Well, with Christmas nearly here, there is probably not one among us whose thoughts don't stray towards Bethlehem with real longing. Do you want to go to Bethlehem? Well, getting there hasn't always been easy. Back in the 1980's when I first started leading groups on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, getting to Bethlehem required disembarking our tour bus at an armored check point outside the town, having our passports checked, then walking a full block under the watchful eye of heavily armed...
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Dr. Fred Craddock on Advent, Part 2: Wind, Fire, and God
We're honored to present this special Advent series by one of America's most beloved preachers, the Rev. Dr. Fred Craddock. This series is taken with permission from his "Sermons Preached at Cherry Log" CD set. In this audio sermon for the second Sunday in Advent, "Wind, Fire, and God," Dr. Craddock unpacks the story of John the Baptist in Matthew 3:1-12. For more information on CDs of sermons, lectures, and other resources by Dr. Craddock, please visit his website...
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Dr. Fred Craddock on Advent, Part 1: Only God Knows
Well-known preacher Dr. Fred Craddock guides us through Advent with a series of sermons taken with permission from Sermons Preached at Cherry Log: Recorded Live at Cherry Log Christian Church. For more information on CDs of sermons and lectures by Dr. Craddock, please visit CraddockSermons.com Part 1: Only God Knows (Matthew 24:36-44)
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Deliverance and Deli Meat
Moses slams his letter of resignation on the desk and hands over the keys to the world's largest station wagon. A foldout map of the Promised Land falls on the ground, but he's happy to leave this family vacation in the dust. "These aren't even my kids! Did I conceive them all? Did I give birth to them?" God is angry and Moses is livid. "Meat? Where am I going to get meat in the middle of a dessert?!" It is one of those moments in Moses' pastoral--or should we say parental--careers when he...
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Following Jesus Is for Losers
Being a follower is not something we encourage in America. No college commencement speaker has ever congratulated the graduates on becoming the "followers of tomorrow." Nobody makes sweeping biographical history films about great world followers. Nobody gives awards to recognize the contributions of community followers. Nobody frames their rsum to highlight where they exercised strong "followership" in their work. Nobody's heart swells with pride when a fellow parent comes up to them and...
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When the Roof Crumbles
Tom Long, the professor of preaching at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, mourns a trend that he has seen in preaching. We are given a Bible, inherit a faith full of stories in which the blind are given sight, in which slaves are freed from captivity, in which a world is created when a word is spoken. They are stories given life by the tangible presence of God--right here, right now. Yet, so often, Long observes: ...sermons preached in broad mainline denominations have the hollow sound...
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Cleanliness or Godliness
I've spent many summer days at my Aunt Briddie's house. Aunt Briddie is my father's oldest sister. She and her husband, Uncle Hubbert, enjoyed entertaining, so many summers when some of the extended family would come into town, we would gather at their house; and among other things, we would do a lot of eating. Now, when it comes to meals, no one in my family is a real stickler for table manners. We don't really care on which side of the plate the fork is supposed to lay. If you want the...
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Eating Jesus
A friend of mine who left the church as an adolescent and never returned traces his disillusionment to several incidents, including a memorable discussion about the Lord's Supper in his confirmation class. He asked his teacher how the sacrament was any different from ritual cannibalism. The teacher was visibly agitated by the question and responded, "What a disgusting suggestion! It has nothing to do with cannibalism. We're talking about a blessed sacrament, not some primitive ritual. It's...
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Living Bread
A few years ago pollster George Barna conducted a national survey asking simply, "What is the phrase you most long to hear?" The overwhelming answer was rather predictable: "I love you." In a solid second place was "I forgive you," also not surprising. But the third most longed-for phrase took me a bit by surprise: "Dinner is ready!" Come to think of it, though, Jesus, especially in John's Gospel, didn't need Barna's research to address our deepest longings: love, forgiveness, and...
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Sharing in the Life of Jesus
It must have been an amazing sight, thousands gathered, listening, learning, all of a sudden hungry. It must have been an amazing sight, disciples asked to "care for those gathered," and all that they could come up with was a little boy with five loaves and two fish. It must have been an amazing sight as Jesus takes, gives thanks, and begins to feed those who were gathered there . . . it must have been an amazing sight when people in their fill wanted to make Jesus their king. No wonder they...
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In Repair
Chris de Vinck remembers how his daughter, Karen, learned to ride her bicycle alone: "We began in the early fall," he said. "Karen and I. I took her training wheels off, but she insisted that I grasp the handlebar and the seat as we walked around the court." "I'll just let go for a second, Karen." "No!" she insisted . . . . After a few weeks Karen was comfortable enough with my letting the handlebar go, but I still had to clasp the rear of the seat. "Don't let go, Daddy." Halloween....
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Our Vast and Loving God
In 1952, British Scripture scholar and translator J.B. Phillips wrote a book with the provocative title Your God is Too Small. He said: "The trouble with many people today is that they have not found a God big enough for modern needs." (NY: Macmillan Company, 1960, p. v) He was right. If Philips were writing today, he might title his book Your God is Too Small--and Too Distant. He might say: "The challenge for many people today is finding a God who is big enough to embrace the world and...
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An Invitation You Will Not Want to Refuse
"Come away to a place where there are no cell phones, your iPad will not work, a place where you can rest and be recharged." An attractive sounding invitation in the midst of our fast-paced, over-scheduled, information-filled days. Our busyness seems to preclude time for family meals, in-depth conversation with friends, times to just sit still for a few minutes in the silence. We seem to enjoy the hectic pace of our lives for seldom do I meet someone who is eager to tell me about their down...
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David's Dance
My congregation is considering a plan to begin the narrative lectionary. This is a plan for preaching through the Bible that is similar to the revised common lectionary, which many mainline congregations use. It takes you through Genesis and Exodus, through the prophets, through one gospel a year with no jumping around or skipping things, and makes what I hope is a coherent narrative through the Bible. I'm excited about it, because some of the things that the regular lectionary leaves out...
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Dr. Fred Craddock - Interview with Peter Wallace
One of America's best known preachers and teachers of preachers, Dr. Fred Craddock, talks with Day1 host Peter Wallace about the art and science of preaching. This is the complete audio podcast version of the video interview that premiered at the 2008 Festival of Homiletics.
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Buying the Ticket
Today's lesson is made up of two quite distinct parts. Part one: Jesus' visit to his hometown, Nazareth. Part two: Jesus sending his disciples out two by two. These two parts are distinct not only because each is a story unto itself, capable of standing alone, but also because they stand in such vivid contrast to one another. The first is a story of failure. After initial enthusiasm, the people of Jesus' hometown, turned against him. He was, Mark tells us in verse 5, "unable to do any...
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Taking Jesus Seriously
The book of Ecclesiastes says that there is an appropriate time for every matter under heaven: there is a time to mourn and a time to laugh. When I was growing up, my sister and I used to drive our parents to distraction by our inappropriate laughter at the worst of times. Concerts, school programs, church, even funerals, brought out our nervous giggles. At my wedding, my mother told my sister that she had to sit in the back of the church and not look at me for fear of making me laugh. Mark...
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Does Jesus Care?
In his book Letter to a Man in a Fire, cancer survivor Reynolds Price responds to a letter from a young medical student named Jim, who has developed a life-threatening cancer. In his letter to Reynolds Price, Jim writes, "I want to believe in a God who cares...because I may meet him sooner than I had expected. I think I am at the point where I can accept the existence of God...but I can't yet believe God cares about me." [Reynolds Price, Letter to a Man in a Fire (New York: Scribner, 1999),...
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Street Preaching
Someone stopped by my office recently to say hello. He shook my hand and said something rather odd: "You staying out of trouble?" I wasn't really sure if it was a greeting or a question. I wanted to say something cute. But I decided to treat it as a legitimate query. I said: "Well, I try to stay out of trouble, but trouble always seems to find me! In fact, I've about decided that the nature of what I do in ministry is trouble." There was an awkward silence. He gave me one of those funny...
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A Good Church Fight
I love a good church fight! Especially when it's in someone else's church. Churches often have their spats. We debate all kinds of things: property, parsonages, pastors, sexuality, euthanasia, church state. Church fights, however, are not always bad. It really depends on what you're fighting for. I remember in one particular church we got into it over pew cushions. We contracted to put new cushions in the sanctuary. One of our ladies became so irate over the color the committee picked that...
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The Start of the Trail
In a magazine article recently, a forest ranger in Wales described the most common question that visitors to his park ask the forest rangers. Many people, he said, come to the park to hike one of the beautiful trails that wander through the forest, trails designed to display the magnificent trees and plants, to let the hikers encounter the array of wildlife in the forest, and to take hikers on to hilltops for breathtaking views of the countryside. But the most frequent question that visitors...
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What's the Gift?
I don't know if you've ever had the slightly embarrassing experience of having someone give you a gift, only to find out when you opened it, you did not have the foggiest idea what it was or what it was for. I mean, there you are: you're at the company Christmas party, or at a wedding shower, or at your birthday party, and someone hands you a gaily wrapped package. As you pull off the ribbon and the wrapping paper, all the eyes in the circle are on you. You open the box and there it is.......
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This Prayer That Won't Let Me Go
This passage is the gospel assigned for the 7th Sunday of Easter. In this excerpt, the writer offers us a word for word transcript of a prayer that he has somehow overheard Jesus praying. Jesus is here talking to His Heavenly Father, quite intimately reflecting on his mission. You might say that he is offering God a kind of exit interview. He explains that he understands his mission as that of making God's name known to these few who have been pulled out from the rest of the world. These are...
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The Holy Spirit as a Pre-Existing Condition
Much has happened leading up to our reading for the day. Catching up with the story is important for hearing today's scripture. A quick update: Cornelius--a spiritual, but not religious Gentile living in Caesarea of some importance in the Roman legion and a member of the Italian Cohort--Cornelius had a vision. It was a clear vision...to send for an apostle of Jesus named Peter. Peter--a devout and faithful Jew and an ardent follower of Jesus the Christ--Peter had a vision, too. His was not...
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