by gardenspres | Jan 5, 2019
Last week in worship we did something different. You all helped me preach! You helped me proclaim the Gospel. Together we read Isaiah 40:31, “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength; they will fly up on wings like eagles; they will run and not be...
by gardenspres | Dec 31, 2018
Lately I have been reading a lot of Thomas Merton. Merton describes the experience of God’s presence paradoxically as the experience of God’s absence. I have to admit that while something about this description rings true for me, as if it gives words to my own...
by gardenspres | Oct 28, 2018
In a world of pipe bombs, anti-semitism, hateful bigotry, mass shootings, desperate refugees, hateful political rhetoric, and unhelpful deepening tribalism it requires great faith to believe that the Spirit of God is at work healing, transforming, redeeming,...
by gardenspres | Sep 17, 2018
As residents of South Florida we know the anxiety, chaos, fear, and destruction that hurricanes can unleash upon communities. We lift up to God those in the Carolinas suffering as a result of the wind, rain, and flooding caused by Hurricane Florence. With the...
by gardenspres | Aug 22, 2018
This morning while doing some research for Sunday’s sermon I have been reading Elizabeth Achtemeir’s book, Preaching from the Old Testament. She offers some commentary on the nature of human sin and its consequences as told in the Scriptures. I share...
by gardenspres | Aug 1, 2018
(The following blog post is the manuscript of the sermon I preached on Sunday, July 29th. The Scripture text was the story of David and Bathsheba, 2 Samuel 11:1-15. Some of you asked for it, so here it is.) The shepherd has become the wolf. The shepherd King, the...
