Sermons

In case you didn’t know it already, Americans are woefully ignorant about religion. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life published the outcome of its U.S. Religious knowledge survey on September 28 and the results were not flattering. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons were among the highest-scoring groups on the new survey of…

Last Sunday evening after I got home from the Advisory Council meeting I caught the end of 60 Minutes. Immediately after that The Amazing Race came on which I’ve never seen but I was curious because it started in Gloucester, Massachusetts and the competitors needed to find their way to Logan Airport and then after…

Exodus 18 begins by telling us that while Moses was off in Egypt serving the Lord and delivering the Israelites from slavery, his wife Zipporah and their two sons Gershom and Eliezer, were staying with Zipporah’s dad, Jethro, and presumably, his wife. After what turned into a very extended visit by daughter and grandchildren, when…

1 Corinthians 12:1-11, “Now concerning spiritual gifts,  brothers and sisters,  I do not want you to be uninformed. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3 Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of…

This past week we’ve witnessed one of the things that troubles me about the world in which we live. Fifty years ago if the pastor of a tiny church said he was going to burn copies of another religion’s core faith document virtually no one would have known about it outside of a few people…

Perhaps you saw this week that physicist Stephen Hawkings’ book “The Grand Design” hit the market. In an act of brilliant publicity to boost sales Hawking announced that God wasn’t necessary for the creation of the universe. I’m sure God was shocked and almost choked on the morning toast reading the news. The predictable hubbub…

Think for a moment about a place you’d love to go – it could be a vacation spot, a family retreat, or a place in the city or country, it could be in North America or on another continent. It would be the kind of place that makes your heart beat a little faster, gets…

Today’s subject is heavy.* The weight of guilt for things we have done or not done, for things we have said or failed to say can be overwhelming and crushing. Guilt – the awareness of having done wrong accompanied by feelings of shame and regret – is a powerful emotion, but guilt isn’t helpful if…

Douglas Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church Psalm 107 Congratulations to those who took up my invitation to read 5 psalms a day during the month of July. I hope you found it a rewarding experience. I would encourage all of you to consider reading 5 psalms a day in August as we continue our series on…