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| Slow Dance | Brad's Blog Mid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on10/29/2008 1:28 PM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful fall day,
When I was a kid, I remember my mother saying, “the hurrieder I go, the behinder I get”. It seemed kind of silly to me, but, now I definitely know what she meant. We live in a world where everything is now, now, now, more, more, more…yet the more we work, the harder we try, we do not find peace, just frayed nerves and less time with our families and friends. And when we find ourselves caught in that trap of immersing ourselves more and more in work and acquisition, we too often find ourselves losing the foundation that sustains us: our faith, our families. We can get so distracted that we forget about what is really important. I’ve done it, and I bet you have, too.
This week, Chuck Daunch forwarded me an e-mail from a friend of his who is battling cancer, yet seeking ways to honor God through his struggle by sharing the light of hope that his relationship with God offers h ... |  | |
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| | Sunday October 16, 2008 "Jesus: The Truth King" John 18:36-38a | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on10/29/2008 9:12 AM | |
| Sunday October 26, 2008
“Jesus: The Truth King”
John 18: 36-38a
“What is truth?”
For centuries, some Christians have sneered at Pilate’s question at the so-called “trial” of Jesus. They have interpreted his question as mocking, but I personally think it is a logical question. In no way am I condoning Pilate’s handling of the situation. He clearly didn’t think Jesus had done anything wrong, yet allowed the temple leadership to have their way by executing Jesus. It would have been nice had he stood up to them in his role of protector of Roman interests, as Governor of this small, backward outpost. But he didn’t, because order was more important to him that “truth.”
I have often wondered, did the question nag at Pilate? Did he every lay awake at night wondering about Jesus’ responses to his questions? Did he carry guilt about washing his hands of the whole matter?
It is a difficult question: “What is ... | | |
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| | Downtime | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on10/22/2008 11:25 AM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful fall day,
If you are like me, you need to get away. Oh, I’m not talking about leaving town, or finding some deserted island beach, although, that does sound nice. No, I’m talking about getting away from all the noise of the news…the election, the economy, the endless drumbeat of somber pronouncements concerning so many things: health, crime, natural disasters. And while I truly believe that the news media in this country do us a great service in helping to keep us informed, there are times when I just need to get away from it all. And so, this week, I have tried to do just that. As a wise friend counseled, “Just turn it off, man!”
When I am alone in the car, I usually have the radio on. I try to find music and no talking, but that is almost impossible. So, this week, no radio, no i-pod plugged into my car stereo, no nuthin’. And you know what, it seems to work. I read the newspaper in the morning, but try to put aside the edit ... | | |
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| | Sunday October 19, 2008 "Josiah: The Restoring King" 2 Kings 22:1-13, 23:1-3 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on10/21/2008 8:21 AM | |
| My mother used to talk about folks who were “good people.” Those folks who were the first to be there to help. Those folks who never sought any attention. Those folks who just lived right. “Good people.”
Have you ever known any “good people?” Of course you have. Some of the folks who fit that category are sitting in this room right now. And a lot of times you see families that all exhibit these traits. When a parent does what’s right and sets a good example for their kids, it’s easy to understand how “good people” characteristics are passed from generation to generation.
But what of the person who does not have that example? What of the person who grows up in a household where bitterness and self-centeredness and even violence are the norm? How do you explain when a child that comes from that kind of unstable situation turns out to be “good people?”
Amos Brown was one of those people in my life. When I was a freshman in colle ... | | |
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| | Hope | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on10/16/2008 8:28 AM | |
| Greetings on the GORGEOUS day!
It is weeks like this past week that really bring some things into focus for me. It helps me to keep the important things in perspective. It helps me to remember what is truly most important. And it helps me to realize just how important this thing we call church really is.
I don’t need to tell you what a roller coaster the last week has been. When the Dow Jones Industrials closed in such low territory last Friday, the fear was palpable. It wasn’t helped by the fact that every newscast, news update and talk show over the weekend told us what bad shape our retirement funds were in! I even heard one of the announcers on the baseball game on Sunday night talk about it. C’mon, ya knuckleheads, I watching this to escape from the real world! There was very little evidence of a precious commodity that we all were craving: hope. When I realized that Monday was a federal holiday I thought, “Well, at least the stock market will be clo ... | | |
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| | Sunday October 5, 2008: "David: The Shepherd King" 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 10 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on10/13/2008 6:11 AM | |
| I’ve known Mr. McDonald my whole life.
He and his wife and kids lived in our neighborhood. They went to our church. His family participated in family camp at the camp my parents ran in northern Michigan. His oldest daughter was in the same grade as my older sister and his youngest daughter was in my grade. Like so many of those folks from my childhood, I don’t remember meeting Mr. McDonald, he was just always there.
But I do remember Mr. McDonald.
I remember that he seemed awfully strict as a parent. His kids had to be in the house earlier than everyone else. There was an inordinate amount of “yes sirs” around him. He was a bit of a yeller, and didn’t hesitate to upbraid his kids in front of others.He was a businessman of some sort. Owned his own company, as I remember. He dressed a little differently that the other fathers who were teachers and line workers and city employees. He was always in a sharp business suit, or well coordinated cas ... | | |
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| | Staying the Course | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on10/9/2008 9:20 AM | |
| Greetings on this gloomy fall morning,
It is easy to feel as gloomy as the skies these days…if we let ourselves. It is easy to let fear and worry overtake our lives…if we give in to it. But that is not who we are: we are the church, and we face things with the hopeful promise of brighter days. Now, this does not mean we can act foolishly or extravagantly in our personal lives, or as the church, especially when it comes to our finances. We must be realistic about who we are, and what God has put in front of us to accomplish. We discern that through prayer and discussion, looking at where we have been, assessing where we are, planning for where we want to go. We do it with our feet firmly on the ground, and our eyes on what God has called us to be. Not always an easy combination, but something that is very important, nonetheless.
All this is important as we sit around our kitchen tables and look at our home finances, and it is important as we sit around our ... | | |
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| | Responding Well | | Brad's Blog
| By Brad Miller on10/1/2008 1:45 PM | |
| Last Sunday’s sermon on Ezekiel raised some issues that weren’t covered in the sermon specifically, but are nonetheless right there below the surface. While our experience is not the same as the exiles in Babylon, their reactions of denial and despair are important to understand. When we lose control of our world, it is easy to be driven to inaction because we deny that there is a problem, or that we become so overwhelmed that we despair that there is no hope. Ezekiel’s admonition to the Judean exiles is right on target: “Love God. Trust God. Be in right relationship with God. Repent your sins. Know that you are forgiven and God will never leave you.” It is good advice, no matter our circumstances.
But a couple of you have raised some questions that I knew would be asked: does God use hard times or tragedies to punish us? To test us? The example in the book of Ezekiel seems to hint that the Judean exiles are being punished. But basically, Ezekiel tells them not to focus on tha ... | | |
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| | Sunday September 28, 2008 "Asking Too Much?" Ezekiel 18:25-32 and Psalm 25:1-12 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on9/29/2008 1:03 PM | |
| We don’t pay a lot of attention to the book of Ezekiel these days, but in the midst of this tumultuous time in our history, maybe we should.
Ezekiel was a prophet during the period when Jerusalem was overrun by the Babylonian armies, the city destroyed, the temple destroyed. It was a time when thousands upon thousands of Judeans were taken out of their beloved holy city and relegated to exile in Babylon. The raiding of Jerusalem and the temple took place in the year 597 B.C. and Ezekiel was one of those taken away into exile.
This was more than just an exile, however. It was a well calculated maneuver by the King of Babylon to make sure that it would be very difficult for Jerusalem to rebuild and Judea to rearm.
Here’s how it worked. The Babylonians didn’t just attack, destroy and leave a garrison or two to keep the order. They rounded up the best and the brightest of the Judeans and took them away, to Babylon, where they lived in exil ... | | |
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| | Hope | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on9/24/2008 4:36 PM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful fall day!
Several of you have asked me when I was going to write about baseball again. Well, maybe not several of you. And maybe it wasn’t, “When are you going to write about baseball again?” But just a few people interested in how the Detroit Tigers are doing.
Okay, okay, I confess: it wasn’t several, and it wasn’t even “a few”. one person made a comment about how much they admired my loyalty to such a disappointing team. Or something like that. I know there was something in there about the Tigers being horrible. And me being disappointed.
Well, I am disappointed. And I’m sick of it.
I’m tired of getting my hopes up so high because Sports Illustrated and the Sporting News and ESPN and every clown with a teleprompter in front of them picked the Tigers to win the World Series this year. But where are they now? Are they fighting for a championship? Are they resting up, getting r ... | | |
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