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Brad's Sermons |
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| Author: | Brad Miller | Created: | 10/30/2007 2:53 AM |  | | Archive of BCC Sermons by Brad |
| Sunday January 22, 2012 "I Believe in God..." Genesis 1:1-31a | |
| By Brad Miller on1/23/2012 11:46 AM | |
| I believe in God.
Not a real shocking statement, is it? After all, I am a Christian minister, and it is kind of assumed, isn’t it? That assumption is a two edged sword, though. While it can be rightly assumed that I believe in God, there is still the question that lingers for many, including many Christians.. That question is “Why do I believe?” And that is a question that believers have wrestled with for centuries.
Over the course of the next three Sundays I want to explore one of the great statements of faith of orthodox Christianity, The Apostles Creed. If you turn to page 359 in your hymnals you will see something called “The Apostolic Affirmation of Faith”, which is the Disciple way of saying, “The Apostles Creed.” By tradition, The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is a non-creedal church, which means we have no creed or confession that we hold up as a “test of membership.” For us, acceptance of Jesus as the Christ is our only “test of member ... |  | |
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| | Sunday December 25, 2011 "Singing a New Song, Again" Psalm 98 | |
| By Brad Miller on1/4/2012 9:55 AM | |
| What’s your favorite Christmas song?
What is it that makes Christmas songs so special?
Why is it that we sing songs during worship, or any time for that matter?
Songs are a way of telling the story of whatever moment we might be in. There are songs in my life that can take me back to a specific point in time. When I hear those songs, sights, feelings, even smells come back to me. Do you have any like that?
Let me ask you this: if you have any of those, are they songs that bring back good times or bad?
For me, I can’t think of too many songs that point to bad things…most of my “song memory” is solidly in the good. “Suite Judy Blue Eyes” is one of those for me…as are most Beatle songs.
But let’s turn the tables just a little bit: are there events or situations that simply need a song? For me, a bright, sunny day with Carol, is one of those times…years ago, before we wer ... | | |
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| | Sunday December 4, 2011 "Are We There Yet?" Isaiah 40:1-11 and Mark 1:1-8 | |
| By Brad Miller on12/7/2011 2:25 PM | |
| “Are we there yet?”
If you are a parent, you probably have heard those words before. If you were ever a kid, you probably uttered those words at some point. It is universal question usually asked when someone is tired, bored and wanting to get on with something.
When I hear this question, I am taken to a very specific time and place in my life. It is the end of the school year, in fact, the last day of school. At the Isaac Crary Elementary School in Detroit, we always had only a half day on the last day of school. We got our report cards and were ushered into the glory of summer. And summer for me meant getting out of Detroit and heading to Camp Conely, the summer camp my parents ran in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. As the morning wore on, I could barely sit still, I was so excited. I knew that when the bell rang, and we were released from our state ordered incarceration, the summer would begin. But it wasn’t there yet. It was going to take a 7 hour drive ... | | |
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| | Sunday November 27, 2011 "A Strange Way to Start" Isaiah 64:1-9 | |
| By Brad Miller on11/29/2011 10:04 AM | |
| It does seem like a strange way to start, doesn’t it?
A lament? With weeping? With cries to God not to forget us?
Isn’t today the first Sunday of Advent? Isn’t this the season in which we prepare for the celebration of the coming of the Messiah? Isn’t this a time of reflection and anticipation and joy?
Well, yes, it is the first Sunday in Advent. And, yes, today we begin our preparations for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. And yes, it is a time of reflection and anticipation and, of course, joy at the reality of the God news… Emmanuel! God with us!
Of course, that is from our vantage point in 2011. We have visited this season, many, many times before. Many of us have heard all the stories. Stories such as the angel appearing to Mary to announce that she will become the mother of God’s son; the dream of Joseph; explaining how he is to protect Mary and the child; the forced travel for tax purposes, the ... | | |
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| | Sunday November 6, 2011 "The Music of Salvation" Revelation 7:9-17 | |
| By Brad Miller on11/8/2011 9:40 AM | |
| Today we observe our All Saints Celebration. And I use that term celebration deliberately. I use it because depending on who we are and where we are in our grief over lost loved ones, this can be a sad day…but it is a day that cries out for celebration. It is not always easy to get to that place of celebration, and we all will get there in different ways, through different means, with different time lines. But when we recognize what this day means…we celebrate.
This is a day when we remember those who have gone on before us, those who have raised us, those who have taught us through word and example. Today we remember loved ones and dear friends, preachers and Sunday school teachers, parents and siblings and children, those who loved us and whom we loved and still love. Those who helped mold us, and whom we still remember fondly. Those who were here with us, but who have left this life, passed on, passed away. But where did they go? We say it many ways: they went to be with Go ... | | |
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| | Sunday October 16, 2011 "Encouraged and Encouraging" 1 Thessalonians 1: 1-10 | |
| By Brad Miller on10/18/2011 9:27 AM | |
| Sometimes when we study the Bible we are struck by the beauty of short passages: “In the beginning was the word, and word was with God, and the word WAS God…” This simple sentence fragment sends shivers up my spine with the awe in inspires in me. Sometimes, it is a story that unfolds, maybe one of Jesus’ parables that catches are attention. For me, one of those is Jesus’ parable of the sower…sowing seeds on rocky soil, on sandy soil, on weed choked property, and on good soil. Not being a rural person, it makes me really think about what it is I am supposed to get from this passage.
And then there are things in our Bible that cannot be contained in a simple awe inspiring snippet, nor lessons that can be taught in a single story. Sometimes, we need to take a really long view of what is going on to truly understand the importance of something in the Bible. And the life of the Apostle Paul is one of those topics.
The Bible tells us that Paul was born Saul, who ... | | |
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| | Sunday October 1, 2011 "The Prophet's Good News" Isaiah 9:1-7 | |
| By Brad Miller on10/4/2011 3:23 PM | |
| Over the last two weeks, we have taken some time to look at the role and the goal of the prophets of our Hebrew heritage.
Ezekiel reminded us that God speaks in different ways to different people, that God’s word comforts in the midst of trying times, and that God is still speaking today, if we take the time to listen for the prophetic message.
Amos reminded us that even when things are going well – no, especially when things are going well in our lives – we must remember that our achievements are not ours alone, but are the result of God’s grace in our lives. Amos reminded us that if we continually live our lives as if God did not matter, eventually, we will remove ourselves so far from God, that we will have difficulty finding that divine presence. Amos reminded us that prophecies, after all, are more about how we act, and our willingness to change, than they are about God.
Enter Isaiah, who for Christians, is probably the most famous of all the Heb ... | | |
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| | Sunday September 25, 2011 "The Prophet's Goal" Amos 8: 4-12 | |
| By Brad Miller on9/26/2011 10:25 AM | |
| As we continue our series looking at the prophetic voices of the Hebrew Bible, we come to that point where the question must be asked: what is the goal of the prophet? Or maybe more accurately, what is God’s goal in putting prophets before the Hebrew people, and by extension, before us?
The answer is straightforward: the goal of the prophet is to affect change in the people. Change in their attitude, change in their behavior. Change that will lead them closer to God.
The prophet Amos is a great example of someone who was working toward that goal.
Last week we looked at the prophet Ezekiel who carried out his ministry during a time of extreme duress and stress for the Israelites. He was prophesying while the people were in exile in Babylon, and it was easy to see how the people would need guidance in the midst of terrible times.
The prophetic ministry of Amos is a different story. Most scholars believe that the b ... | | |
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| | Sunday September 18, 2011 "The Prophet's Call" Ezekiel 2: 1-5 | |
| By Brad Miller on9/19/2011 1:07 PM | |
| Wouldn’t it be nice to have God speak to us directly and tell us what to do? Well, before you answer that question, think about the example of Ezekiel.
We don’t know a lot about Ezekiel: we know his father’s name was Buzi; we know that the name Ezekiel means “God strengthens”; we know that he was a priest, or at the very least, a priest in training. We know that he was deported to Babylonia as part of Nebuchednezzar’s “brain drain” of Judah, where the best and brightest were removed, thus making the region much too weak to be a force in political matters. We know that he was married, although we do not know his wife’s name.
We know nothing of any other family and we have no clue as to how he supported himself.
We also know that, to put it in strictly technical theological terms, he was one weird dude.
He is known for the series of oracles that he presented to the Judeans who were exiled in Babylonia. The oracles of doom tak ... | | |
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| | Sunday September 4, 2011 "Working" Ecclesiastes 2:24 and Leviticus 23:3 | |
| By Brad Miller on9/6/2011 11:26 AM | |
| Well, there it is. In two short verses from the Hebrew Bible we have our work life laid out for us. First, work should be enjoyable, and second, we’re going to work 6 out of every 7 days. Well, I hope it’s enjoyable if we are going to do it on 85% of our days!
Labor Day celebrates our work. It is not a religious holiday, but there is importance in honoring those who work and setting aside, at least symbolically, a day of rest.
But how does all of this fit into our faith life? What does the Bible say about work?
Genesis 2 makes it clear that it was what we are destined to do and it is good. Genesis 3 on the other hand, says it is a curse handed down to humans because of the sinfulness of Adam and Eve.
Paul speaks at multiple points, most specifically Thessalonians, of working hard and not shirking our responsibility. He is clear that we work because God ordained it, and so it is expected of us. And if God expects it of us, ... | | |
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