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Brad's Blog |
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| Author: | Brad Miller | Created: | 10/30/2007 2:51 AM |  | | From the Desk of Brad Miller |
| Recycle. Renew. Restore. | |
Mid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on7/16/2008 2:46 PM | |
| Greetings!
When God created the heavens and the earth, humans were given dominion over all living things. The animals of the ground, the birds of the air, the fish in the seas. The plants that beautify and sustain. All of these things are important to God’s awesome creation. All of these things are under our care. They are under our care because we have the ability to make good use of these things. And because if we don’t take wise care of these things, we will ultimately suffer. How might that be? If we hunt animals to depletion, if we abuse the land through bad planting processes, if we pollute the earth so that plants and birds and animals can’t survive…well, we won’t either. I once heard someone scoff at the idea that if we don’t do something to clean up our environment the earth would not survive. Until I heard their reasoning: “Believe me, we don’t need to clean up the environment to save the earth. The earth will survive. We need clean up the environment to save ourse ... |  | |
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| | We Call Ourselves Disciples | |
Mid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on7/9/2008 2:43 PM | |
| Greetings on this hazy, lazy summer day,
Yesterday I was talking with someone who had been told I was a minister and he asked what denomination I was affiliated with and I replied, “The Christian Church (Disicples of Christ).” He said he had never heard of it and I went into my explanation of how we are set up, what makes us unique among Christian denominations, what denominations we are most like, etc. It is a conversation that I have with a fairly large number of people. Depending on what kind of day I have had, how I am feeling, what the attitude is like of the person I am talking with, I may answer enthusiastically or not. What I mean by that Is, on most days I am thankful for the opportunity to talk with someone about our church, our denomination, what we believe, what I believe. But there are some days when I just kind of sigh and half-wish I was a Presbyterian or a Methodist or a Baptist or a Lutheran that everyone has heard of! Luckily, those days don’t come very often.& ... | | |
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| | Sunday July 6, 2008 "Faith Like A Child" - Message by Lauren Evans, Director of Youth, BCC | |
Brad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on7/9/2008 9:45 AM | |
| | Faith Like a child, seems a bit backward doesn’t it….Why would we want to spend our time worrying about becoming more child-like, when we have finally made it to adult hood. When I was a kid I couldn’t grow up fast enough. I wanted to drive a car like my dad and go to work and get money like my mom. I wanted to make my own rules, my own bedtime, and not have to answer to anyone. Well here I am, and I must say that some parts of being an adult are nice. I can get in my car and drive to the store if I have a sudden urge for mint chocolate chip ice cream. I can stay up late, and I don’t have to finish all of my vegetables. Why would I want to go back to being completely dependent; to wearing whatever my mom put on me, sharing my toys and having to take a nap everyday…wait a minute- a nap would be kind of nice right now.Jesus tells the disciples in Mark that the kingdom of God belongs to the little children. He goes on to say that anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter ... | | |
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| | Honoring Our Past | |
Brad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on7/2/2008 11:46 AM | |
| | I did something this morning I haven’t done for awhile. I simply took some time and walked around the church building and really looked at things. This little walk was prompted by the board meeting of last month. All of us were asked to really take a look around at the church and ask ourselves if there were things that needed our attention. Are there places that could be spruced up, repaired, updated, renovated? And then we were asked to let our “Building Enhancement Committee” what we saw and what our opinions are about renovations around the place. The committee will take all these ideas and opinions and begin to ask some hard questions: should we undertake a building enhancement renovation project? If yes, what should our priorities be? If yes, what can we afford? They are going into this with an open mind and a clean slate. Only time will tell what the outcome will be. They go into this work with the idea that we must keep our purpose of honoring, worshipping and serving God at the center of an ... | | |
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| | Sunday June 29, 2008 "The Miracle of Bartimaeus" Mark 10: 46-52 | |
Brad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on6/30/2008 10:38 AM | |
| Sometimes I think our biggest problem as humans is that we don’t always say what we mean, or do what we say. I bet all of us have been on both sides of this conversation: “How are things going with you?” “Good, thanks, and you?” “Not bad.”
But how many times when greeted this way have you wanted to really lay out was what going on: how work was a pain, how the kids have been sick, how money is tight at the end of the month…? And who knows, it may be that the person on the other side of the conversation is not really coming clean, either.
Alright, alright, it’s just social convention. No one really wants to hear about all your little ailments and aches and pains and what a jerk your boss has been.
Once a few years ago I had a few minutes between appointments and so I decided to call my father. He answered and I asked, “How are you doin’?” And he started to tell me his problems…and c’mon, I was just being polite. I started to laugh, ... | | |
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| | Serious Fun | |
Mid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on6/25/2008 9:49 AM | |
| Greetings!
This church stuff is serious business.
We do after all deal with a lot of serious issues, and it is something that I do take very seriously. But there is a difference between taking things seriously and always being serious. What I mean by that is that ought to be plenty of room for fun in our faith walk. And this past week, I was part of two examples of just how important having some serious fun can be.
The first was last Friday night in Decatur. By my guess at least a couple of thousand people gathered in the Decatur Square for the city’s annual “Beach Party.” It had an added attraction for some of us here at BCC because the entertainment for the night was “Terry Lee and the G.T.’s” featuring our own Terry Evans as the front man. The night was warm but was perfect for a night out with good friends and great music. The good friends were there: by my count about 40 folks from BCC came to celebrate the end of a work week, da ... | | |
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| | Sunday July 22, 2008 "The Miracle at Mt. Carmel" 1 Kings 18:20-40 | |
Brad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on6/25/2008 9:43 AM | |
| Last summer, traveling in Palestine and Israel with 18 pastors from around the United States, I was blessed to be able to visit many, many places of importance to our faith. All around Galilee, we were able to walk where Jesus walked, see with our own eyes the sites of some of Jesus greatest preaching, teaching and healing. In Bethlehem, we visited the church of the Nativity, the place of Jesus’ birth; in Jerusalem we visited the church of the holy sepluchre, site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. We walked the Via de lo rosa, the way of the cross that Jesus walked toward his death. We sat on the beach where the resurrected Jesus made breakfast for his disciples and urged Peter to “feed my sheep.”
And we saw the places where miracles took place: the place where Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel, where Jesus cured the Gerosene demoniac, where the paralytic man was cured by the pools of Bethsaida, where blind Bartemaias was given his sight.
So many pla ... | | |
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| | Our Best for God | |
Mid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on6/19/2008 8:14 AM | |
| Over the course of the 60 year history of Brookhaven Christian Church, there have been several changes in the structures that have housed this great ministry. First, it was the little house on Colonial Drive that got us going. Then, when the membership began to outgrow that location, property was purchased on the corner of Lanier and Peachtree. For awhile the congregation met at Oglethorpe University, utilizing their auditorium as a sanctuary. Then, in 1958, the first building on the church’s present site was built. Twice in the next 30 years the building was expanded and renovated and then, in 2001, the last building expansion effort ended with new offices, classrooms, a youth room, a community room and a beautiful fellowship hall. Why were all these changes undertaken? So that God’s work could continue to flourish and the kingdom of God could grow.
We have done a great job at growing this physical plant to serve our needs, but some are now wondering if it isn’t time to take a l ... | | |
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| | Sunday June 15, 2008 "The Miracle at Bethsaida" John 5:1-18 | |
Brad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on6/18/2008 11:11 AM | |
| What do you think the proper response to a miracle ought to be?
Well, I suppose there is no one perfect answer to that question, but in general, I would think that awe would be high up on the list. In my mind, it always seems to me that if I was to witness what I would consider to be an undeniable miracle, that I would be in awe of what God can do. And if it was a miracle that was beneficial to me, that changed my life in a positive way, I would think gratitude would be something that I would experience.
But it is not always the case.
It seems that there is sometimes a great burden to being the recipient of a miracle. Why was I saved? Why was my cancer cured? Why was I provided for in my darkest hour? What meaning do I draw from being the recipient of a miracle? What does it say about God that I was blessed in this way?
I bring this up today because on one level, the story of the Miracle at Bethsaida is a str ... | | |
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| | One Church | |
Mid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on6/11/2008 10:40 AM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful morning!
Earlier this week I received a phone call from my friend and colleague Jonathon Holston, Senior Minister at St. James United Methodist Church. He remembered a conversation we had a while back when we were talking about the different forms of baptism. It had taken place at a meeting of the Brookhaven Ministers group, an ecumenical group made up of Disciple, Presbyterian, Catholic, Episcopalian, United Methodist, Lutheran, and United Church of Christ ministers. Part of the discussion centered around how we all practiced baptism in our different traditions. I let them know that Disciples practiced believers baptism where a conscious decision is made by the person to be baptized. This differs from infant baptism where parents take the baptismal vows on behalf of the child, and then at the age of 12 or 13 the child chooses whether or not they will confirm these vows for themselves through a service of confirmation. I was quick to point out that Disc ... | | |
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