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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 February 22, 2009 "The Mantle Passes" 2 Kings 2:1-14 | |
| By Brad Miller on2/24/2009 3:52 PM | |
| Today is traditionally celebrated as “Tranfiguration Sunday” in the more liturgical churches. It celebrates the episode in Jesus’ ministry when he took his disciples Peter James and John with him up to a high mountain top. While on the mountain top, Jesus was transfigured, his clothes becoming a dazzling white. And suddenly appearing at Jesus side, in conversation with him, are Moses and Elijah! As the terrified disciples looked on, a voice came from the heavens saying, “This is my Son, the beloved, listen to him!”
And just as suddenly as the transfiguration came, it was over, leaving Peter, James, John and Jesus alone on the top of the mountain.
It is not entirely clear where this high mountain is, but tradition points to Mt. Tabor, not far from Nazareth as the site of the Transfiguration. During my pilgrimage to Palestine and Israel, several of us hiked up to the top of Mt. Tabor to experience some small part of what the disciples experienced. As we read f ... |  | |
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| | Sunday February 8, 2009 "Have You Not Heard?" Isaiah 40:21-31 | |
| By Brad Miller on2/11/2009 9:22 AM | |
| In 1594, William Shakespeare wrote the famous words, “Now is the winter of our discontent…” His words described the feelings of Richard III, who was unhappy at the way his subjects and the world viewed him. Key word: unhappy.
The prophet Isaiah, speaking to the Israelites gathered into Babylonian exile could have easily spoken those same words some 3000 years before Shakespeare. In Isaiah’s case, however, he would be speaking to the unhappiness of the exiled citizens of Israel.
Where I grew up, February was the month of year when discontentedness and unhappiness would reach its peak. I always felt sorry for my brother whose birthday is in February, but on the other hand, it was a bright spot in an otherwise dreary season. Believe me, I am not just saying this for dramatic effect. February in Detroit is cold and grey and even more uninviting than usual…February in southeastern Michigan regularly yields the second highest suicide rates in the country. You kn ... | | |
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| | Sunday January 25, 2009 "Proclaiming the Fast" Jonah 3:1-5, 10 and Psalm 62:5-12 | |
| By Brad Miller on1/28/2009 2:43 PM | |
| Most of us know at least some part of the book of Jonah. Jonah is unique among the prophets because he is never called a prophet, not once in the entire book. His prophecies of destruction did not come true, but they did hit their mark. But no matter how we categorize Jonah and his mission, the lessons that come from the book of Jonah are powerful and long lasting.
It is a strange book in many ways. It is filled with exaggerated images, absurd responses and righteous indignation. There is a fair amount of humor in the book, too, which if we are not careful can lead us away from the main points.
To recap, Jonah was a man who, out of the blue was instructed to go to Nineveh and warn them to turn around. But it was more than just a simple warning. God gave Jonah specific instructions on what to tell the people of Nineveh. They were to be told that because of their evil ways, they were to be destroyed. But Jonah, not wanting to take on that task, undertook ... | | |
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| | Sunday January 18, 2009 "Doing Justice" Micah 6:6-8 | |
| By Brad Miller on1/26/2009 2:18 PM | |
| “What do you want from me?”
This question has been asked so many times in so many situations: children ask it of parents, parents ask it of children, partners and spouses ask it of each other, workers ask it of bosses, friends ask it of friends.
Sometimes the question is fraught with exasperation. Sometimes it is a loving offer of help. Sometimes it seeks simple clarification.
But it is definitely a question we have heard, a question we have asked.
God has heard the question, too. The question has been asked of God in silent, fervent prayers. It has been asked in huge assemblies. It has been asked out of loyalty and devotion. It has been asked out of frustration. And more than once it has been asked in the hope that we need do nothing more to sastisfy God – we have it just right. But more often than not, we ask it, hoping that the answer will be something easy, knowing full well that the answer, while simple, will never b ... | | |
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| | Sunday January 11, 2009 "New Beginnings" Mark 1:4-11 and ACts 19:1-7 | |
| By Brad Miller on1/26/2009 1:58 PM | |
| The church year can be a little strange.
While most of our society marks January 1st as the beginning of the new year, we Christians have a couple of other alternatives. Lots of us look to the beginning of the school year as the “new year” for the church. When everyone is back in town, that’s when we really gear up our programs, and so it feels like a new beginning.
That is not the only “new beginning” we as church folks experience. The liturgical calendar sets the beginning of Advent as the beginning of the new church calendar. So, sometime soon after Thanksgiving each year we enter a time of reflection, study and introspection in preparation to celebrate the anniversary of the coming of the Messiah, and what it means to our lives that Jesus told us that he would come again.
So, we use that time to prepare ourselves, to work to make changes in our lives, in our spiritual practices and in our outlook. The new year celebration of Advent ends with th ... | | |
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| | Sunday December 21, 2008 "The Light Breaks Through" Isaiah 9:2-7 | |
| By Brad Miller on12/22/2008 2:13 PM | |
| The night was as dark as one I had ever experienced. Oh, not some “spiritual dark night of the soul”…I mean it was DARK outside. I would guess I was 8 or 9 years old at the camp my parents ran in northern Michigan. It was generally darker up there than in our home in Detroit. There was no ambient glow of the city lights to brighten things up, and generally, that was a good thing. Because without that city glow, the skies were filled with thousands upon thousands of stars and may nights were spent looking for the big and little dipper and other constellations we knew.
But this night, it was overcast and the lights of the stars were hidden by the clouds. When I tell you it was dark, I mean it was dark.
And this was the night my flashlight decided not to work.
The camp my parents ran had two parts. First, there was what called “the hotel.” It was a hunting and fishing lodge that my grandfather and my great uncle had built in the 1920’s, ... | | |
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| | Sunday November 30, 2008 "Being Advent People" Isaiah 40:1-11 | |
| By Brad Miller on12/1/2008 11:19 AM | |
| Are you ready?
It’s a simple question, that we hear a lot this time of year: Are you ready for Christmas?
Ready! Are you kidding me? It’s three days past Thanksgiving…there is still so much to be done before Christmas! The planning, the buying, the cooking, the partying, the wrapping….ready? Ha! Ask me again on about December 23rd!
This is a very strange time of year for me. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love the ramp up to Christmas and all that comes along with it. But from a theological point of view, from a church point of view, something gets obscured when this season all gets identified as Christmas…or at the very least as the preparation for Christmas.
What gets obscured is the season of Advent, the beginning of the Christian year, a time of preparation to be sure, but preparation for what?
We sit in a wonderful time, in a wonderful place: we know what happened on that night in the sta ... | | |
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| | Sunday November 23, 2008 "Thanks and Praise" 2 Chronicles 20:14-21 | |
| By Brad Miller on11/24/2008 2:31 PM | |
| Thanksgiving is about remembering.
It’s about remembering where we came from.
When Thanksgiving rolls around every year, I can’t help but think of the Thanksgivings past that I spent with my family. Growing up, my family lived basically in two places: the rural area of Michigan known as “The Thumb”, and the biggest city in the state, Detroit.
My father grew up in the Thumb, in a place called Sandusky and my mother had lots of aunts, uncles and cousins in the next town over, Marlette. In fact, my mother, who was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Detroit, actually lived on her grandparents farm for one year in Marlette, when she was 5 years old. That’s where she met my father, at the Flynn Township Red Star School…a one room school house that my father attended until he went to high school.
When I was a small child, we would go up to the Thumb and have Thanksgiving with my grandparents, or my great Uncle Jim and Aun ... | | |
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| | Sunday November 9, 2009 "Laying the Foundation" Ezra 3: 10-13 | |
| By Brad Miller on11/11/2008 10:27 AM | |
| The Book of Ezra picks up where the Book of Chronicles ends: with an account of the return to Jerusalem of the exiles in Babylon. Ezra and it’s companion book, Nehemiah, tell the story of what happened during those confusing times.
Make no mistake about it, they were most certainly confusing times. The leadership of Jerusalem had been carried away to Babylon years before. They had found a new life in Babylon. It was not a horrible exile, a punitive imprisoning exile, but it was exile nonetheless. They were away from their home, away from their holiest temple, away from the center of their religious and their civic life.
Then, in the edict of Cyrus of Persia, conqueror of Babylon, they were told to go home. Told to rebuild the city, rebuild the temple, rebuild their lives. Let’s be clear: this was the idea of Cyrus, their enemy, who reported that this edict was conveyed to him as God’s will. Cyrus didn’t just let them go. He helped them get home. He d ... | | |
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| | Sunday October 16, 2008 "Jesus: The Truth King" John 18:36-38a | |
| 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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