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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 |
| Easter Sunday April 12, 2009 "An Idle Tale" Luke 24:1-12 | |
| By Brad Miller on4/14/2009 10:37 AM | |
| I learned about the power of resurrection when I was a teenager.
One day the front doorbell rang. I went to answer it and when I opened the door I saw a tall, broad, rather rough looking guy wearing a United Auto Workers jacket. Now, neither the roughness or the UAW jacket was out of the ordinary in my neighborhood, but when he asked if Dorothy Conely lived there, I was a bit surprised.
I asked him to wait a moment, closed the door and went and got my mother. I described who was at the door, that he had asked for her using her maiden name. She looked a little concerned and said, “stay behind me.”
She opened the door, and said, “Can I help you?” and the man responded, “Hi Dorothy.” My mother looked a little perplexed for a minute than suddenly cried out, “Oh, my gosh, Bob Hill!” She pushed open the door and he held out his arms and enveloped her in the biggest bear hug I have ever seen.
Now, I did not recogniz ... |  | |
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| | Sunday March 22, 2009 "Sacred Living" John 3:14-21 | |
| By Brad Miller on3/23/2009 12:35 PM | |
| For God so loved the world…
It is a phrase we hear often, and because we hear it so often, we sometimes don’t give it the attention we should. It comes from John 3:16 and I would hazard a guess that for most of us who grew up in the church, that was the first verse we ever memorized,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.”
For quite awhile beginning in the 1970’s, just about every televised sporting event included someone in the crowd with a rainbow colored wig and a posterboard that said simply “John 3:16” The idea was, anyone who didn’t know the reference would go to their Bible and read this wonderful verse. And it is a wonderful verse. It encapsulates the basic reason that Jesus came to live among us, and it gives voice to what the reward will be for those who follow Jesus.
But too often we concentrate so heavily on the ... | | |
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| | Sunday March 15, 2009 "Sacred Space" John 2: 13-22 | |
| By Brad Miller on3/17/2009 9:55 AM | |
| In the Galilean countryside, on the banks of the Sea of Galilee is a place called “The Primacy of Peter.” Tradition says that this is the place where the resurrected Jesus called to his disciples from the beach, instructed them where to throw their nets for the biggest catch possible, and then, made breakfast for them at daybreak.
Today there is a pretty little chapel very near the beach. Up a small path sit several small outdoor worship areas, places where pilgrims can share communion and feel the presence of Jesus. Mounted on a rock about half way between the chapel and the beach is a simple sign, “This is holy ground.”
When I stood in front of that sign almost 2 years ago, I thought to myself, “Of course it is.”
Just what makes a place “holy” or “sacred?” It’s not as easy to answer that question as it first seems. Maybe by thinking about spaces that are sacred to us we might see some commonalities and be better able to answer tha ... | | |
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| | Sunday March 8, 2009 "Sacred Calling" Mark 8:31-38 | |
| By Brad Miller on3/9/2009 12:45 PM | |
| In his book “Whistling in the Dark”, Frederick Buechner posits that after his baptism, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness asking himself what it meant to be Jesus. And in a similar way, Christians use the 40 days of Lent to ask themselves what it means to be Christians.
That is is why I love Lent.
Now, there’s a sentence you hear don’t very often: I love Lent. A good friend of mine who is also a minister once lamented to me that he was sick and tired of all the dreary, mournful, soul searching of Lent. “Don’t people know that Easter is coming?” he asked. “Why can’t we have a little more celebration during Lent?”
He’s right of course. Easter is coming. For that we are grateful and we will most definitely celebrate come Easter morning.
But I disagree with part of his premise. The fact is, Easter cannot be truly appreciated unless we use the season of Lent to try our best to understand what it all means. If it is all sweet ... | | |
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| | 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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