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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 June 21, 2009 "Why Are You Afraid?" Mark 4: 35-41 | |
| By Brad Miller on6/23/2009 9:31 AM | |
| Several years ago Carol and I joined a group for whitewater rafting on the Ocoee River. I had been canoeing several times in my life, usually on some fairly sedate rivers, but I did have some experience with whitewater. But not a lot.
When we arrived at the drop off point, our guide got us all outfitted with life jackets, which I expected, and helmets, which I did not expect. Now, you have to understand to me, helmets mean that something bad can happen and it tends to heighten my fear response.
And that is what happened that day at the Ocoee River. The launch point emptied immediately into our first white water rapids, and as I looked at some of the friends with us, I could see the fear in their eyes that surely was in mine, too. The last thing the guide said to us was, “There is nothing to be afraid of.”
I remember thinking, “Really? Nothing to be afraid of? How about death or dismemberment?”
We arranged ourselve ... |  | |
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| | Sunday June 7, 2009 "How Can These Things Be?" John 3:1-17 | |
| By Brad Miller on6/8/2009 10:26 AM | |
| I have questions.
Lots of questions.
It seems to me that if we are truly paying attention, each new revelation of God’s presence and power almost necessarily leads to new questions. It’s not that I don’t believe, I absolutely do, but in my humanness and our culture’s emphasis on knowing and controlling, I have questions. Over the course of the next three weeks, some of those questions will come up; attempts will be made to answer some of those questions and some will be left dangling.
I don’t know what all your questions are. I don’t even have words for all the questions I have. But the first question that I have is: what does God think of our questions? Is God exasperated that we continually ask them? Is God amused at our attempts to understand the magnitude of all that God created and oversees? Does God honor our questions? Do our questions sound like skepticism to God?
This story of Nicodemus helps me deal wi ... | | |
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| | Sunday May 24, 2009 "Sharing the Power of God" John 17:6-19 | |
| By Brad Miller on5/28/2009 8:56 AM | |
| I grew up in a house my grandfather built in the 1930’s. The original venting system in the house was accessed into each room by metal grates that swung open to allow heat to enter, or could be pulled shut to close off the flow of heat into a room. In the upstairs of the house, where the bedrooms were, the grates were two sided with an opening on each side of a wall. In other words, two bedrooms side by side shared the same grate. This meant that if the grate was opened into one room, it would have to be closed into the adjoining room. This was fine for most of the year, but in the dead of winter, we learned to very carefully work the grates from both sides so that they could both be partially opened, allowing heat to flow into each room. This also meant that you could pretty clearly hear what was being said from one room to the next.
My brother and I shared a room that shared a grate with my parents bedroom. So, occasionally we could hear them talking, and I’m sure they hear ... | | |
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| | Sunday May 17, 2009 "Celebrating the Power of God" Psalm 98 | |
| By Brad Miller on5/18/2009 3:49 PM | |
| As we continue to move toward the amazing events of Pentecost, we resume our look at “The Power of God”. Last week we talked about recognizing the power of God, in ways big and small. Next week we will finish the series by exploring the issue of sharing the power of God. Today, we turn our attention to “Celebrating the Power of God.”
I have seen some great celebrations in my time, and I bet you have, too.
What celebrations stick out in your mind? For folks of my parents generation, V-E day and V-J day, those days celebrating the allied forces victories in Europe and Japan, seem to stand out. There are famous pictures of crowds dancing in the street, embracing and kissing, all because of the end of the hostilities in World War II.
I was privileged to find myself in the midst of an amazing celebration the night Pope John Paul II ascended to the papacy. There is a large Polish population in Detroit and the center of that population is a n ... | | |
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| | Sunday May 10, 2009 "Recognizing the Power of God" John 15: 1-8 | |
| By Brad Miller on5/12/2009 3:06 PM | |
| As we celebrate the continuation of Eastertide, the next three weeks we will undertake an exploration of something central to understanding God and our connection to God. For the next three weeks, we will focus on “The Power of God.” Today we will spend some time “Recognizing the Power of God”, next week we will turn our attention to “Celebrating the power of God” and finally, on the Sunday before Pentecost, we will delve into “Sharing the Power of God.”
Sometimes the power of God is seen as a liberating power, but other times, we fear that God’s power will be used to punish. At times, the power of God is so overwhelming as to leave us awestruck. At other times, the power of God is so subtle that we may even not make the connection that God is behind it. There are times when God’s power emboldens us to make a stand, and others when God’s power lets us know that it is okay to simply be, silent and passive.
All of us have seen the power of God. All of us have ... | | |
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| | 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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