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| Folks is Folks | Brad's Blog Mid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on6/29/2011 10:31 AM | |
| | What a great weekend of service! From the opening prayer on Friday night to the closing benediction in worship at Campbell Stone Buckhead on Sunday afternoon, the presence of the Spirit was certainly felt! We learned a lot about service this weekend. We learned it can take many forms. From the simple act of being present for someone to the involved work of construction and home repair and everything in between – when we approach our brothers and sisters with love in hearts, seeking to find out what their needs are, we are indeed, doing God’s work of service. We also learned that when we approach service with that loving heart, we are served, too. The fellowship that comes from being in service to one another is real and true. But I think that the most important lesson we learned was that no matter who we are, no matter our situation, no matter our needs, we are all just folks, children of God. And when we understand that, service becomes something we simply live out, not something we must be prodded t ... |  | |
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| | Celebrating God's Presence | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on6/22/2011 1:24 PM | |
| Sunday in worship I talked about doing our best to be open to God’s presence at all times. I used the example of trying to see God’s hand in everything we encounter. The more we do that, I argued, the more centered we become, the calmer we become, the easier it becomes to keep God at the center of all we do, all the time.
Well, this morning, that idea was surely tested. And I bet many of you know what I am talking about: Atlanta traffic. Given our schedules for today, I dropped Carol off at Emory this morning. A trip that usually takes about 15 minutes ended up taking over an hour. On the way to the church, I took another route, only to find that another standard 15 minute drive ended up taking about 45 minutes. My patience was tested as I tried to see God’s hand in the person who decided to drive on the wrong side of the road and then swerve over to get ahead of the rest of us. I was tested to feel God’s presence as dozens of cars sat idling, not moving, pumping pollutants into ... | | |
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| | Sunday June 19, 2011 "A Personal Relationship?" Psalm 63:1-8 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on6/22/2011 1:19 PM | |
| We thrive on relationships. We cannot live without relationships. Some are good, some are bad, some are wonderful, some are awful.
Listen to popular music at any given time and almost every song you hear has to do with relationship issues: love, hate, confusion, despair about relationships.
Think about how you get through your day. How many times do you rely on a relationship with another person in order to get your job done, accomplish your goals, succeed?
Think about how you were nurtured as you grew and matured? Were strangers the most important people in your development? Of course not. The most important people to our development are those with whom we are in relationship.
So, what makes for a relationship?
A point of connection
A shared experience
Communication
And what beyond those three makes for a STRONG relationship: a mutuality of purpose.
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| | Munuscong | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on6/15/2011 1:24 PM | |
| One of the great blessings in my life is a place called Munuscong, Michigan. It is about 350 miles north of Detroit, and about 300 miles northwest of Toronto. It is a place that my great uncle Clyde Conely found in the 1920’s and where he farmed and later built a fishing and hunting resort in the 1930’s. In the 1950’s the lodge and several acres of land on what later became known as “Conely’s Point” was donated to the Methodist church for use as a family camp, and my parents became the first managers of the camp in 1956, the year I was born. Downriver from the camp were several cottages that through the years have passed down from Uncle Clyde, my grandfather and several great aunts and uncles, to relatives in my generation. Right now there are 9 houses owned by Conely descendants, including the two my brother and sister and I and our spouses own. At any given time, it can be an instant family reunion.
Munuscong was where I learned…a lot. It was where I learned to swim and use my ... | | |
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| | Sunday May 22, 2011 "Forward Movement" Acts 2:42-47 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on5/25/2011 4:10 PM | |
| As we continue our Easter celebration, we focus today on the forward movement that characterizes the church of Jesus Christ. This notion of movement is very important as we celebrate Easter, because Easter is not a static event as much as it is a developing way of life.
When we hear stories like the one we heard Jennifer just read, we are reminded that an important part of Easter was the beginning of the church. And as we heard, there’s no doubt that being part of the early church founding and growth must have been an exhilarating time.
One of my favorite professors in college once told me about the most exhilarating and exciting time of his life. Working as a young graduate student providing assistance to poverty stricken folks in eastern Kentucky. “We really didn’t know what we were doing,” he said “But we knew why we were doing it.”
That phrase has stuck with me through the years and I think the folks in the early church felt so ... | | |
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| | Old and New | | Brad's Blog
| By Brad Miller on5/25/2011 3:24 PM | |
| Greetings!
When the original version of “Hawaii Five-O” was on TV in the 60’s and 70’s, I never missed an episode. I loved the iconic theme song; I loved the characters – Kam Fong as “Chin Ho”, Zulu as “Kono”, James McArthur as “Danno” and of course Jack Lord as the coolest of cool, “Steve McGarrett.” When they announced last summer that a new “Hawaii Five-O” was coming to TV, I was excited, but also a little worried. Could they ever do the original show justice? So, with some trepidation, I tuned in the opening episode. It was not a continuation of the original series, but a retelling of the same basic story. The characters are the same – McGarrett, Danno, Chin Ho and Kono (who is now a woman…and hey, she is a lot better looking than the original Kono) - but even though their names are the same, they are very different characters. I began to watch it and started to get hooked. It still has that great theme song, but the feel of the show is completely different from the original ... | | |
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| | Sunday May 15, 2011 "Putting It All Together" Luke 24:13-35 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on5/16/2011 9:52 AM | |
| We live in a “fast paced-get it done-check it off the list-move on to the next thing” kind of world. We look forward to things with great anticipation, but when they are over, they are over. The messages are everywhere: don’t let any moss grow beneath your feet; if you’re not moving forward you are moving backward; act now or you’ll miss the opportunity. This is not a brand new phenomenon, but in 21st century America, we have perfected it. And our religious observances are no different. We move through Advent and Christmas comes and then, as a friend of mine puts it, “There is nothing so over as Christmas.” We move through Lent and Easter comes, and we are rushing to look to what comes next, because Easter is over.
Well, guess what? Easter is not over. From a strictly liturgical point of view, we are still in the season of Easter and will be until Pentecost Sunday. From a more personal point of view, we are still dealing with the meaning of Easter in our own lives, and so we sh ... | | |
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| | Sunday May 8, 2011 "The Strength of the Church" Matthew 28:1-10 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on5/9/2011 10:42 AM | |
| I know that some people are puzzled when they hear the scripture that Jennifer just read. Not so much puzzled by the scripture itself, but the fact that it is being read two full weeks after Easter Sunday. There are two reasons for reading it today: First, we are still in the season of Eastertide, and so reflection the Easter event is still important. Second, one of the things I think is important to focus on in Eastertide is how we move forward after the reality and the importance of the resurrection starts to sink in.
Today, I want to focus on the lessons to be learned from the women who showed up a the tomb on that first Easter morning. Being a day when we honor mothers and the strong women in our lives, it is more than appropriate that we pay attention to the example of these strong women.
The scripture we heard from Matthew tells us that the two Mary’s – Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene come to the tomb early in the morning. Other gospels hav ... | | |
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| | Easter Sunday April 24, 2011 "A New Day" John 20:1-18 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on5/9/2011 10:34 AM | |
| It was a new day. But not the kind of day that was welcomed. The Sabbath was over, and those who were the closest to Jesus found themselves at loose ends, trying to figure out just what had happened.
Mary Magdalene found herself drawn to the tomb where Jesus was laid. When she saw that the stone that covered the tomb had been rolled away, she panicked and ran to get Peter and another disciple. She told them what she had seen and they all ran back to the tomb where Peter and the other disciple saw that she was telling the truth and went home.
But not Mary; Mary stayed behind weeping in confusion and grief. Not only because Jesus was dead, but now someone had gone too far and desecrated his final resting place.
And then she was presented with a reality that she could not have comprehended any other way: Jesus was alive, and standing right in front of her, calling her by name and instructing her to share the good news with others. Her ... | | |
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| | We're All in This Together | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on5/4/2011 8:28 AM | |
| Greetings!
If I ever doubted it, the last couple of weeks have shown me just how small the world is becoming. The news out of Pakistan concerning the death of Osama bin Laden spread like wildfire and almost as soon as it had happened, the whole world knew about it. By the time the morning news came on Monday, we saw pictures of celebrations around the world, soon followed by angry protests by those who supported him. I must admit to struggling with very mixed feelings about the event. As someone who thinks justice is a very important concept, the news could certainly be interpreted as bin Laden receiving what he deserved for the thousands of lives he has taken. As a Christian, however, the idea of reveling in his violent death seems foreign to what we teach. Was it for revenge? Or was it strategic? I do know that it does not bring back any of his victims, or those who have died to fight his brand of evil. It is a discomforting feeling all the way around. My only hope and prayer ... | | |
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