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| Wonder and Awe | Brad's Blog Mid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on8/29/2012 2:04 PM | |
| | When we talk of “Wonder and Awe”, the image that most often comes to me is that of little children being so excited about experiencing something that they simply sit and stare, overcome with the experience. But when was the last time you, as an adult, experienced that ”wonder and awe” type of feelng? I can come up with a handful: hiking on the north rim of the Grand Canyon with no sound except the crunch beneath our hiking boots and the swirling wind. Floating in a hot air balloon over Albuquerque, New Mexico and environs. White water rafting in North Georgia. Traveling by train through the Alps. Do you see a theme developing here? The most amazing, awe inspiring, experiences I have ever had have almost all been about being in the midst of God’s creation. Experiencing God’s creation brings a sense of wonder and gratitude that is sometimes hard to explain. To think that the God who created all of this also created us is sometimes hard to get your head around. And to think that we have been given this ... |  | |
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| | Sunday August 26, 2012 "In the Valley..." Ephesians 6:10-20 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on8/27/2012 1:52 PM | |
| A few weeks ago I gave a sermon titled “On the Mountain” and spent some time talking about heaven and it’s pull on our lives. Being up on the mountain is synonymous for being in God’s presence…in heaven. It is the place where things are good, all pain is gone, struggle is forgotten and joy is complete.
In contrast, we do not live our lives on the mountain. Oh, we have glimpses of the mountaintop from time to time and we are striving to bring the peace and joy of heaven to earth so that all God’s children might know that God is real and present. But, still, this life is too often a difficult one where things are not all good, where pain is some folks constant companion and too many people struggle to find joy in their lives.
That’s because we live out our lives in the valley. The valley is where real life takes place. The valley is the place that needs a touch of heaven, and it is the place where we exist.
The Apostle Paul, writing in ... | | |
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| | A Welcome Beginning | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on8/22/2012 11:04 AM | |
| | I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, I always loved the beginning of school. It meant a return to Detroit after a summer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It meant going to the Montgomery Ward’s store in Sault Ste. Marie and picking up some new clothes for the return to school. It meant new pencils and notebooks and the excitement of new teachers. But most of all, it meant seeing all my friends after a summer apart, as well as meeting whatever new kids had moved into the neighborhood. And of course there was the fall when I was the new kid in the neighborhood. It only happened once, but I can remember how nervous I was that first day. We had actually lived in our new house since Easter the following year, but my sister and I stayed with friends during the week and finished up the school year at our old schools. I didn’t know what to expect, but a guy named Phil Jones befriended me that first day and that made all the difference in the world. The funny thing is, even though Phil and I remai ... | | |
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| | Sunday August 19, 2012 "If Only..." Exodus 16: 2-4, 9-15 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on8/20/2012 9:51 AM | |
| The scripture we just heard read is a story that is very familiar to many of us. I have heard preachers use this story as an example of a lack of faith. The Israelites have the audacity not only to complain, but to utter those fateful words, “If only…” In their case it is a pretty surprising “if only”. “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt.” Was it really that bad? Was slavery under pharaoh better than the admitted hardships of their new found freedom?
What is this “if only” that they utter? Is it a really a lack of faith? Is it regret? I don’t think so. What is a the heart of the matter is neither of those. What I really think is going on here is something that we all feel from time to time: doubt.
Complaints are the vocal manifestation of our doubts. A complaint about government inefficiency is essentially, giving voice to doubts about how our government operates. “If only different decisions had been made…”
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| | What I Learned on My Summer Vacation | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on8/15/2012 8:06 AM | |
| The summer is, sadly, coming to an end. For thousands of kids in metro Atlanta, it is already over, having started back to school this week…or last week…or the week before. I have been thinking about what to say about the passing of summer and I ran across something by the Christian writer, Rachel Held Evans that summed it up better than I could. My only question: how can we approach fall in the same we approach summer – expectantly, excitedly?
What I Learned on my Summer Vacation - Rachel Held Evans
“I sipped wine around a campfire.
I stayed up too late.
I watched my 13-year-old nephew battle ocean waves...and win.
I breathed in salty sear air, clean mountain air, and the first tantalizing hints of autumn air.
I paid $10 for day-old sandwich in colonial Williamsburg, which I suspect would have horrified the Founding Fathers as much as the $3 water and $9 “Freedom B ... | | |
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| | Overcoming pessimism | | Brad's Blog
| By Brad Miller on8/9/2012 1:01 PM | |
| It is easy to be a pessimist in our current world. Some days things seem to go from bad to worse to worst. And it is easy to throw up our hands and say, “The world is out of control! What can be done?” We pray. We do our best to teach our children right and wrong. We live our lives as close to Jesus’ example as we are able. But still…the feeling of helplessness is sometimes hard to shake. And the longer we can’t shake the feeling, the heavier we feel, the more pessimistic we become.
I am not a pessimist by nature. Even in the midst of the violence and chaos of our society, I remain optimistic that doing the right thing and standing up for what is right is what we should do. It is hard sometime to see the good in some people; it is hard to see a way to break through some of the seemingly intransigent problems that face us; it is difficult to find an answer to the negativity that permeates so much of society. As hard as those things may be, if we stop trying to break through ... | | |
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| | Sunday August 5, 2012 "On the Mountain" Isaiah 25:1-10 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on8/9/2012 12:56 PM | |
| What are we to make of heaven?
Is it real?
What does it look like?
What does scripture say about it?
Let’s start with the last question first: what does scripture say about heaven?
Genesis tells us that God created the heavens and the earth…1 Chronicles tells us that everything in heaven and earth belongs to God…2 Chronicles tells us that heaven is where God resides and if we pray, God will hear us in heaven…Psalm 103 tells us that God has established a throne in heaven…Luke tells us that there is rejoicing in heaven when any one sinner repents and turns toward God…When Jesus was ascended, the book of Acts tells us that he was taken up into heaven…2 Corinthians and Philippians both tell us that we, like Jesus, are also destined to reside in heaven.
Over and over, there are allusions and examples of what awaits us after this life is over. For many, it is the bedrock of our ... | | |
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| | Listen to the children | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on8/6/2012 8:02 AM | |
| “And a child shall lead them…” And we need to listen to them!
It has been a difficult summer in a lot of ways: acrimonious debate over political referenda and candidates; illness, accident and death of church friends and family; the devastation left in the wake of the Aurora, Colorado shootings; an economy that seems to be stuck in neutral. Still, we keep pushing through, looking for some sort of relief from somewhere. This morning on the way in to the church, a young boy who goes to our Child Development Center called out to me, “Hey church guy!” Realizing he was talking to me I waved hello and walked over to talk with him and his mother, who was kind of rolling her eyes in embarrassment. “Hey pre-school guy!”, I said to him as he offered me his hand for a high five. I asked him how school was going and he shrugged his shoulders and said, “Good. I love coming here…they teach me how to play.” As we parted, I was amazed at his insight. That may be one of the most important things ... | | |
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| | Sunday July 15, 2012 "Worshiping with Praise and Prayer" Psalm 150 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on8/2/2012 1:55 PM | |
| Psalm 150 is one of my favorites. And you know why? Because it comes completely without agenda. By that I mean it simply tells us, over and over again, to Praise God! In the entire Psalm there is only quick mention of why we are to praise God: for God’s mighty deeds and God’s surpassing greatness. The rest of it simply says where and how we are to praise God.
This stands in stark contrast to so many other Psalms. If we are to look at a Psalm like Psalm 70, for instance, we see a writer who praises God in verse 4: Let all who seek you rejoice in be glad in you. Let those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is Great!” But the writer comes with an agenda: verse 2 reads: Let those be put to shame and confusion who seek my life. Let those be turned back and brought dishonor who desire to hurt me.
In modern parlance, it might go something like this: “Praise God, because you are so great! You are everything to me! Oh, and by the way, could you please puni ... | | |
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| | Sunday July 29, 2012 "Worshipping God in Word and Witness" Psalm 119: 97-104 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on7/31/2012 10:26 AM | |
| Over the last several weeks we have been exploring the topic of worship. We have talked about the meaning of worship, why we worship and how our worship is used to praise an awesome God. Last week you heard powerful testimony as to how worship can indeed change lives. And today we are going to talk about what is at the heart of our worship; the exploration of the Word of God, and equally important the question of how we are to use the lessons of our worship to witness to God’s presence in our lives, in our church, in our world.
When we gather to worship, we come out of a sense of gratitude for all that has been done for us, and we come in order to learn more about God and God’s love and grace as revealed through Jesus Christ. But it is not simply an educational exercise. It is a spiritual exercise, a faith filled experience that not only helps inform us, but hopefully, empowers us to move into the world and be the presence in the world that God would have us be.
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