Monthly Archives: May 2015
Visited by the Spirit Acts 2:1-21 I have always had a high regard for someone who can tell a really great story. You know, like a novelist who can use the printed word in a masterful way to create a piece that, when you read it, makes you think hard and deep about essential issues of life. Or, a speaker who mesmerizes the crowd and transports you to another place by almost… Read More
Yesterday when I pronounced the benediction at the end of worship, I told the congregation to gather all the courage they could muster, turn from the work of worship, and go out to change the world. Honestly, I didn’t think much about how I said it; I try to say something very similar every week because it’s what I believe: being the church should transform us so that we can be agents… Read More
It Starts Now Acts 1:1-11 Ascension Sunday Well, here we are, on the seventh Sunday of Easter, thinking about what it means to build a church. We’d expected that Diana Butler Bass would be here, however, due to Amtrak tragedies and airline delays, you’re stuck with me today, on ascension Sunday. Today’s passage from Acts is the very beginning of the book, Luke’s starting story. It invited the first disciples and it… Read More
Blowin’ in the Wind Acts 10:44-48 In these weeks following Easter here at The Riverside Church, we’ve been talking about building a church, reading in the book of Acts about some of the experiences of the very first disciples as they tried to figure out what a gospel community looked like in the wake of resurrection—how they might institutionalize the gospel message in such a way that it would take root in… Read More
Talk with the Preacher 