Every time I read this scripture, I am struck more and more deeply by the choice that that angel presented to Mary. To say it wasn’t an easy one would be a massive understatement. Mary was an unmarried young lady. By the standards of her culture, she had done everything right up to that point in her life. She had saved herself for marriage. She had allowed her parents to arrange her marriage to Joseph the carpenter. She had pledged herself to him and was just waiting for the marriage to be finalized. She probably dreamed of her life with Joseph, having children, taking care of the home, doing all the things that women in that culture did. Read the full text here. 

Today is the third Sunday of Advent. And the third Sunday of Advent is supposed to be about Joy. And the scripture that accompanied the lighting of the Advent candles certainly suggests just that—Joy. It’s about good news to the oppressed, release of the captives, joy in the Lord. Good, good stuff. Read the full text. 

There is no written sermon this week due to our Christmas Cantata. We invite you to watch this special service! Salado UMC 10:00 am Christmas Cantata- December 10, 2023 - YouTube

Advent is the four-week season leading up to Christmas. For most of us, it’s a reasonably happy time. A time when we tune the TV to the Hallmark Channel, when we at least imagine curling up on the couch in front of a warm fire with a steaming mug of hot chocolate in our hands. A time of peace and joy. A time that’s all about that little 8 pound 6 oz newborn infant Jesus, angels and shepherds, wise men and camels. Silent night, holy night. Read the full text.

Why be thankful? Well, we got just a taste in that video. Isn’t it great that we have a holiday dedicated to nothing more than giving thanks? We just celebrated it. For the last 3 weeks, we’ve been talking about some of the things we have to be thankful for: for creation; for life; for salvation. And, for sure, those are all things that we should be incredibly thankful for. But it still leaves the question of “why”. Why should we be thankful? What’s the point of thanksgiving? Read the full text. 

The passage we read a couple of weeks ago, verse 1 of chapter 1 of the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis, starts the same way: “in the beginning.” In the beginning, God created everything, from the light to the plants to the animals. All the amazing things we have to be thankful for. Things like we just saw in that video: the ability to walk and talk and breathe and eat and drink. Jobs and money and health and family. All those blessings we have that, when we stop and think about it, we know we should be thankful for. Read the full text. 

It's not about you. I think that’s a message we all need to hear every once in a while. Because we can sometimes tend to get a little self-obsessed. We live in a world that’s all about me, me, me and it’s sometimes pretty easy to get caught up in that. It’s pretty easy to start thinking it really is all about me. And when it’s all about me, the glass can seem half full. In fact, it might be all the way full if we could just get all these other people to do things the way they ought to be done, right? Read the full text.

Now, I don’t want to freak y’all out or anything, but Thanksgiving is not quite 3 weeks away. That’s just crazy. And, of course, there’s an unwritten rule that in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, we’ve got to have a sermon series on being thankful. So, that’s what we’re going to do. This is the first week in our new series, imaginatively entitled “Thankful.” But I’ve gotta tell you, there are days when I have a pretty hard time with this idea of being thankful. Read the full text here.

Tim Allen's Home Improvement was one of the most popular and iconic sitcoms of the 1990s. Over 208 episodes from 1991-1999, fans were treated to the antics of Tim the tool man Taylor and his family. A favorite character of the show was Tim’s mostly hidden neighbor, Dr. Wilson Wilson Wilson Jr. Tim never saw Wilson’s entire face, but their conversations always gave Tim good advice when he was in a bind. Unfortunately, deep conversations between neighbors are becoming increasingly rare. Read the full text. 

The bee knees, hip, groovy, far out, fab, fresh, cool, sick, tight, dope, sweet, Gucci, lit, straight fire, slaps. You might wonder what all these words have in common. If you know people from different generations, you will learn these are all ways that various generations have said that something is “good.” The scary part is these words have all been used and discarded over just the last century. Who knows what the next generations will come up with? Read the full text. 

One of my favorite books is “Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith” by Kathleen Morris. In the book, she walks the reader through various “Christianese” terms that can confuse those outside of the faith. The book also points out that we Christians have words that we always say but do not know what they actually mean. These are the big, scary church words like “sanctification,” “justification,” “atonement,” or “volunteer opportunities.” Okay, maybe that last isn’t hard to understand, but we run from it anyway! Read the full text. 

Give and you will get. That’s what this scripture says, right? Have any of y’all ever heard of the prosperity gospel? One of my assignments for one of my seminary classes a while back was to attend worship services from different religions and different Christian denominations. At the church I visited just a few blocks from my house in Round Rock, the preacher referred to his personal jet once and to his Mercedes at least 5 times. The whole point of his sermon was that if you will just have enough faith to give generously to God, then God will shower you with money and with stuff. Read the full text. 

So, here we are at the end of Jesus’ life, and he’s being tempted again. Did you notice? Those of you who were here the last few weeks, you remember how when Jesus got baptized, the voice of the Father revealed his identity: this is my beloved son. Then, almost immediately, out there in the wilderness, Satan started attacking him, tempting him. And all of the attacks and the temptations were aimed at his identity: “IF you are the son of God, then turn these rocks to bread.” “IF you’re reject your identity as God’s beloved son and instead worship me, I’ll give you power over the entire earth and everyone in it.” “IF you’re the son of God, jump off the highest part of the Temple without getting hurt, so everyone will love you and worship you.” Read the full text. 

It had been a long and winding road to the top of that mountain. A road that had actually started about three years earlier, with Jesus’ baptism. Remember? Jesus standing in the Jordan river when the Holy Spirit descends and the Father’s voice says, “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” It was a revelation, an epiphany. This was Jesus’ identity a beloved Son of ood. How incredible it must have been. Read the full text here. 

I have to confess that this makes no sense. Last week, we discussed the apostle Matthew’s account of Jesus’ baptism; how in the midst of the chaos and dysfunction of Jesus’ history, God the Father declared his true identity: beloved son. So, put yourself in Jesus’ position. God the Father, the creator of the universe, has just spoken loud and clear for all to hear that you are His beloved child with whom He is well pleased. Read the full text.

I’m the oldest of 5 kids. One of my little brothers is named Michael, but we used to call him Bucky because of his teeth. He’s maybe, other than my dad, one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. But for such a smart guy, he does some pretty dumb things. In my family, we call them “Buck stories.” One of my favorites is a time we were fixing to head out on a family vacation. We had one of those 15 passenger vans and we were going to take it to California. My dad asked Michael to make sure the radiator was completely filled with water. He handed Michael a minnow bucket and told him to fill it up. Now, if you’ve never seen one of those old school minor buckets, it’s actually two buckets. Read the full text here. 

I still remember when Kirsten made me start going to church. It was First United Methodist Round Rock. I would time it so we showed up right when worship was about to start to drop off our kids at Sunday School. Then we would sort of mosey our way over to the sanctuary, making sure to get there after service had already started. We would usually sit on the last row of the balcony. And that was when we decided to go to worship at all. Sometimes I would be able to talk Kirsten into just going to the coffee shop for an hour. For us, that was church. That was what it meant to be part of a community of faith. Read the full text.

Imagine you’re Simon or Andrew; James or John. You’ve just finished up a hard night of fishing. You’re mending the nets and getting everything ready so you can go out and do the same thing tonight. And the night after that, and the night after that. It’s what you’ve been doing since you were a little kid and it’s what you’ll be doing your entire working life. In a sense, it IS your life. It IS your identity. Read the full text here.

So, I’m going to throw out some names and I’d like you to think what they all have in common. Here we go: Samson & Delilah, Cleopatra & Marc Antony, Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn, Sonny & Cher, Kanye West & Kim Kardashian? What do you think? I think for most of us, these names call to mind relationships; famous relationships; maybe stormy, difficult relationships. This is the first week in a new sermon series we’re calling “Community” and this series is all about relationships—our relationship with God and our relationships with one another. Read the full text.

Have you ever been really bored? Now, some of you right now might be saying to yourselves, “well yeah, I was here last Sunday for the sermon!” And for those of you thinking that, that’s not very nice. But I’m talking about REALLY bored. I went to law school about 35 years ago. And to say that some of my classes were boring would be a huge understatement. My first year we all had to take a class called civil procedure, which right there tells you it’s going to be sort of like watching paint dry. Read the full text here.

If you couldn’t tell already, I just love this story. I love almost everything about it. And part of the reason I love it so much is how relatable it is. I think all of us can relate at one point or another with the younger son, going way far away from God, seeking nothing more than his own pleasure and comfort. Or the older son; doing what he’s supposed to do, following the rules to earn God’s love, only to see Him lavish that same love that he’s worked so hard for on folks who so clearly don’t deserve it. Read the full text.

It’s just not fair, is it? For those of you who were here last week, you’ll remember the first part of the story: How the younger son took his part of the inheritance to a far country and wasted it on himself. When it was all gone, he came back home with his tail between his legs, just hoping that his father would welcome him back as a hired hand. And what did the father do? He certainly didn’t do what any of us would have done. Read the full text. 

It was late February 1986. I was sitting in my truck on the edge of lake Travis in the early morning, watching the low, grey clouds as they scudded along; watching as the wind stirred up the whitecaps and animated the brown, dry Johnsongrass. I was pretty comfortable despite the wind. Of course, there were a few places where the wind did manage to get through; one or two spaces in the duct tape around the garden hose that ran from the exhaust pipe thru the back window. I was only a few miles from my house, but I was a long, long way from home. Read the full text. 

When I was young, one of the most popular movies was “Ghostbusters.” I remember so much merchandise being made for that movie, and of course, everyone knew the famous catchphrase of the film, “I Ain’t Afraid of No Ghost!” However, I was pretty spooked by many ghost stories. The faith tradition I was raised in put considerable stock in spiritual warfare, where angels and demons were battling for the world. Read the full text. 

If we are honest with ourselves, almost everyone has someone in their life that we always seem to conflict with, but we have to be nice to them. Usually, it’s a co-worker or relative, sometimes a boss. This kind of people can make life miserable. Of course, the irony is that you are probably that person to someone else. The apostle Paul seems to feel that way about himself in Romans 7:15-25. Read the full text.

We are fast approaching the 4^th of July Holiday. It is a time of celebration for our country and the gift of freedom we have by being citizens of the United States. I am thankful for those like my grandfather, who served in WWII, and my uncle, who served in Vietnam, for their contributions to that freedom. Freedom and independence are, for many, synonymous with our country. These ideals are ingrained in what it means to be American. Read the full text. 

Have you ever wanted to be a super hero? to leap tall buildings in a single bound? to run as fast as the speed of sound? to swing from building to building on a thread? or even to flick your wand and defeat the evil wizard? or at the bear minimum be able to flick a wand and the dishes are done? Read the full text. 

This is my last sermon, at least for awhile, here in Salado. Next week, after VBS, I will transition to another church. I am excited about new adventures and about where God is leading me. But I am also sad. You see, this church, all of you, have been a part of my family for over a dozen years. You have welcomed me and Matthew, and then both of my children in turn, into your family of faith and into this community. Most of you do not know the story of Matthew and I’s first Sunday here. I keep it close to my heart as a treasured memory. Read the full text. 

I wonder what Abraham thought. It was the middle of the day and it was hot. Well, more than hot. It was miserably, suffocatingly hot; like August in … well … here; the kind of heat that just drains everything out of you. And Abraham was right there in the middle of it. Of course, he did what he could. He sat in the entrance to his tent, in the shade of the awning where he could occasionally feel tiny wisps of the less-than-scorching breeze. It was something, but not much. He was probably half-asleep from the relentless waves of the heat beating against him. Read the full text. 

My mom still lives in the home I grew up in. She’s lived in that home for about 60 years. Many of y’all can relate. I’ve talked to some of you who are living in homes your grandparents or great grandparents built. Now, that’s a home. I was thinking about this the other day because that’s not me. Now, it’s not like I was in the military or anything, but I’ve lived in several different places, enough to where I’m not sure I could call any of them “home.” Read the full text here.

Today is Pentecost, the day when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit to Jesus’ disciples as they sat in an upper room in Jerusalem. And this [show driver] is a Makita cordless impact driver. By the time we’re done, I hope you’ll see how closely related these two things are. Now, as we join the disciples in today’s passage, they had been through a lot. Read the full text here.

We are now in the middle of what’s known as the season of Easter. A lot of you may not have known there WAS an Easter season. This is the season between Jesus’ resurrection, which we celebrate on Easter Sunday, and Pentecost, seven weeks later, when the Holy Spirit descended upon and entered into Jesus’ disciples as they waited in that upper room in Jerusalem. Read the full text here. 

I’m going to confess something to y’all. Now, I consider this a safe space, right? A place where I can share my soul. What happens here stays here (and on YouTube, but that’s pretty private, right?). So please don’t tell the District Superintendent or the Bishop what I’m about to say. Here it is: I really don’t find Jesus’ advice here to be all that helpful. Now I want to be really clear; it’s not bad advice. In fact, it’s really good advice. It’s such good advice we hear it all the time. There’s that song, “Don’t Worry Be Happy.” If you go to the self-help section of Amazon, you’ll see book after book after book on how we should stop worrying. Read the full text here. 

As many of you know, I’m a nature guy. I love going for hikes and being outside. But nature can be scary. I will share a story that was emailed to me showing just how scary it can be. It came from the Perkins School of Theology, where I attend seminary. The story read... Read the full text here.

I quit! When I say that, what do you think? Is it a good thing? Are you thinking to yourself, oohh, I want to be just like him: I want to be a quitter? A lot of us admire athletes, and the ones we tend to admire the most are the ones who don’t have any quit in them. Do y’all remember that Super bowl several years ago. New England Patriots against the Atlanta Falcons. The New England Patriots, led by Tom Brady, were down 21-3 at half time. At one point in the second half, they were down by 25 points. But he never gave up. He was unflappable and relentless, and he brought the Patriots back to eventually win in overtime. Read the full text. 

Peter had thought he was set. He was the right-hand man of Jesus, the coming king. And when Jesus ascended the Jewish throne and kicked the Romans out of the Holy Land, Peter was going to have it made. But then Jesus died. The man who could cure the blind and raise the dead couldn’t figure out a way to escape from the priests and the Romans? Actually, it was more like he hadn’t even tried. It was as if he’s expected or even wanted to die. Read the full text. 

I can really relate to those 2 disciples. I mean, what must they have been thinking when Jesus told them to go get that donkey? Should I do it? What’s he asking me to do? This is potentially illegal. This doesn’t make any sense! Can I really trust him? But, of course, they did what Jesus asked. They obeyed Jesus. Read the full text. 

As we journey towards the end of the season of Lent, we are talking about the gifts we can give to Jesus. Jesus has given us innumerable blessings—things like peace, hope, love, joy— and the least we can do in return is offer him gifts of our own. And maybe the greatest of those gifts consists in imitating him … having his mind, the mind of Christ. Read the full text. 

Why be thankful? We’ve been talking throughout Lent about the gifts we can give Jesus, the gifts that come as a part of a living faith and trust in Jesus. And the one we’re going to talk about today is thankfulness. But the first question we need to ask ourselves is, “why be thankful?” I mean, we live in a world that seems to be coming apart at the seams. Leaving aside what’s going on in our own Methodist denomination, things are crazy out there. Lest we forget, the Cold War has been reborn but this time involving a real shooting war between Russia and Ukraine. Read the full text.

Who’s on the throne of YOUR life? Back during Advent, we talked about the gifts Jesus gives us. Things like peace and hope and joy and love. It’s interesting, then, isn’t it, that Jesus’ life started out with people giving HIM gifts. That’s what our sermon series is about this Lent. The gifts WE give Jesus. And here, in this story, we’ve got an example. Did you ever take a second to think about the gifts the wise men gave Jesus? I mean, why did they give him gold, frankincense, and myrrh? Some people say these gifts symbolize and foreshadow Jesus’ life. Gold is a kingly gift, and he was born to be a king. Read the full text. 

He was a bad guy. He knew it. The whole town knew it. But it hadn’t always been that way. As he sat, uncomfortably awkward in the lower branches of that tree, he thought about his life. He was raised in a good Jewish household with good Jewish parents and good Jewish friends. He studied the Torah, the law of his people. He grew up, along with the rest of his people, loving God and hating the Roman oppressors. Read the full text here.

I LOVE ice cream. I started my working life at a Baskin Robbins. We got free ice cream at every shift and I never got tired of it. I also LOVE pizza. Not too long after the Baskin Robbins, I worked at the original Conan’s Pizza on 29th Street in Austin. We got to make ourselves a free pizza every shift, and I would make myself the biggest possible pizza with pretty much every ingredient on it. I would take home the leftovers for breakfast and lunch the next day. I pretty much lived on nothing but pizza for two years. Read the full text here. 

Have any of you ever had a really good idea and then, once you’re in the middle of it, said to yourself, “What was I thinking?” We’re now in the third and final week of our sermon series on money, Money Can’t Buy Me Love. And I’m having one of those moments. We’ve been following along with John Wesley’s famous saying on money: make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can. And I was all in on the first 2 weeks. Making all we can and saving all we can. But now that we’re here at the giving part, I’m having second thoughts. Read the full text.

Type the content for this list item here. This is just example text to show you what it will look like when you enter text content into this list item. Your unique, authentic, and appropriate text will be filled into this section. Once you click into this text area, you will see the filler text disappear.