New Sermon Series

It's high past time for me to pivot from depressing posts into some slightly more joyous material, no?

Starting this Sunday, and continuing through March 2nd, I'll be posting my manuscripts here of a six-week sermon series I am doing based on Pastor Dan Kimball's 2013 book, "Adventures in Churchland."  (If Dan's name sounds familiar to you from here, it might be because I did another sermon series on his previous book, "They Like Jesus But Not the Church," in 2012!)

Here's a little preview for the series I penned for our newsletter, plus the schedule for the entire series, so that you can follow along at home if you are so inclined...

Yours in Christ,
Eric

Ash Wednesday comes late this year--it doesn't arrive in 2014 until March 5, which means that we have the entirety of February (plus the first Sunday of March) to work on the sermon series that we begin on Sunday, January 26, on Pastor Dan Kimball's book "Adventures in Churchland," and more specifically, on the description of his first visit to worship at a typical mainline Protestant congregation (like us). As someone who describes himself as missing out on a Christian background at that point in his life, Pastor Dan found himself alternatively bemused and confused by much of what happened in that worship. My own belief is that worship ought not to be like that--it ought to be, and in fact must be, readily accessible and understandable to someone who just walks in off the street having never attended church before. And so this sermon series is all about explaining why we do the things we do in worship--so that you might understand something you previously hadn't about your Sunday morning, and so that you might in turn be available to offer help to others wondering how worship here goes. After all, worship of God and Christ is part of what sets us apart--let's own that richly spiritual identity together! 

I'll see you Sunday, 
Pastor Eric

"Adventures in Churchland: A Visitor's Experience of Mainline Worship" 

January 26: "Churches and Courtrooms," 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
February 2: “Worship: The Musical,” Colossians 3:12-17 
February 9: “Breakfast Cereal Decoder Rings,” Numbers 6:1-5 
February 16: “This is So Meta,” Acts 17:16-21 
February 23: “In Vino Veritas,” 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
March 2: "Code Red," Acts 14:8-18