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| Sunday June 29, 2008 "The Miracle of Bartimaeus" Mark 10: 46-52 | Brad's Blog Brad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on6/30/2008 10:38 AM | |
| Sometimes I think our biggest problem as humans is that we don’t always say what we mean, or do what we say. I bet all of us have been on both sides of this conversation: “How are things going with you?” “Good, thanks, and you?” “Not bad.”
But how many times when greeted this way have you wanted to really lay out was what going on: how work was a pain, how the kids have been sick, how money is tight at the end of the month…? And who knows, it may be that the person on the other side of the conversation is not really coming clean, either.
Alright, alright, it’s just social convention. No one really wants to hear about all your little ailments and aches and pains and what a jerk your boss has been.
Once a few years ago I had a few minutes between appointments and so I decided to call my father. He answered and I asked, “How are you doin’?” And he started to tell me his problems…and c’mon, I was just being polite. I started to laugh, ... |  | |
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| | Serious Fun | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on6/25/2008 9:49 AM | |
| Greetings!
This church stuff is serious business.
We do after all deal with a lot of serious issues, and it is something that I do take very seriously. But there is a difference between taking things seriously and always being serious. What I mean by that is that ought to be plenty of room for fun in our faith walk. And this past week, I was part of two examples of just how important having some serious fun can be.
The first was last Friday night in Decatur. By my guess at least a couple of thousand people gathered in the Decatur Square for the city’s annual “Beach Party.” It had an added attraction for some of us here at BCC because the entertainment for the night was “Terry Lee and the G.T.’s” featuring our own Terry Evans as the front man. The night was warm but was perfect for a night out with good friends and great music. The good friends were there: by my count about 40 folks from BCC came to celebrate the end of a work week, da ... | | |
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| | Sunday July 22, 2008 "The Miracle at Mt. Carmel" 1 Kings 18:20-40 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on6/25/2008 9:43 AM | |
| Last summer, traveling in Palestine and Israel with 18 pastors from around the United States, I was blessed to be able to visit many, many places of importance to our faith. All around Galilee, we were able to walk where Jesus walked, see with our own eyes the sites of some of Jesus greatest preaching, teaching and healing. In Bethlehem, we visited the church of the Nativity, the place of Jesus’ birth; in Jerusalem we visited the church of the holy sepluchre, site of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. We walked the Via de lo rosa, the way of the cross that Jesus walked toward his death. We sat on the beach where the resurrected Jesus made breakfast for his disciples and urged Peter to “feed my sheep.”
And we saw the places where miracles took place: the place where Mary was visited by the Angel Gabriel, where Jesus cured the Gerosene demoniac, where the paralytic man was cured by the pools of Bethsaida, where blind Bartemaias was given his sight.
So many pla ... | | |
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| | Our Best for God | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on6/19/2008 8:14 AM | |
| Over the course of the 60 year history of Brookhaven Christian Church, there have been several changes in the structures that have housed this great ministry. First, it was the little house on Colonial Drive that got us going. Then, when the membership began to outgrow that location, property was purchased on the corner of Lanier and Peachtree. For awhile the congregation met at Oglethorpe University, utilizing their auditorium as a sanctuary. Then, in 1958, the first building on the church’s present site was built. Twice in the next 30 years the building was expanded and renovated and then, in 2001, the last building expansion effort ended with new offices, classrooms, a youth room, a community room and a beautiful fellowship hall. Why were all these changes undertaken? So that God’s work could continue to flourish and the kingdom of God could grow.
We have done a great job at growing this physical plant to serve our needs, but some are now wondering if it isn’t time to take a l ... | | |
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| | Sunday June 15, 2008 "The Miracle at Bethsaida" John 5:1-18 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on6/18/2008 11:11 AM | |
| What do you think the proper response to a miracle ought to be?
Well, I suppose there is no one perfect answer to that question, but in general, I would think that awe would be high up on the list. In my mind, it always seems to me that if I was to witness what I would consider to be an undeniable miracle, that I would be in awe of what God can do. And if it was a miracle that was beneficial to me, that changed my life in a positive way, I would think gratitude would be something that I would experience.
But it is not always the case.
It seems that there is sometimes a great burden to being the recipient of a miracle. Why was I saved? Why was my cancer cured? Why was I provided for in my darkest hour? What meaning do I draw from being the recipient of a miracle? What does it say about God that I was blessed in this way?
I bring this up today because on one level, the story of the Miracle at Bethsaida is a str ... | | |
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| | One Church | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on6/11/2008 10:40 AM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful morning!
Earlier this week I received a phone call from my friend and colleague Jonathon Holston, Senior Minister at St. James United Methodist Church. He remembered a conversation we had a while back when we were talking about the different forms of baptism. It had taken place at a meeting of the Brookhaven Ministers group, an ecumenical group made up of Disciple, Presbyterian, Catholic, Episcopalian, United Methodist, Lutheran, and United Church of Christ ministers. Part of the discussion centered around how we all practiced baptism in our different traditions. I let them know that Disciples practiced believers baptism where a conscious decision is made by the person to be baptized. This differs from infant baptism where parents take the baptismal vows on behalf of the child, and then at the age of 12 or 13 the child chooses whether or not they will confirm these vows for themselves through a service of confirmation. I was quick to point out that Disc ... | | |
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| | Sunday June 8, 2008 "The Miracle of Abundance" 1 Kings 4:1-7 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on6/9/2008 11:05 AM | |
| A few years ago I was having a discussion with my friend and colleague Rev. Bob Tyler. I was privileged to serve with Bob on the staff at Peachtree when I was Associate Pastor and Bob was the minister of Pastoral Care. For those of you who know Bob, you know that he is the very model of what it means to be a pastoral presence and I learned much from him.
Bob is a big man, about 6 feet 4 inches tall with a calming presence, a quick smile and a handshake that lets you know that he is glad to see you. He is a gregarious, extremely upbeat human being.
In his 50 plus years of ministry, I know that Bob has seen devastating personal loss, has dealt with hundreds of crises, is a life saving pastoral presence to many in their darkest hours, yet exudes an optimism and joy that belies the human hurt he has seen in his life in ministry.
It was that juxtaposition of grief and joy, pessimism and optimism, hopelessness and hope that intrigued me, an ... | | |
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| | Camp: Sacred Space | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on6/4/2008 11:17 AM | |
| Greetings on this steamy day,
As many of you know, when I was growing up, I was lucky enough to be able to go to camp every summer, all summer long! How was that possible? My parents ran the camp, Conely Methodist Camp on the St. Mary’s River in Michigan’s beautiful Upper Peninsula. (You’ve heard what they say about the U.P., eh? God created the heavens and the earth and learning from his mistakes, created the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.) That camp holds a very special place in my heart. Besides being a beautiful part of the world where we could spend our time swimming in the river, hiking through the woods, playing baseball or volleyball on the camp grounds, it was also a place where I connected with many, many friends. Year after year, families would return to the camp, and I would get to renew friendships from the previous summers. For years, if I ran into someone and we somehow thought we knew each other, but couldn’t quite figure out from where, I would eventually ask, “Di ... | | |
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| | Reaching Out | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on5/28/2008 3:20 PM | |
| Greetings!
This seems to be the season of natural disasters. From China to Myanmar to Iowa to California we read of stories of destruction and devastation unimaginable. In fact, we don’t have to look too far away to find people who have been devastated by tornadoes and storms. Right here in Georgia people are rebuilding. As close as Cherokee County and downtown Atlanta there are folks still trying to get their lives back. It is a heartbreaking task for those who have lost all their possessions and perhaps family members and friends.
We sometimes feel helpless in the face of such devastating loss. We aren’t sure which way to turn or how we can make sense of it all. But in our helplessness, we can still do something.
One of the ways we can help as members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) is to donate to the Week of Compassion, a ministry of the Christian Church that assists those in the wake of natural disasters and other ... | | |
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| | Sunday May 25, 2008 "Changing Hearts" Acts 16:11-15 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on5/27/2008 8:22 AM | |
| All month long we have been concentrating on the Pentecost story in one way or another. The day we celebrate as Pentecost, the birthday of the church, conincides with the appearance of the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem. With that appearance, amazing things began to happen. The disciples suddenly began communicating in different languages, languages they did not know. And the important word here is communicating, because it was not just the ecstatic murmurings of people caught in the spell of the Holy Spirit, but real, true communication – communication of the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who had not heard.
Peter gave an amazing sermon that day, and 3000 people were said to have become followers of Christ right then and there.
The church was born that day, but like a newborn baby, many things had to fall into place so that it would be nurtured and grow strong and healthy. We know from the book of The Acts of the Apostles that those who initially were drawn to t ... | | |
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