|
|
|
Most recent blog entries |
 |
|
| Service | Brad's Blog Mid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on9/16/2009 2:57 PM | |
| Greetings!
When we talk about the book of James - as we have been in worship the last couple of weeks – we almost always come back to the most controversial part of the book: “Faith without works is dead.” Without rehashing the argument, I’m going to leave it today that James, echoing his brother Jesus, believes strongly in the saving grace of Jesus Christ and also believes that it is up to us to put our hands to work in service to God’s children. That service, those works, help our faith grow and give it meaning to us and to those we serve.
I am gratified to report that in the last couple of weeks I have had several conversations with folks interested in serving others. Folks with ideas of how we might use our gifts and resources to help our brothers and sisters in need. This is not a new concept here at BCC, but for many people, this James study has seemed like a call to action, a call to renew our commitment to serve God through good works. And lo and beh ... |  | |
| More... |
| | Sunday September 13, 2009 "Godspeak" James 3:1-12 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on9/16/2009 2:54 PM | |
| Last week, we spent some time looking at James, the brother of Jesus, and his views on living the Christian life through good works. Good works that glorify God and that make our faith come alive for all to see. The message of James was not that faith is unimportant. Rather it was that stepping out in service because of our faith was something that Jesus instructed us to do on several occasions. To James, and to Jesus, how we live our lives, the actions we take, the lives we touch, are all important testimony to our faith.
In this weeks scripture, we see James addressing something similar. Whereas last week we heard a resounding “how we live is important” this week the message is only slightly altered. This week James wants us to see that “what we say is important.”
It’s easy to understand that if we put our faith into action and do our best to help those who need assistance, people will take notice of that and when we do it all to God’s glory, people will ... | | |
| More... |
| | Joy | | Brad's Blog
| By Brad Miller on9/9/2009 9:06 AM | |
| One of the great things about getting married on a holiday weekend is that every year there is an extra day set aside to celebrate. When Carol and I were first married, a national professional society I belonged to always had their annual conference over the Labor Day weekend in Chicago, possibly our favorite city. So every year on our anniversary, we knew we could take a relatively cheap trip to Chicago (the Palmer House at conference rates…you can’t beat it!) We would have a chance to relax, to be with friends, and to celebrate our marriage. Since I became a minister, that trip is no longer an option, but still, the holiday weekend does allow us to get away and to make our anniversary even more special.
This year we headed over to the beach for a couple of days of relaxation and sea food. We spent the better part of one whole day on lounge chairs, under a big umbrella, reading, enjoying the sound of the surf, people watching and simply relaxing. I can’t think of a better way to s ... | | |
| More... |
| | Sunday September 6, 2009 "The Work of Faith" James 2:1-17 | | Brad's Blog
| By Brad Miller on9/8/2009 2:41 PM | |
| Mention the book of James around certain groups of Christians, and you are likely to have a serious discussion. Or maybe even start an argument.
This little book of the Bible has the ability to inflame passions and spark heated theological debate. Ultimately, it seems to me that this is a very good thing. Because unless we really throw our scriptures wide open to scrutiny we will never gain any new insight. Unless we also throw open the possibility for change in our behaviors and actions, we run the risk of being “rote” Christians, too often sticking to the easy stuff.
There are a couple of reasons that the book of James invokes such passions.
Most famously, the great reformation theologian Martin Luther once declared the book “an epistle of straw” and dismissed it on theological grounds. A lot of my Lutheran friends to this day have never heard a sermon preached out of the book of James because of Martin Luther’s stance. A lot of my ... | | |
| More... |
| | Happy Labor Day! | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on9/2/2009 2:49 PM | |
| Greetings on this lovely fall day,
Well, here it is, the unofficial end of summer. When I was a kid, Labor Day was the final nail in summer’s coffin…the end of fun and the beginning of school drudgery. Okay, so I exaggerate a little, but not much! But today, some kids have been back in school for a month! Some of the colleges still are just getting underway, but it seems we have lost that universal marker that Labor Day always was.
Maybe that is not such a bad thing. Maybe it’s important that this holiday weekend is not simply the end of summer party that it used to be. Maybe it will give us a chance to step back and truly celebrate Labor Day as it was meant to be celebrated: in honor of those hardworking men and women who through their labors sustain the economy, provide for the their families and make real the idea that hard work should be rewarded. It also is a day when, as much as practical, we put away the rigors of work to relax and be with family and f ... | | |
| More... |
| | Connections | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on8/27/2009 11:09 AM | |
| Greetings on this beautiful day,
So many things running through my mind…I had a meeting concerning regional church business this morning and when I got back to the office, lots of things hit me: a man who came to the church door just a little while ago asking if he could pray in the sanctuary…a video e-mail from a long time friend who reminded me that even though years and miles have kept us from being as close as we would like, with a little work, we can still be close…an update from a friend concerning her brothers illness…news of the death of Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. I have been surprised at exactly how much each has affected me today.
The young man came and asked if he could pray in the sanctuary, so I showed him in and asked him to come by my office before he left, just so I’d know that he was gone. It is not an everyday occurrence, but it happens fairly regularly, so I had no problem letting him in. When he came to office, he thanked me an ... | | |
| More... |
| | Sunday August 23, 2009 "Where God Lives" Psalm 84 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on8/24/2009 2:35 PM | |
| What is so important about church?
In particular, what is so important about the building we call the church? It is only bricks and mortar. As to the collection of people who call themselves “the church”, what makes them any different from a group of people that gather this morning at the YMCA, or at a social club?
On the surface, there might seem little difference between the people gathered here and at the Y. We have a purpose in mind when we come to this place, just as they do. We enjoy this particular church and if we didn’t, we might seek out another church, or we might just decide that we can just stay home and read our Bible instead of coming to church. The people at the Y also have choices: they could go to a health club, or even buy home workout equipment so they wouldn’t have to go anywhere.
But of course, for those of us sitting here, there is something different about coming to church.
Our Hebrew an ... | | |
| More... |
| | Prayer | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on8/20/2009 12:46 PM | |
| Greetings!
A while back I was talking with a friend who was going through a particularly tough time when he said, “I’m finding it difficult to even pray right now.”
It is a place that I have been, and maybe you have been there, too. Overwhelmed with what is going on around us, we sometimes find this simple act too difficult to contemplate. Sometimes it is because we are angry and we feel that God is not listening. Sometimes just coming up with words to describe our situation is just too much. Sometimes we are not even sure what we need to be praying for. And so, in that time when we need prayer the most, we find it impossible to pray. At the time when we would be most comforted by being alone in conversation with God, we are too discomforted to even begin.
Prayer is an awesome thing. But it can be an intimidating thing, too. When we petition God, how do we know God hears us? When we ask for something to be done in our life, is that ... | | |
| More... |
| | Sunday August 16, 2009 "Wise Living" Ephesians 5:15-20 | | Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons | By Brad Miller on8/17/2009 9:03 AM | |
| Nobody wants to be a fool.
At various times, Jesus himself told the disciples to be careful about who they call a fool, because being called a fool is the mother of all insults.
When we label someone a fool, we diminish them. When we label someone a fool, we consent to ignore them. When we label someone a fool, we are operating at the height of arrogance.
Why? Because at times, we are all fools.
How’s that for an uplifting message? But you know what? It is a fact. And sometimes, our foolish behavior is the behavior that we think will shield us from the hurt and worry of the world around us.
No, none of us want to be a fool, but sometimes we are. None of us want to behave foolishly, but sometimes we do. As we own up to our foolishness, the important thing to ask is, how can I avoid acting foolishly in the future?
In today’s scripture lesson, taken from the lette ... | | |
| More... |
| | Sabbath | | Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive | By Brad Miller on8/13/2009 8:15 AM | |
| Greetings!
Recently a friend of mine returned from a vacation in Hawaii. When I asked how her trip was, she said, “You know, I told my husband, ‘I really like vacations.”” What made this statement all the more amazing is that my friend is definitely a workaholic, unable to rest if there is something, anything that needs doing. It is a sign of our times that too many people don’t take enough time off, and my friend, while aware of that, is beginning to understand the value of that time off.
During my time away from you I spent some of it at the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Indianapolis, Indiana. I like the assemblies because they give me a chance to meet up with old friends, to participate in different styles of worship and to simply get a sense of being a part of the “larger” church. But this assembly, while allowing all those things to happen, left me a little concerned and a little baffled. Within the first 24 hours o ... | | |
| More... |
|
|
|
 | |