Clik here to view.
Are Atheists (and Rich People) Stingy?
Maybe. At least according to this study by the Chronicle on Philanthropy. As news chatter swirls in the media about tax rates and entitlements, this study offers interesting, objective data on how...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Would You Rather Divulge Your Sex Life or Your Giving Life?
For our fall commitment campaign this year, we’re doing a sermon series around Adam Hamilton’s book Enough: Discovering Joy through Simplicity and Generosity. In his warmth, winsomeness and measured...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Enough: A Letter to My Boys
This weekend we continue our sermon series on Adam Hamilton’s book Enough. Here’s an old Father’s Day sermon/letter I wrote to my boys that echoes the very same themes of simplicity and sufficiency in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Your Salvation is Impossible
Here’s this weekend’s sermon on the rich (young) man. You can listen to here, on the sidebar or download it in iTunes under ‘Tamed Cynic.’ 1. Tamed_Cynic_Your_Salvation_is_Impossible.mp3 Mark...
View ArticleClik here to view.
OMG: I Agree with Mark Driscoll?
I’ve read that Josef Mengele Mengele, the Nazi ‘Angel of Death,’ who was one of the chief architects of the holocaust, also had a compassionate, some say charming, side to him. It was not rare, for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Teaching Our Kids to be Generous
We’re in the middle of a sermon series on Generosity and Simplicity. This is from Elaine Woods, our Children’s Minister: Teaching children about generosity begins in the home. Even children who are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Money: A Poem
We’re in the middle of a sermon series on Generosity and Simplicity, a good time I thought for this poem from Christian Wiman. I love how the momentum of the speech tracks with the imagery, barreling...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why Tipping is Better Evangelism than Preaching
We’re nearing the end of a sermon series on generosity and simplicity. As I’ve noted, nothing tightens the sphincters of Christians, who have their biblical problems of food, freedom and shelter...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Midrash in the Moment: Money
This weekend we’re closing our November sermon series on Generosity. Preaching about money is a sure-fire way to make church people uncomfortable. I figure turn about is fair play, right? I get away...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Money is Our Way of Touching the Holy
We close our series on Generosity and Simplicity this weekend. Here is my assistant’s (Dennis Perry) sermon from last weekend on the story of Zaccheus. 1. More-D-Perry-11-17-2013.mp3 Follow...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Generosity is about Worship Not Charity
This weekend I concluded our sermon series on Generosity by pulling, at random, scripture passages having to do with money and taught on them. One of the passages in the mix that I didn’t get to preach...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Midrash in the Moment: Money
Nothing tightens a congregation’s collective sphincter, quite like the subject of money. Preaching about money and giving and generosity just makes people uncomfortable. This weekend I thought I’d turn...
View ArticleClik here to view.
S.O.S. from the Outer Darkness
For all of November I plan to preach on Jesus’ Parable of the Talents. Found in Matthew 25.14-30, the parable is both juicy enough and sufficiently cryptic for multiple takes and interpretations. This...
View ArticleClik here to view.
S.O.S from the Outer Darkness
Here’s the sermon from this weekend from Jesus’ Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25. Hey- Hey, you got a flashlight? Or even a match? Yeah, I figured as much. What about ear-plugs? I’d give a...
View Article