Sermon Blog

They say that over time pets and their owners start to favor one another. Play clip. While it may not always be the case, I have seen instances where it seems uncannily true.  One of the things that makes you stop and wonder, though (at least makes me stop and wonder), is whether it is the pet that the owner is shaping to look like them, or the owner, who is trying to look more like their pet. My brothers and sisters, over the last couple of weeks surrounding Valentines, we have been discussing love.  We began by considering “Love” to be “a matter of light and darkness.”  We heard the words of John in his letter as he said, “Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling.  But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.” [i]   Here we discovered that as we love, we bear the light of Ch...

Valentine’s Day!  Friday was a day where more “I Love You’s” were probably exchanged than any other day during the year.  It is a day when many people are “in-love” with the idea of being “in-love” and so some folks easily say “I love you” to keep from being alone on  that day.  Now before you accuse me of just being cynical about “Valentine’s Day,” and believe me, I used to be cynical—there were many Valentine’s Days where I intentionally wore all-black in protest of the day (and no, I don’t have a picture of that to show you—thankfully there were none for my niece to get a hold of and share with the world of Facebook, as we shared a couple of weeks ago when considering “labels”), I don’t really have anything against Valentine’s Day or it’s cards, candy, flowers, or, if you’ve been to Papa John’s this weekend, pizza.  In fact, Anita and I wished each other Happy Valentine’s Friday, watched a couple of romantic movies ( Marriage Retreat and Fireproof —I highly...

Disney seems to have always had the idea in mind…from its first release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 to Sleeping Beauty in 1959 to more recently in 1991’s Beauty and the Beast and 2010’s Tangled . Evil, anger, and hatred seem to have brought the movie and its world into a mounting darkness that will apparently continue without end, because though the antagonist (or “bad guy/gal”) have been defeated, the world seems to be left in darkness of eternal sleep (early in Disney’s movie making) or death (in recent years).  It is only through the kiss of a handsome prince or the tear of lost love from the female lead that love brings the world back out of darkness and shadows to life and light.  Darkness and despair are overcome by nothing but the light of love. While the idea of love conquering the darkness may be an ongoing Disney theme and use of animated theatrics.  It is not limited to the world of make-believe or the movies.  It is a truth that we ca...

When you think of John Wayne, what type movie or television show do you think of?  Action, western…He’s probably considered to be among the top, if not the top, ten-gallon-hat, gunslinging actors of all time.  Could you ever have pictured him in the lead role, opposite of Mary Tyler Moore, in the Dick Van Dyke Show, though I guess it would have to be changed to the John “Duke” Wayne Show . What about Jim Carrey?  A majority of his film credits would be labeled as humor with a serious twist— Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty, Ace Ventura, or Dumb and Dumber .  Would you be able to picture him taking Arnold Schwarzenegger’s place in the rumored Terminator 5 movie? It’s called typecasting.  An actor or an actress plays a certain type of character, and, especially if it is a successful movie or television show, it becomes the only type of character that they are considered fit to play.  Some actors may relish typecasting, but many grow frustrated by it—simply as...