Hi friends. We’ve added a new feature on the Twickenham website. It’s called Not a Sermon Just a Thought. If you’ve got less than five minutes, go to www.twickenham.org, click the BLOGS tab, and select Not A Sermon. These videos are short, sweet and to the point. And always encouraging.
This post is about worship. First, though, a presupposition: We become what we behold. Don’t believe me? Billions of dollars are spent every year by advertisers because they believe that people become what they behold. Why are you dressed in those clothes? Why do you live in that house? Why that car? Why aren’t we all wearing Amish monotones or living in double-wide trailers or driving 65 Chevy Novas? Because Levi’s and J. Jill and Under Armour and Nike and Carhartt spend a lot of money to produce ads to show us how we could look if we bought their … Read more…
On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before a quarter million people and delivered what has been hailed as the greatest speech ever given in the English language. Toward the end of his speech, Mahalia Jackson, the internationally acclaimed Gospel singer, shouted, “Tell them about the dream, Martin!” That’s when Dr. King departed from his prepared remarks and riffed on The Dream. That’s the part of the speech most of us remember. And how could we forget so powerful a vision as the one Dr. King cast that day? But … Read more…
I believe the birth of Jesus was an historical event. It actually happened. A baby was born to a virgin. He was born in low circumstances and visited by shepherds, celebrated by Magi and announced by angels. I believe those things happened in the past. They are history. But I also believe the birth of Jesus was historic. Not only did it happen but it also shaped all subsequent history. It made an impact so deep, so significant that over 2,000 years after the fact, we are still reeling from it, remembering it, reaching to grasp the meaning of it. … Read more…
In the first two chapters of Luke’s gospel, Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, sings about peace (1:79); the angels announce peace (2:14); and an old priest named Simeon thanks God for dismissing him in peace, (2:14). It’s like a peace party. The cause for all this celebration is the birth of the Messiah, Jesus. But neither Zechariah, Simeon nor even the angels were the first to connect the birth of Jesus with peace. That honor belongs to Isaiah, hundreds of years before Jesus was born. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and … Read more…
Well, this is just so 2020. Besides the fact that there were locust swarms in Africa, murder hornets in the U.S., raging wildfires in Australia, Washington State and Oregon, a bitter and contested presidential election, social unrest and, of course, the world-wide pandemic, I just read that there’s a new invasive species showing up in the southeast. It’s a four-foot long, ten-pound lizard that eats anything. I’m not joking. Google it. Given the way this year has gone, I wouldn’t be surprised if at midnight on New Year’s Eve, the year 2020 held a press conference and announced that it … Read more…
We’re beginning a new message series on the book of Ephesians at Twickenham this week. You can watch or listen here at 10:00 central on Sunday mornings, or here if you can’t make it at that time.
Why Ephesians? Well, if you’re not a believer, I can’t promise that Paul’s letter will eliminate all your doubts. But if you grasp its message, it will make you wish you believed. There is enormous hope in this book.
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In 1967 at Stanford University, Dr. King delivered a speech entitled The Other America. With characteristic eloquence he described the very different economic, social and political conditions under which black and white Americans lived. Much has changed since Dr. King’s speech. But if you could ask Ahmaud Arbery or George Floyd if things have changed enough, and if they could answer, they would tell you that we still live in two Americas. In my America, I can wander into a house under construction and look around, or jog down a street, or roam a city park and no one is … Read more…
Lately, I’ve been reflecting on Paul’s comforting words in 2 Corinthians 4. In verses 17 & 18, he gives us two more reasons to hang in there even when we feel like giving up. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
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There are about a thousand ways Mother’s Day can be hard. You want to be a mom, but so far, God has not blessed that dream. Or the mom you had wasn’t there for you. While everyone else is expressing gratitude for their mothers, you feel only regret about yours. Maybe you lost a child. Or feel one slipping away. If it’s a good day for you, rejoice. But whether it is easy or hard, it is a good day for every woman to know how important she is.
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