I always have sermons on my mind. Several are usually rattling around in my head at the same time. Here are some things I will be preaching about in the coming weeks, listed in no particular order:

Christianity Is Illegal. It is—today—in the USA. Not the name. Every bully and braggart in Washington claims to be a Christian. But when you make DEI illegal, you cancel the Christian way of life. “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” is all about loving the neighbor.

The Problem Parable That Changed My Life. It’s the strangest parable—the one about the unjust manager who was praised by the man who fired him (Luke 10:1–13). Why does the employer praise the dishonest guy for doing something bad? It has puzzled people for 2,000 years. But recently, it has spoken to me with such power that burdens were lifted. I’ll talk about that.

What DID Paul Say About Gay People? I will tell you he said nothing. Yes, you heard that correctly. Nothing! Find out why I say that.

The Power of Surrender. Things change when we “let go and let God.” I found that out 47 years ago when I surrendered my life to ministry. It was a moment like no other.

Wrong for 2000 Years. The church has always read the Adam and Eve story wrong. Which came first, our sin or our separation from God? Bet you got that wrong.

We live-stream every week. Web address below. Or—come to church! Worship is, as you know, at 11:00.

I’ll save a pew for you.

saintmatthewumc.com
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Getting Jimmy Kimmel back is a small victory.

And it’s a step in the right direction.

But the Heart of Darkness has three more years of vengeance and chaos. We can hope that some members of his cult will see the light. But so far, not many. It’s hard to leave a cult. Good people get drawn in. It’s like good kids who join sides with the bully in high school.

They may even realize how mean the bully is, but they are on the power side. The Heart of Darkness once said, “To exercise power is to instill fear.” That’s what bullies do. That’s what dictators do. They make people afraid of them.

We are now a nation run by bullies, and they govern by instilling fear. And, so far, it’s working. Heads of corporations are afraid. University leaders are afraid. Heads of big law firms are afraid. Teachers in classrooms are afraid. The brazen, lawless use of power to instill fear is working so far.

But that’s—so far.

It cannot continue.

Because the trajectory of God’s creation is toward love, not fear. The foundational principle of the universe is love. God, who is the source of all things, is love.

You can stand in the river with arms stretched out to stop the water, but the water will overwhelm you. You can oppose the foundations of existence only so long. Finally, there is no power against God’s grace.

“Perfect love,” says John, “casts out fear.”

It will get darker for a while. Then comes the sun.

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Can a theological system be accurate?
Is it possible to “get it right,” or is belief in God finally just guesswork?

There are over 15,000 Christian denominations, so somebody must be guessing wrong. But we do not have to guess—any more than a scientist has to guess in their work.

All that can be known to us about God is available through the experience of God. Every religious or spiritual experience tells us something about Him. Every Near-Death Experience (NDE) tells us something about heaven and the life that awaits us beyond this one. And all of this supports what we already know from the teachings of Jesus.

The most accurate picture of God anywhere is found in Matthew 5:38–48 (and in Luke 6:27–36). How do we know it is accurate? Because it reflects the God we meet in experience. Every person who meets God in an NDE will tell you that the God of unconditional love Jesus describes is the God they encountered.

Jesus was accurate about God. And listen! He was the only person in ancient history who was accurate. What does that tell you?

Furthermore, Jesus himself appears in many of those NDEs and other spiritual experiences. What does that tell you? He appears to be, and functions as, the divine figure we call the Christ.

By the way, because I preach the God we know in Jesus and in experience, I will claim my preaching is also fairly accurate.

Check it out—live or online, Sunday at 11:00.

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I teach a class as well as preach most Sundays. I asked my class, “How do we handle it when a scriptural word disagrees with the teachings of Jesus?”

Example from the Flood Story: “The Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved his heart.”

A God who goofs and is sorry for his mistake is not the God of the Gospels. God doesn’t goof. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:48 that God is perfect. God is also omnipotent. So, God knew what we would be before God made us.

It is not possible to reconcile that word from Genesis with the God we know through Jesus. But many Christians try. They are forced to, for they have built their faith on the idea that the whole Bible is inerrant.

But we know that’s not true. I say “we” know it. Anyone who can read and think knows it. But scriptural inerrantists are taught not to think. They are taught not to believe their own eyes, not to read the clear meaning of words on a page.

Result: The teachings of Jesus lose their authority, for the perfect God he proclaims must also be a God who goofs and grieves his mistakes. The God of perfect love must also be a God who destroys his creation.

The Flood Story is a great story. But it is very bad theology.

There is a center of authority within the Bible, and that center is Jesus. His word stands above all others. John tells us he is the Word.

Of course, folks in my class knew this already. They can all read.

Come. Worship with us.

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NDEs seem to verify much of what Jesus taught us: life after death, the forgiveness of sins, and the nature of God as love.

They also point to Jesus as the divine Savior of the world.

But some people who experience NDEs leave the church and Christianity.

Why is that?

If a person shares his NDE with a conservative pastor, the pastor will likely reject the NDE and may even suggest a demonic origin.

That person who had the near-death experience is stuck. He knows his experience was real, so he chooses it over the church.

And here’s another problem: The information from the NDE does not match what his conservative church has taught him.

He discovered in his NDE that there is no “wrath” in God, no anger, only love.

There is judgment.

But the judgment comes from us, against our own sins. God has only love for us, and all our sins are forgiven.

Just as Jesus taught us.

In other words, NDEs fully support the teachings of Jesus.

But they do not support the angry, punitive God of conservative Christianity.

That angry God does not exist.

And if that is the only God a person has heard of from the church, that person may well give up the church after an NDE.

But some churches preach the loving God we meet in our deepest experiences.

St. Matthew is one of them. We proclaim the unconditional love of God.

And I am encouraging you—yes, YOU, in this hard time—to support such a church. Come. Sunday.

At 11:00 a.m.

saintmatthewumc.com
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