As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. (Ezekiel 34:12)

All the pictures of sheep I see in churches and in Christian bookstores look the same. The sheep are clean and white, grazing peacefully in the foreground. And the background is always green pastures and quiet waters. But the situation that God describes in Ezekiel is more like a post-apocalyptic scene, bombed-out Berlin, or New York after the nuclear war. After a day of disaster, where are the sheep then...

What is the shortest letter (or email, or text) you've ever written? The other day, in replying to my wife's text message, I just sent "k". Evidently it was too much work to type "OK".

According to C.E. Humphry's Manners for Women (1897), there used to be different rules of etiquette regarding letter writing: "It used to be considered rather rude to conclude a letter on the first or second page. If our grandfathers or grandmothers did so, they almost invariably apologized for a brevity that in those days had the effect of curtness." In a 1761 letter to his friend James Boswell, Samuel Johnson noted: "A short letter to a distant friend is, in my opinion, an insult like that of a slight bow or cursory salutation - a proof of unwillingness to do much..." (From the "Forgotten English" calendar.)

Here's a question to think about: What if the New Testament writers had been as unwilling to put pen to paper as we are?...

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free..." I have had a LOT of conversations about that Bible verse from Paul's letter to the Corinthians. And everyone I've talked to has always been very concerned to emphasize that they do NOT have to be a servant or slave to anyone. (And the other popular emphasis is on the "male nor female" part.)

But what about these words? "...whoever wants to be first must be slave of all." (Mark 10:44) Or this one, "no servant can serve two masters..." (Lk16:13) Or "no servant is greater than his master..." (Jn.13:16) We talk a lot about being God's children. But would it be so bad to be God's servants? Even slaves?...

I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains... (Philemon 14)

The letter that Paul wrote to Philemon is the epistle lesson for this Sunday, and my sermon text. But it's about a man who has a run-away slave. Can you think of anything more remote from our daily lives than that?

First of all...

Click the link to view a slideshow(10 minutes long) about our new mural at the school. Based on Acts 17, it is a summary of our ministry in Ann Arbor, where God has called us to proclaim the good news about Jesus.

"Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you." Acts 17:22-23

OK, Paul wasn't really church shopping, because we know that he wasn't interested in worshiping any of the false gods whose worship he witnessed. BUT he did pay a lot more attention that many people do today, even when they're looking for a church home for their family.

People who are church shopping (or "window worshiping" as I like to think of it) often seem...

"So [Paul] reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there." Acts 17:16-17

American Christians are certainly not strangers to the idea of going into the marketplace. The earliest settlers of this continent were big on free enterprise and gained a reputation for sharp trading. We love the marketplace.

But if there is a separation of church and state here, there is an even deeper separation of church and market. And no one forces us. We do it ourselves. Why is that?...

First of all, you need to understand that I try really hard to keep myself out of my preaching. Or at least, in a way I do. It's strange.

Preaching should not be about the preacher. There's enough ego involved in it already without pointing to yourself deliberately. Preaching and teaching in a Christian church should be all about Christ. And yet, there is always a personal element that creeps in (see 1 Cor. 15:1-3 for an example).

And that's what is weird about our new mural...

I just came from a small town bank branch where I bought a VISA gift card. You know, the kind you load up with cash and then give it to someone who can use it like a debit card? Only in order to buy the card I had to pay in cash (which I got from an ATM, paying a $2 fee). I had to give them my driver's license. And my Social Security number. I had to sign my name. I had to pay a $4 fee for the card. And all this when I'm the one who is putting the money at risk by giving it to them!!! Why were they so suspicious???

Someone asked [Jesus], "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?"

When I read things like this in the Bible, my first inclination is to wonder, what is behind this question? Why would someone ask this? (I always think that way when you ask me questions too. "Pastor, is adultery always wrong?")

This idea is nothing new. It was popular among the Jews (both the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Essenes) to think that their own group was a special remnant. Sound familiar? We ALL like to think that...