She was, of her own admission, a shy and awkward child. She lived in a house along Main Street in Stockbridge, Mass, which Norman Rockwell painted into "Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas." She said of herself, "I wasn't one of those children who...
It must rank as one of the most imaginative cover letters ever written. Robert Pirosh quit his job as a copy editor in NY to look for work as a Hollywood screenwriter in 1934. He sent the following letter to studio executives and producers, “I like...
What is the second best-selling Christian book of all time? The all-time best seller is a no-brainer—the Bible. The runner-up best-seller is likely one you don’t know and haven’t read. It’s Thomas a Kempis’ (1380-1471) devotional classic, The...
They were both passionate and strong-willed. John Wesley had heard about the gifted young preacher Edward Perronet (1726-1797), and was eager to hear him. Since Wesley was 18 years his senior and the elder statesman in the Methodist movement,...
Most of my sermons follow a predictable pattern. I begin by attempting to draw people into the message, aware that most congregants decide in the first minute or so whether they will give full attention to the sermon. The middle portion of my...
The day between Good Friday and Easter, Holy Saturday, is one of the most confusing days in the Christian calendar, situated halfway between the agony of Good Friday and the joy of Easter. Nothing much happened on that first Holy Saturday. Jesus'...
It seems counterintuitive to call the day on which Jesus died "Good Friday." As far as I can tell, the phrase likely originated in the Middle Ages. Jesus' death on the cross is good in what it accomplishes--death to our sins and the harbinger of...
It was a most unlikely marriage. The former monk Martin Luther had to find husbands for 19 nuns who fled convent life to join the Reformation movement. One former nun, Katie von Bora, insisted she would only marry Luther and prevailed upon him...
The first few days of Holy Week are full of drama: Jesus' triumphal ride into Jerusalem on Sunday, his cleansing of the temple on Monday, and the ensuing temple controversy on Tuesday. Wednesday is an off day on the surface. About the only thing...
We use the word “brilliant” much too often. “He pitched a brilliant game.” “She gave a brilliant performance.” Enough already! Yet St. Anselm (1033-1109) was, by all accounts, a perfectly brilliant theologian. He was widely regarded as the most...
Why do we sing in worship? Singing is not mere filler, as warm-up to the sermon. Hymn singing has served a valuable teaching role in church history. Songs helped worshipers internalize the theology preached in the sermon. Many of our cherished...
I've always had mixed emotions about leading worship on Palm Sunday. The day was festive enough as choirs processed into worship, followed by adorable children waving palm branches as everyone sang, "Ride on! Ride on in Majesty!" The very next line...
The BBC in 1957 aired a television special about a family in Switzerland harvesting a bumper crop of spaghetti from a spaghetti tree. Since pasta was relatively unknown in the UK at the time, unsuspecting viewers were oblivious that this news...
It was his first Sunday at Old Pine Street Church in Philadelphia. The congregation voted by a strong majority to call George Duffield (1732-1790) to be its pastor in 1771. A large crowd gathered to hear his inaugural sermon, but the old guard...
I'm searching for the right word to introduce Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924). Eccentric? Unconventional? Quirky? He reportedly taught with a pet bat on his shoulders. You get the picture! A recent biographer wondered how he had the capacity for...
The dilemma of unanswered prayer is particularly vexing for us who pray. We who try to be diligent in prayer know the disappointment that attends prayers that seemingly go unanswered. Why doesn't a loved one recover from illness? Why can't family...
Political activist James Foreman asked Pastor Ernest T. Campbell (1923-2010) for permission to read the Black Manifesto in worship the next day at Riverside Church in upper Manhattan. The manifesto called for 500 million dollars in reparation from...
Suicide is on the rise in our country, yet we still don't know how to talk about it. We speculate in hushed tones about the deceased mental state and rush to conclusions, yet we are hard-pressed to know what to say to grieving family members. This...