One of the quiet joys each month at Copper Hill church is coffee hour, that time usually on the second Sunday of the month when we bring in light refreshments and stay after service to chat and get to know each other better. The weather caused cancellation of coffee hour last Sunday so…
Tag: sermon series
Lenten/Easter message series focuses on Jesus’ life
Close-up camera shots of things or people are very revealing. They help us immensely to spot details that we might otherwise miss. I have chosen this analogy because our goal in the Lenten Easter series of messages is to look at passages in the Gospel account of Matthew that give us close-up pictures of Jesus….
Characteristics of love are the topic for February
Love is a very popular subject all over the world. Unfortunately in America, the sexual aspect of human relationships dominates the conversation in a way that it should not. The result is the statistically shown decreasing ability of the American populace to stay married. So it is vital to review the characteristics…
January Message Series Looks at the Early Days of Jesus’ Ministry
Followers of Jesus constantly need to go back to the stories of his ministry to refresh our minds about what was important to him. Otherwise, our ideas can be formed more by our culture than by Jesus. So this month we our message series will review some of the earliest incidents and instruction…
Advent/Christmas Plans Made
Each year, we look forward to the Advent/Christmas season. Technically, Advent covers the four Sundays prior to Christmas while the liturgical Christmas season goes from Dec. 25 until Jan. 6 which is Epiphany (12 days of Christmas). The Advent season is intended to be a time of spiritual preparation leading into our Christmas…
Our Hearts Turn to Thanksgiving
At Copper Hill UMC the Thanksgiving season has begun. It is one of my favorite times of the year. The emphasis in mid November will be on giving thanks for our spiritual blessings as well as for our material blessings and for the riches of our family relationships, friendships and church family ties. Special events…
Next message series focuses on a well known passage
Even today, the Ten Commandments that God gave to Israel occasionally make the news. Just last week the governor of Arkansas signed a bill requiring a monument to the Ten Commandments in his state. http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2015/04/09/arkansas-governor-signs-ten-commandments-bill/. Why are the Ten Commandments so important? How are they relevant for us today? These are good questions. Last Sunday,…
Lenten/Easter Series to Explore the Names of Jesus
Many of us have several names that are used for us in different circles. My father had a nickname that was totally unrelated to his real name but only his boyhood acquaintances called him by that appellation. A man in my previous church seemed to have two first names and was known pretty equally…
Finding Spiritual Certainty to be February Message Theme
Do you feel uncertain about your faith? Do you wonder if you can really be a disciple of Jesus? Doubts are a common part of our human journey. But God desires that we feel spiritually assured of his love and enjoy a sense of certainty in our relationship with Jesus Christ. Peter wrote to first…
The Way of Love is Practical
After service this past Sunday, I was discussing with one parishioner my desire that sermons be relevant to today. God intended that his Way of Love, which is the title of our January message series, would be very practical indeed. I had just spoken about how we needed to step out of our own comfort…