Nehemiah 8:1-10

One of the lectionary texts for this Sunday is Nehemiah 8:1-10.This will make a LOT more sense if you read the passage.

While I decided to go a different direction for my sermon, I wanted to share this text, because it is a lesser known story, but still very interesting.


The heart of this story is the reading of the book of the law by Ezra the priest, but to understand the story, its useful to have some background.

The most amazing statistic in the world

For those who have already heard/read my sermon, I thought I'd add an extra link this morning.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/world-progress-report.png

This is a link to the World Progress Report for 2009.
In particular, I think its worth thinking about world population and population growth, changes in poverty in the last 20 years, and life expectancy.

We live in interesting times.

Water into Wine

Hello all, sorry for a week without posts. I have some ideas for this coming week.
This sermon is about the wedding at Cana, but there is an extensive sidetrack into Mennonite reflections on alcohol, so if you're interested, you're welcome to share your stories about alcohol either as a child or your current reflections.
Grace and peace,
Samuel

Ordination

No sermon today,
it was my ordination service, and Janeen Bertsche Johnson provided the sermon. It was a wonderful service, and I wanted to say thanks for the support and blessings I've received.

SVS

Move Your Money

I thought I’d pass along this idea. As many of you know, part of the reason that the financial crisis of 2008 was so severe is that many many banks were really highly leveraged-sometimes as much as 40$ out for every dollar kept on the books, which meant that smaller shocks to housing prices led to bankruptcy. Another problem was that banks were selling mortgages to people that were unaffordable, or whose payments would balloon to an unaffordable level quickly. The government is working on a bill designed to deal with this, but I always prefer to combine my activism with more personal, concrete solutions.

Matthew 2:1-12-we three kings

Happy New Year everyone! 
After talking to the LCG and receiving feedback from Linda, I've decided to keep up with the Blog (though probably with some less frequent and shorter posts).  I hope you continue to check in once in a while.
Here is my sermon for this week-what is your favorite story of the three wise men?

Good morning, and happy New Year! It is good to be back in Saint Louis. Rachel and I had a wonderful trip around the Midwest, and we find ourselves back here refreshed and ready to begin a new year.
This Wednesday, the 6th is the holiday of Epiphany, one of the first holidays in the Christian calendar, and the traditional date for the visitation of the wise men to the baby Jesus. The Bible says only a small amount about these characters-they come from the East, they saw the star, they bring Gold Frankincense, and Myrrh. Magi were probably court officials in Persia, who in Matthew’s Roman context would have been visitors from outside the Roman imperium, thus both exotic and untainted by the powers that be, while still providing some Gentile credit for a largely Jewish Messiah. They may have even dabbled in the interpretation of dreams, and are the source of our modern word Magic.
But there has been a host of other stories about these fascinating characters. Western Church tradition tells us that there are three wise men, named Caspar, Balthazar, and Melchior, who are not just wise, but also kings (this tradition dates back to at least the 6th century). We have been told they come from Babylon, or India, or Ethiopia, or even China.
These men have captured our attention, they have been a key part of the story of Christmas from the very beginning.