I fly to California on Monday.  Eight days after Easter and as has been my custom for thirty or more years, I will be attending the West Coast Presbyterian Pastors Conference. In fact, the WCPPC celebrates its Fortieth Anniversary this year, and some of the founders and first attenders are sure to be there.  Lots of things have changed in those forty years, not the least of which are the faces of those who come. Continue reading →

Sunday’s worship at all four services will be dominated by hallelujahs – sometimes the alleluia variant, but still dominated by hallelujahs.  From the Fourteenth Century words to the familiar “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” to the contemporary “All I Have is Christ,” from the contemplative “Alleluia,Give Thanks” to Handel’s magnificent chorus, we will sing hallelujah.

The word itself is not found in any of the Easter narratives. Its lone place in Scripture is in Revelation 19 as the consummation of history draws near and invitations to the wedding supper of the Lamb are given. The whore city Babylon has been defeated and the New Jerusalem is soon to come down out of heaven as a bride adroned for her husband; a new heaven and a new earth, no more crying and no more pain, all things made new. Continue reading →

Robson (pronounced Hobson in the manner of Brazilian Portuguese) Gomes is a long time and valued friend. We met in seminary over twenty years ago and have been partners in ministry ever since, though we have always lived at least 5,000 miles apart Robson is from Belo Horizonte, a city of 3.5 million in the highlands of south central Brazil (find Rio de Janeiro on a map and go about 250 miles north).  Together we helped build a church in a slum area, a favela, in his home town. We have preached in each other’s churches, co-officiated at his daughter’s wedding, have cried tears of joy and sadness over the same victories and defeats. (Photo: Robson, left, and Mario, right) Continue reading →

The bad news is that it is likely foolish and possibly evil.

Well, I got that out of the way.  And by the way, I didn’t necessarily call any of you foolish or evil.  For those of you who opened this edition of the E-pistle on your smart phone while waiting in the Mega-Millions ticket line at your local convenience story, oh, go ahead and stay in line.  Just remember the biblical principle of tithing – ten percent to the Lord and his work.

You probably know the background. Mega-Millions is a multi-state lottery game (I think 42 of the 50 are in on it). There hasn’t been a winner in a long time and the jackpot has grown to $540 million.  Officials expect to sell 1.2 billion tickets at one dollar a piece.  The winner may take the payout in 26 annual payments of around $20 million, or in a lump sum payment of $360 million. Continue reading →

I receive promotional emails from a company called Wing Clips. I like Wing Clips. One of the services they provide is access to video clips for use in sermons or lessons. The clips are legal, of high quality and inexpensive. Wing Clips is a nice thing to know about.

Another of Wing Clips’ options that I have not used and promise never to use is a sermon outline service. Of course, they suggest that you purchase one of their video clips, but along with it they provide a detailed outline of the sermon you should preach, even a scripture passage to make the movie clip theologically legitimate. I suppose it beats plagiarism. Continue reading →