Repentance « St. Mark's Lutheran

Michael Lewis please see St. Paul….

By Parson Brown, on 2:47 pm%

Michael Lewis is best know for Moneyball, but his is one of the best financial writers around. His secret is that he can take the numbers and tell a story. He can translate from financial Joe to average Joe. This is his latest article on the California or State financial crisis.

The succession of . . . → Read More: Michael Lewis please see St. Paul….

Its like watching a trainwreck, the horror doesn’t stop…

By Parson Brown, on 10:44 am%

I can’t really recommend you read this. It has got to be the most cringe inducing thing I’ve read in a long time. Status obsessed, shallow, vain, conceited, silly…and still heartbreaking.

But given all of that, it is a remarkable roadmap for how to kill your Faith or blaspheme the Holy Spirit. It is . . . → Read More: Its like watching a trainwreck, the horror doesn’t stop…

Ash Wednesday

By Parson Brown, on 4:15 pm%

This morning we took psalm 51 as our text. We know the famous portions – restore unto me the joy of your salvation – but the last four verses spoke a couple of points to me.

Psalm 51: 16-19
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with . . . → Read More: Ash Wednesday

The Disciple’s Life of Repentance

By Parson Brown, on 4:19 pm%

Full Text
Text: Luke 17:1-10

Luke 14:1 – 17:10 in my reading is one long extended teaching on being a disciple. The text for this sermon is the summary or conclusion of that section. I drew that boundary because in Luke 17:11 Jesus is no longer ping-ponging back and forth between disciples and Pharisees, but he . . . → Read More: The Disciple’s Life of Repentance

The medium is the message

By Parson Brown, on 10:40 am%

That was of course Marshall McLuhan bemoaning the vast wasteland of TV. The more serious point is that particular mediums (TV, books, radio, talking, letters) are not just tubes to deliver something, but they mold or form the message itself. Books are solitary, serious and heavy. TV is fast and visual. i.e. . . . → Read More: The medium is the message

Suffering & A “Good” God

By Parson Brown, on 8:58 pm%

This link has a Sullivan reader giving his logic on why suffering should lead to atheism.

Here is the simple Christian answer. We have done something terribly wrong and its fouled up this entire existence. To our relative way of thinking our petty sins aren’t that bad. But to the absolute standard of holiness. . . . → Read More: Suffering & A “Good” God

Deep Lent

By Parson Brown, on 6:36 pm%

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I’ll just say I hated the text this week. It was harsh and rough, and I couldn’t escape it. Everything I read to prepare for preaching just lead deeper into the heart of repentance. Everything lead to heart rending stories. A better preacher would have been more winsome. Me, . . . → Read More: Deep Lent

Sermon – “Daughter…” – Mark 5:21-43

By Parson Brown, on 12:10 pm%

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Sermon Text: Mark 5:21-43

In this sermon I did something that probably would have received low marks from seminary profs. I probably strayed too far into allegorizing the text for the application. That is part of the reason why the opening includes the remarks that the reading might be idiosyncratic. It probably comes . . . → Read More: Sermon – “Daughter…” – Mark 5:21-43

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