Category: FPC Rolla

Preached on November 30, 2025, First Sunday of Advent, at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla. Based on Isaiah 2:1-5. Today, we start a new liturgical year with the first Sunday of Advent. My plan this year is to delve into the Hebrew Bible readings. We’ll see how it goes. Lots of preachers pull out the…

Sermon on November 9, 2025, Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost. Based on Luke 20:27-38. With apologies to the United Church of Christ, who have used this title as their motto for many years. Before we seriously discuss today’s lesson, I’d like to take a quick tour through Israelite history. We often think of the ancient Israelites…

Sermon on October 5, 2025, 17th Sunday After Pentecost. Based on Luke 17:5-10. During this part of the year, the lectionary marches through the Gospel of Luke. I like that. You get a different sense of the Gospels when you read them straight through, rather than picking out a verse or short passage. Today’s lesson…

Preached at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla on September 28, 2025. Based on Luke 16:19-31. Consider the scene in A Christmas Carol when Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley. Marley says to him, “I wear the chain I forged in life. I made it, link by link, and of my own…

Preached on September 14, 2025, at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla. Based on Luke 15:1-10. Chapter 15 of Luke’s Gospel could perhaps be titled the Book of the Lost. We have a trilogy of parables. First, there is the parable of the Lost Sheep. Then there is the parable of the Lost Coin. I read…

Preached at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla on August 31, 2025. Based on Luke 14: 1, 7-14. Recently, Vicki and Lloyd turned me onto a great book called Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes by Kenneth E. Bailey. He was from Bloomington, IL, attended Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and was an ordained PC(USA) pastor. However, he spent…

Preached at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla on August 10, 2025. Based on Luke 12:32-40. Last week, Susan talked about being rich towards God. Today’s passage continues the theme. But here, Luke writes that we are to lay up treasure in heaven, which is just a little bit different. Let’s see if we can figure…

Preached on July 20, 2025, at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla. Based on Colossians 1:11-28. Please note that I say “Paul wrote…” even though many scholars believe that Colossians is not an authentic letter. That is not relevant to my main thesis, though, so I didn’t bring it up. Today’s epistle lesson is a continuation…

Preached on July 6, 2025, at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla. Based on Galatians 6:1-16. Before I get into today’s text, I want to back up and give a little context. Galatians is one of the earliest of Paul’s letters—perhaps his first, perhaps written after Thessalonians. None of Paul’s letters were written to us. They…

Preached at First Presbyterian Church of Rolla on June 15, 2025, Trinity Sunday. Based on John 16:12-15. There’s a YouTube video that I love called, “St. Patrick’s Bad Analogies.” In it, St. Patrick attempts to explain the Trinity to a couple of “simple Irish folk,” who turn out to not be so simple after all.…