Posts

Free Indeed

Image
John 8:31-36 August 16, 2026 • Mount Pleasant UMC This past summer, we celebrated 250 years as a nation. 250 years of freedom. I remember the 200th and one of the differences I noticed—and I may be wrong, because I was pretty young at the 200th—but it seemed that this year all of the various political groups were trying to co-opt the celebration for their own purposes. I don’t remember that happening before. Before it seemed we united around the anniversary. Now, it’s just one more thing that divides us, which I think is horribly ironic: one of the things that divides us is our freedom (including our freedom to disagree, which we even seem to disagree about). We’ve been exploring what I call “signposts” in the Gospel of John, things that help us make sense of the world and, not unsurprisingly, point toward the way God intended the world to be. The problem is that these signposts are broken and have been broken for a long time. As a result, we lack direction. We don’t know which way...
Post a Comment
Read more

Free Indeed (Study Guide)

“Free Indeed” Sermon Study Guide for August 16, 2026 Downloadable Version Scripture: John 8:31-36 1. Signpost: Freedom chaos! 2. Jesus and the Pharisees Matthew 23:2-3 Abraham’s descendants slaves to sin family 3. How We Experience Freedom a. Freedom from _____________________ b. Freedom from _____________________ c. Freedom from _____________________ d. Freedom from _____________________ Psalm 51:4 e. Freedom for _______________________ Matthew 16:24; John 15:13 Questions to Discuss or Ponder: If you were to ask your neighbors what “freedom” means, what would they say? What image(s) to you line up with what freedom is? What happens when everyone in a culture has their own idea of what freedom is? Why did Jesus argue with the Pharisees so much? While the Pharisees were concerned with slavery to someone else, what was Jesus’ primary concern? How is being set free from sin similar to adoption? What does it mean to belong to a family? Which of the ways we exper...
Post a Comment
Read more

What the Light Shows

Image
John 3:16-21 August 12, 2026 • Mount Pleasant UMC The other day, Easton was at our house and we had played with I think just about every toy in the house. When Rachel came to pick him up, I told him we had to clean up, and I know I’m biased, but he’s pretty good about doing that. He began to pick up toys and put them back in their bins. And then he picked up one of the bigger toys and went to put it back but there was a problem. Something else had been put in the place where that toy went. Probably by Grandpa! So he stood there holding the toy while Rachel and I both tried to get him to just put it somewhere else. He didn’t want to do that because, in his mind, there was a right way to put the toys back (the way Grandma had organized them). And as I watched him try to figure out what to do, I couldn’t help but think how we are wired to want things to be made right. We want everything to be in order and the toys to go all back in the right place. When we get older, we have a name for ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What the Light Shows (Study Guide)

“What the Light Shows” Sermon Study Guide for August 9, 2026 Downloadable Version Scripture: John 3:16-21 1. God So Loved… what justice is why we long for justice Nicodemus salvation = ____________________________ 2. The Worst Injustice John 8 - woman in adultery the crucifixion the resurrection 3. Christian Justice participatory - John 16:8 injustice today Peter and the high priest’s slave Questions to Discuss or Ponder: How have you experienced just as a “universal human longing”? Why do we usually assume God wants to condemn the world or that God is mad at us? What does John’s Gospel actually say? What do the contrasts in John 3 (darkness/light, evil/good) tell us about the world and the God who made it? In what way is justice a “manifestation of God’s love”? Why is Christian justice participatory? Why doesn’t God just make it all right immediately? How have you experienced the Holy Spirit “proving the world wrong”? What is one thing you can do in your life today...
Post a Comment
Read more