I preached this sermon on March 30th, 2014 at Grace UMC as part of our Release: Finding Space for the Resurrection Lenten worship series. The text was John 9:1-41. Audio is below. I have a little test for you. Let’s see how many of you can get this right. This is a highly successful British commercial […]
I preached this sermon at Grace UMC on March 16th, 2014 as part of our Lenten sermon series, “Release: Finding Space for the Resurrection.” The text is John 3:1-17. Listen below. Has anyone every told you a story of something incredible – so incredible that you couldn’t help but to have some doubts about it? […]
The Cornerstone Concept: In Leadership, In Life Roberta M. Gilbert Thinking It Over sections at end of chapter are good chapter by chapter summaries. Questions at the end may be good journaling activities. Memorize the indicators of self-differentiation in chapter 7. I’m curious why Gilbert never seems to reference Ed Friedman, even in bibliographies. […]
Traditional Christianity often teaches that Jesus was perfect and without sin. The proclamation that Jesus is perfect and without sin isn’t something Jesus claimed of himself – in fact he denied it (Mark 10:18). Rather, it is a doctrinal formulation of the church. While, well-intentioned, and certainly a laudable statement of devotion and worship of […]
I preached this sermon at Grace United Methodist Church on December 29th, 2013. The text was Matthew 2:13-23. Here’s the audio: About five years ago, not long after I had become youth pastor at Grace, we had a lock-out and as part of the lock-out, I took the youth to see a movie at Monaco […]
I preached this sermon on Sunday, November 17, 2013 as the third sermon in our church’s series, “Finding Our Place in the Covenant Story,” focusing on God’s covenant with King David. The scripture is II Samuel 7:1-17 and it is integrated throughout the sermon. Here’s the audio: http://www.noren-hentz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/sermon-2013-11-171.mp3 The Spanish anarchist, Buenaventura Durruti, has famously […]
I preached this sermon on Sunday, September 8, 2013 as the final sermon in our Grace Factory series. The scripture is Luke 9:1-6. Here’s the audio. In more than 3 out of 4 times, the team that wins each series in the National Basketball Association playoffs has home court advantage. In 2006, the Miami […]
I preached this sermon at Grace UMC on January 13, 2013. Here’s the audio and the scripture (Luke 3:15-23a). Only you can prevent forest fires. That’s the advice of the iconic Smokey the Bear. Forest fires are not to be taken lightly and I do hope each of you takes fire safety seriously. But […]
I preached this sermon on December 30th at Grace UMC. Here’s the audio and the text (Luke 2:41-52). Today’s sermon is brought to you by the number twelve. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but twelve year old boys can be strange. They don’t seem to operate by the same socially agreed upon customs that […]
I preached this sermon on June 3, 2012 at Grace UMC. The text was John 3:1-17. “I’ll Speak Slow, So You Can Understand.” A couple weeks ago, my son, Carter, and my wife Christy and I went to Sweet CeCe’s Yogurt over in Providence. The new owner gave us a rewards punch card – buy […]