By Way of Introduction

On June 1, my pastor, David Kelly [Bright Star Parish of the LaMoine District of the Great Rivers Conference of the United Methodist Church in Illinois], invited his parishioners to submit our "favorite" sermons from the past 8 years and he will do encores a couple times a year. Oohhh, I have been WAITING for this day! 

I am a note-taker by nature, and I treat every Sunday's sermon as a Bible study opportunity. I have years' worth of sermon notes, and have been tempted to start a little blog based on David's in particular. He is an amazing preacher. His sermons are deep and wide, cross referenced, annotated, connected to German philosophy (he loves the German philosophers) and contemporary literature. He reads and speaks Hebrew and regularly posts the Hebrew spelling/meaning of the terms he references in the sermon.

Most importantly, as David reminds us in almost every sermon, ALL SCRIPTURE IS PRESENT TRUTH. That means no matter the context at the time it was written, there is a message for US, today, in 2014 and beyond, in every word of the Bible. 

What you will see here are 1) the text of the sermon--Bible verses upon which it is based; 2) the preacher's message; and 3) my own "take" on the sermon and what I got from it. 

MOST of the sermons are Dave's, but there will be other preachers represented: Sheila Kelly, Karma Webel, Peg Ratliff and others.

This is a self-indulgent little blog, but, hey! Aren't they all? Enjoy!