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Author Archives: stevepvc
Sermon Preview: Are You the One?
This week’s sermon, from Matthew 11, is “Are You the One?” ”Mission: Revision” (I had to change the title because the invitation song was “May I Call You Father?”, and I didn’t want the order of worship to read like a … Continue reading
Posted in Preaching, Sermon Preview
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The Church in the Age of Cynicism
The rumor going around on our culture is that we’re too tolerant, and that pervasive relativism has carried us to the point where people don’t respect right and wrong anymore. I see that, and I agree that it’s definitely a … Continue reading
The Sending—A Sermon from Matthew 10
As we’ve been walking through Matthew’s story, we’ve walked with Jesus through several episodes that reveal his authority. Jesus teaches with authority and orders around demons with authority. He claims the authority to forgive sins, and points his finger at … Continue reading
Posted in Matthew, Mission, Preaching, Sermon Manuscript
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Sermon Preview: The Sending
Here’s a preview for the sermon this Sunday. (January 29, 2012)
Posted in Preaching, Sermon Preview
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Faith: Active and Passive Voices
If you’ll forgive the grammatical terms, I’ve been living lately in the tension between faith lived in the passive voice and expressed in the active voice. Everywhere I turn, whether in my prayer life, the life of service, my preaching, … Continue reading
Posted in Theology
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Micah Untoothed
This is one of those “the girls are growing up fast” moments.
Return of the Prodigal Father
I pull in the driveway, turn the key, and the truck relaxes. And then, I do too. I take a breath—not too deep, just enough to sigh, but that goes all the way down, and my shoulders sink as I let … Continue reading
Posted in Poetry
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Choosing and Chasing
When I first read this post by Bradley Moore, I couldn’t help identifying with his middle school tale of self-reinvention (the eighth grade wasn’t particularly kind to me), and I started thinking about the tension we live in between the … Continue reading
Posted in Life Reflections
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John of the Cross and the Importance of Appetite
I read this passage from The Ascent of Mount Carmel by John of the Cross this morning: The ignorance of some is extremely lamentable; they burden themselves with extraordinary penances and many other exercises, thinking these are sufficient to attain union … Continue reading
Kingdom Criteria
This week I had a conversation with a friend who was thinking about pursuing some further ministry training and wanted some advice about how to pick the right school for graduate work. We kicked it around for a while, thinking … Continue reading