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Sunday, May 06, 2012

TV Preacher
By webmaster @ 12:01 AM :: 98 Views :: 0 Comments :: Dr. Michael Brown

I watched a TV preacher one night recently. He was slick. Too slick. He was preaching the prosperity gospel: “Give to my ministry, and God will give back more to you.” He even asked the people to step forward and make $1000 gifts to his crusade. “God has already given you access to that money,” he said. “And if you give it tonight, God will give you more in return.” I couldn’t watch any longer. I saw the faces of the folks in his crusade – desperate faces of people who were probably struggling, maybe out of work, hanging on by their fingernails, and being taken in by a charlatan with promises of a pot of gold. I also knew the only pot of gold would be his.

Sunday, April 29, 2012

What Am I Here For?
By webmaster @ 12:01 AM :: 117 Views :: 0 Comments :: Dr. Michael Brown

“What am I here for?” Her question was not intellectually motivated. It was more than mere musing to her. Often that question is more or less mind-game. It’s something we like to kick around in Philosophy classes just for the mental fun of it. That was not the case with the young woman who spoke those words to me. Instead, I sensed in her an urgency, a longing to discover meaning and purpose. “What am I here for?”

Sunday, April 15, 2012

Bubba
By webmaster @ 12:01 AM :: 151 Views :: 0 Comments :: Dr. Michael Brown

Did you watch the Masters Tournament? Page and I were pretty much glued to it. It’s the Kentucky Derby of golf, the Super Bowl, Wimbledon. So there we sat cheering for our favorites. I guess everyone harbored the hope that on the final hole of the final day, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickleson would walk down the 18th fairway tied for the lead. At my age, I was hoping even more that V.J. Singh and Fred Couples would make that walk, leaving all the young bucks watching in envy. As it turned out, the winner was a young man named Bubba Watson (who hit a miracle shot on the second playoff hole to win it). Obviously, someone who speaks with my particular accent will sit up and take notice when the green jacket goes to a guy named “Bubba.”

Sunday, April 08, 2012

Every New...
By webmaster @ 12:01 AM :: 159 Views :: 0 Comments :: Dr. Michael Brown

A dear and lifelong friend of mine will retire this summer. He has lived his professional life as a distinguished minister, a self-giving Christian servant, and a profoundly skilled preacher. Across the past several months, he has kept me aware of the checklist of things he has done for the final time and will not be required to do again. I recently said: “How does it feel to be preparing your last Easter sermon?” His response was theologically insightful (and, coming from him, predictably so). He said: “That’s one thing I will never do for the last time. Every new morning when we arise, our very lives preach resurrection!”

Sunday, April 01, 2012

“Welcome to My World!”
By webmaster @ 12:01 AM :: 157 Views :: 0 Comments :: Dr. Michael Brown

“Welcome to my world!” It’s a phrase we often use when someone complains about something we live with on a regular basis. “I can’t believe how much it costs to rent one space in a parking garage!,” or “I am so disappointed my alma mater lost in the NCAAs!,” or “It’s incredible how much I pay in taxes!,” or “I have to be so careful about my weight that I’ve given up everything that tastes good!,” or “Sometimes my arthritis is so painful I hardly get any sleep at all!,” and we respond, “Welcome to my world.” It simply means we understand, we know what they’re going through, we’ve lived where they are living.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Half Empty or Half Full
By webmaster @ 12:01 AM :: 153 Views :: 1 Comments :: Dr. Michael Brown

Were you at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade? I’m sure you were. I am pretty convinced everyone in all five boroughs came... and brought a guest! I’ve never seen so many people.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

The Game
By webmaster @ 12:01 AM :: 177 Views :: 0 Comments :: Dr. Michael Brown

Occasionally something shows up in my e-mails that I hang onto. I forward it to others, or I print it out as a possible sermon illustration, or I determine to share it in some fashion with a wider audience. Today I received one of those e-mails. It came from Judy and Terry Edwards. We went to Asheboro High School together a long time ago. They are great people, and this creative essay from them speaks to a topic pertinent to us all. So I thought I would share it with you via my blog. Many thanks to Terry and Judy!

Imagine that you had won the following prize in a contest: Each morning your bank would deposit $86,400.00 in your private account for your use. However, this prize has specific rules, just as any game has certain rules.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

A Beautiful Word of Grace
By webmaster @ 12:01 AM :: 234 Views :: 1 Comments :: Dr. Michael Brown

Last night was Ash Wednesday. We had a wonderful service at the church, with beautiful music and beautiful people making the sanctuary come alive with Spirit’s presence.

As many preachers around the country did in similar services yesterday, I preached from Matthew’s gospel about Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness and the subsequent beginning of his ministry when the first word of his first sermon was “Repent!” For those who were there, you recall we looked at that word in a somewhat different fashion than some folks sometimes do. Having experienced such excruciating temptation that angels had to come to minister to him, Jesus understood how grueling it is to be tempted – and how those of us who are not Messiahs sometimes fall. So, the word “Repent,” far from being a fiery word of judgment, was instead a beautiful word of Grace, signifying that He offered fresh starts and new beginnings to those who have lost in previous battles with temptation.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Play Money or Love Money?
By webmaster @ 12:01 AM :: 224 Views :: 1 Comments :: Dr. Michael Brown

A note appeared in the news recently about a “reality TV star” (I think that translates: “someone with no discernible entertainment talents who nonetheless has a television show for no explicable reasons”). The “star” had dropped $35,000 in a night of high rolling at the tables in Las Vegas. Laughingly, he said: “I always come here with a set amount of `play money’. When I lose that, I quit playing.”

He called $35,000 “play money.” Did you know that an income of $34,000 a year puts a person in the upper 1% of money-earners globally? His one night’s “play money” was more than 99% of the world’s people survive on annually … and that, in most cases, means for the entire family! “Play money ….”

Sunday, January 29, 2012

WWJD?
By webmaster @ 12:01 AM :: 281 Views :: 2 Comments :: Dr. Michael Brown

WWJD? Those letters have become somewhat campy, perhaps clichéd, from such frequent use. They show up on ball caps, bumper stickers, and rock singers’ tattoos. Our response to them has been diminished, mostly now falling somewhere between apathy and a dismissive rolling of the eyes. And yet, as people who operate within the theological and philosophical framework of Christianity, the question represented by those four letters is central: What Would Jesus Do?

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