This coming Sunday resounds with shouts of "Alleluia! Christ is Risen!" It is Easter, the day Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For many, Easter represents a happy ending to what otherwise would be a very sad story. Jesus - unjustly accused, tortured and murdered - escapes the bonds of death and gets the last laugh on his accusers (which is how one preacher I know defines the term "Alleluia!"). But what if we preachers dug deeper when preparing our Easter sermons? What if we looked at the resurrection not as a happy ending for Jesus but [READ MORE]

1 Peter 3:13-22 I want to invite you to take hold of a wonderful truth. Consider it a foundation upon which to build a full, beautiful and significant life. Embrace it as a core element in the growing of a church. Think of it as an anchoring principle around which the whole universe revolves and upon which all life depends. The truth is this: God is good! Our Scripture texts from last week (1 Peter 2:1-10) and this week each urge us to center our lives on this great fact: God is good! Last Sunday, we learned that the [READ MORE]