Doubt the Wizard. Trust the Savior. A sermon based on John 20: 19-31, preached on April 12, 2026

It takes courage to ask questions. It’s not easy to confess that you don’t know or can’t believe. It requires humility to admit that you’re lost. That’s why I admire the disciple Thomas, and that’s why I love the map feature on my iPhone. You know, iPhones, Androids, and all the other smart phones are prevalent enough now that there may be younger members of our congregation who can’t even imagine a world without easy-to-follow and up-to-the-minute driving directions, so let me try to describe it to you. When I was in my very first church as a seminary intern, an older member of the congregation invited me to lunch at a barbeque restaurant near the state capital. Wood’s Chapel BBQ, it’s called. I hadn’t been there before, so she gave me directions over the phone, which I wrote down on a piece of paper. She told me to, “drive towards the state capital and to take a left at the building… 40 years ago it was the records building,” she said. “I don’t know what it is now, but at the building that used to be the records building, you should take a left.” Can you imagine? Or do you remember? Today, all we have to do is type in Wood’s Chapel BBQ and off we go, turn by turn instructions with traffic updates right on our phone, but back then, if you got lost out in the middle of nowhere, you’d find a gas station, walk in, say to the person at the register, “Can you tell me how to get back to the interstate?” If you were far enough off the beaten trail, you’d often hear them say, “Well, you aren’t from around here, are you?” It was humiliating, and so proud men just wouldn’t do it. Now we don’t have to, and yet I see a problem developing in our culture because of such convenient access to directions. Now that we don’t have to ask for directions, it’s possible to get out of the spiritual practice of humbly admitting that we don’t know where we are. When you’re feeling lost or confused, are there people in your life to whom you feel comfortable asking questions? Is there someone in your life to who, you know that you could ask just about anything? Having a person to ask these kinds of questions to is important because your phone can’t tell you everything, so being in the habit of admitting what you don’t know is a skill worth having. That’s why I don’t like calling him Doubting Thomas. We call him Doubting Thomas as though doubting were a bad thing, when I assure you the worse thing is being lost while too proud to ask for help. For example, years ago, I was a student at Marietta High School. I was in 9th grade and enrolled in Spanish 1. After we got past counting to 10 in Spanish, I was completely lost. I had no idea how to conjugate verbs. I can barely do that in English, and so I was struggling. However, I never told my teacher I was struggling. I never asked her or anyone else for help. I was too proud to raise my hand to ask questions. I never admitted that I didn’t know, and so at the end of the semester, I failed Spanish. Now as bad as that was, it’s not nearly as bad as failing Christianity, and as angry as my parents were that I had failed Spanish, how much angrier would Christ have been if Thomas didn’t believe but never confessed his doubt? When Jesus heard that Thomas said, “If I don’t touch the wounds I will not believe,” was Jesus angry? Was Jesus disappointed? Was Jesus ashamed that this disciple had questions? No, and neither was my teacher, Señora Smitherman, the second time I enrolled in Spanish 1. When I was in her class, unlike the first time I took Spanish, anytime I had a question, I raised my hand. At any moment when I felt lost, I let her know. At the end of the semester, Señora Smitherman pointed me out and said, “I want you all to be like Joe Evans, who is never afraid of asking a question because that’s the only way you’ll ever learn.” That’s the truth, for learning requires us to admit what we don’t know. The journey of life and the journey of faith requires us to ask for directions, but be wise about whom you ask. We all must be careful about asking for spiritual direction from our iPhones because, while AI might have a brain, it doesn’t have a heart, and while social media is good for all kinds of things, it’s not very good at telling the truth. Last week, we were on vacation, and one of the days we were on vacation, our daughter Cece had a fever. Because she was sick, we spent one whole afternoon in our Airbnb watching episodes of American Idol. When I think back on it, that might have been my favorite day of the trip, but that’s not the day that anyone posted about on Instagram. Of course it’s not. When people post on social media, no one has a fever. Everyone is smiling. The family is not arguing but laughing together. The sunset is perfect. Not a hair is out of place. In other words, social media often reminds me of the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz. Do you remember the Wizard? Last week, we were on a plane, and so I watched the new Wicked movie. The plot of Wicked is a play on The Wizard of Oz, but with a lot more singing, and a much greater focus on the Wizard, who you may remember from the original story is just a little man behind a curtain who figured out how to manipulate a whole bunch of people using smoke and mirrors, That’s until Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal that the Wizard is just a man. Until that point, he seems to have all the answers, so Dorothy and her friends seek him out. They do what he says to get what they want. Dorothy wants to go home, the Tin Man wants a heart, the Cowardly Lion wants courage, and the Scarecrow wants a brain. Do you remember all that? The Wizard promises, “I’ll give you all what you’re wishing for if you’ll destroy the Wicked Witch of the West,” but the Tin Man goes with Dorothy on this whole journey because he loves her, which means he already had a heart. The Cowardly Lion leads the way because he already had courage. He just lacked the confidence to see it, and the Scarecrow figures out that water will destroy the witch because he already had a brain. You see, they already had what they needed, but the Wizard didn’t help them to see that because the Wizard couldn’t give them something that he didn’t have himself, so I ask you to be careful about seeking out answers from people who won’t let you see behind the curtain. The Wizard hides behind a curtain while the Savior reveals to us His wounds. My friends, we can trust Jesus with our doubts. We can trust Him with our fears. We can trust Jesus with our questions and our worries. We can trust Jesus with our insecurities and our trepidation, but go on social media to see a bunch of perfect pictures of perfect vacations when you’re a little too bored and a little too insecure, and the Wizard will have you right where he wants you, in a position to work for things that the Lord hands out for free. I don’t know how often it’s happened to me that I’ve found myself lost. I don’t just mean lost on the road. I’m talking about lost in life. Wondering what this is all about. Who am I, and what is my purpose? These are not questions that you can just google. If you are looking for answers to life’s greatest questions, only trust those who will reveal to you their wounds. Who have been through the struggle. Who know what it means to face the darkness of the night. The Savior has been down this road that we travel, and He knows the way to salvation. Doubt the Wizard. Trust the Savior. Friends there are too many people who spend their days wondering, “Could he love me if he knew?” Could he love me despite what I’ve done or who I am? Don’t ask questions like that to the wrong person. Only ask the One who loves you so much that He offered you His body and His blood. Do you know Him? Do you trust Him? Do not doubt but believe. Alleluia. Amen.

The Resurrection Will Not be Televised, a sermon based on John 20: 1-18, preached on April 5, 2026

Thanks be to God, for the tomb was empty. Thanks be to God, for Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. Thanks be to God that death has lost its sting. Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning, and so Jesus asked Mary, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Why are you weeping when death has been conquered? Why are you weeping when hope prevails, love never dies, salvation has been secured, and sin has been conquered? If ever there was a day to proclaim the Good News, today is the day, but notice with me this detail at the end of our second Scripture lesson: Mary Magdaline was the one to preach the first Easter sermon. She left the tomb to tell the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” for the miracle of the resurrection had to have a messenger. The story of salvation would not tell itself. Somebody had to tell the story because the resurrection was not televised for all to see. No reporters were present at the tomb that first Easter morning. It happened before sunrise while most were still in bed. No one was expecting it. No one was prepared. Our Gospel lesson ended with Jesus the Christ, risen from the grave, saying to Mary, “Go and tell my brothers.” Go and tell them, Mary, for the other two who saw and believed didn’t tell anybody about it. Did you notice that? Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, saw the empty tomb. They even entered and saw that Jesus had rolled up the garments He had been buried in as though He were folding up His blanket after a nap. Scripture tells us that they both saw and believed, yet after witnessing the miracle of Jesus Christ risen from dead, Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, just went back home not telling anyone about it as though they were history’s first Presbyterians. My favorite Presbyterian joke is, “What do you get when you mix a Jehovah’s Witness and a Presbyterian?” “Someone who knocks on your door but doesn’t say anything.” If you don’t know much about the Presbyterian Church, know this: We are not the denomination who has been preaching out on the Square with a bullhorn in hand. That’s not our style, and condemnation is not our message. Some branches of the Christian Church won’t dance. Others won’t drink. We won’t talk about our faith too much in public, and yet the story of Easter must be told. The resurrection was not televised. The miracle requires a messenger, so Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, “Go and tell my brothers.” Go and celebrate the truth that the Lord has risen. Let the world know that there is victory over the grave. Shake your tambourines. Lift your voices to sing. Shout it out that He is risen. And because He lives, I can face tomorrow! Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future, And life is worth the living, Just because He lives! My friends, this is obviously good news for all people. This is a story that needs to be told. It’s the kind of good news that no one should keep to himself. Why, then, did those first two disciples go back to their homes without telling anyone about it? Why were those two as quiet as two Baptists in a liquor store? More importantly, why did Jesus have to tell Mary Magdaline, “Go and tell my brothers?” Think about it with me. It’s because to the ears of Rome, to the ears of the Pharisees, to the ears of the powers and principalities who put Him in the tomb, news of His resurrection was news of revolution, insurgence, insurrection, and revolt. The power of God is so rarely televised because the power of God is a threat to the power of evil. Evil people don’t want you to know how fragile their grasp on control is. To spread news of Christ risen from the dead threatened Roman power because, up until this point, death by crucifixion had been 100% effective, and Rome’s violent grip on their empire depended on it staying that way. You see, they knew what we often forget: that an empire built on control and domination is so fragile a thing that the whole deck of cards will fall with just a whisper of the truth. It was the same when freedom came to the enslaved people of the South. President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, effectively outlawing slavery, yet word of slavery’s end didn’t reach the enslaved people of Texas for two years, five months, and 18 days. Juneteenth is the celebration of the day when word of that executive order finally reached Texas. Why did it take so long for that good news to travel? It’s because the power of evil doesn’t want people proclaiming the Good News, but Mary announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord.” Proclaiming such a truth out loud changes things. Really, it changes everything. Days ago, I heard a story about a woman in recovery from drug addiction. At her Narcotics Anonymous meeting, she was to receive her chip for her first year sober, and she invited the officer who arrested her to come to the meeting to give it to her. Because this NA group meets in a small town, that officer was the one who had arrested most of the members of that NA group at one time or another. He had been the one to arrest so many at that meeting that as he was introduced to the group, he said, “I see an awful lot of familiar faces.” Yet when he was handed the 1-year sobriety chip and handed that chip to the woman whom he had arrested on the lowest day of her life, with tears in his eyes, he said to her and anyone else listening, “How thankful I am to see you on the other side.” My friends, everyone must remember that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone needs to hear that miracles still happen. Everyone who feels stuck needs to know that change has come. Everyone who feels like she is fighting a losing battle against sin needs to hear that He has won the battle for you. It’s not your job to fight that battle. It’s your job to share the news that He has won! In the dark days of Apartheid in South Africa, the great Archbishop Desmond Tutu was all the time preaching the Gospel of Resurrection, assuring his congregation that God would have the final word and not the apartheid government, and so the apartheid government would storm his church from time to time. Uniformed and armed men would barge into the service, yet the Archbishop always welcomed them into his church warmly, saying, “Friends, I’m so glad you’ve come over to the winning side.” My friends, look around. Notice miracles and dare to tell someone about it. The resurrection was not televised then, and the miracles of God so rarely are. Still, people need to hear about good things. Someone you know needs the reminder that Rome will fall. Death has lost its sting. Hope is never lost, for Christ is risen. A lady walked into our Great Hall during our community Holy Week meals last week and said, “I think this is what heaven will look like.” Another from out of town was so affected by our community and the love that you shared with her that she’s thinking about moving out of John’s Creek to come to Marietta. Who would blame her? We live in a world of darkness and despair, yet the emperor’s kingdom will crumble with the sound of your voice: Say it with me, “He is risen.” He is risen, indeed. Your sin does not define you, but His victory does. Hope lives. Love lives. The darkness cannot put out the Light. Halleluia. Amen.

You Will Never Wash My Feet, a sermon based on John 13: 1-8 preached on April 2, 2026

This week has been an important week. It’s already been a meaningful week. You may know that on Monday at 11:30 in this Sanctuary, the Rev. Dr. Tar-U-Way Bright of Turner Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church preached from this pulpit. Then on Tuesday, it was Eric Beckham of Zion Baptist. Yesterday, the Rev. Brandon Owen of First Baptist preached. Earlier today, it was the Rev. Dr. Harden Hopper III of First United Methodist Church. Each sermon was inspirational. Each lunch, which followed, was delicious. Each day, a crowd of around 200 people attended. Each year that we host these community worship services, the crowds get bigger and there’s more interaction between the members of different churches, but in addition to all these good things, only one of the pastors who preached has a full head of hair. Three have shiny bald heads. And it made me feel so much better. Seeing the beautiful bald heads of those pastors made me feel better about my own receding and retreating hairline. I started to think that if every balding man could see how good those pastors were looking, Rogaine would go out of business. This brings me to my point: You must accept the truth that you are God’s beloved. Peter had to allow the Savior to wash his feet, for His commandment, “Love each other. As I have loved you so you must love one another,” that command, that mandate hinges on what Jesus did on the night He was betrayed. Our ability to love one another hinges on the statement that precedes the command: “As I have loved you,” so you must love one another. Do you believe that He loves you? It’s not easy to love or to accept yourself. If it were easy, people wouldn’t spend so much money covering up how they really look. So much of our economy is built on insecurity. Do you know what I mean by that? How many gyms would close if the members of those gyms woke up each morning, looked in the mirror, and said to themselves, “I am looking good today?” People who look in the mirror and see flaws and folds and wrinkles and lines sign up for gym memberships, pay to have their hair dyed and their faces lifted, but those people who look at themselves in the mirror and say to themselves, “I am looking good” are immune to the commercials. They have the antidote to the insecurity that fuels so much of the beauty product industry. So much of our economy is built on people who look in the mirror and don’t like what they see, yet on the sixth day, God created humankind. Genesis chapter 1 tells us that it was in His image that God created woman and man, and when God saw everything that He had made, indeed, it wasn’t just good. It was very good. That’s what the Bible says. When God created light, it was good. When God created land and ocean, it was good. But when God created humankind, it was very good. Know then that in the eyes of God, you are more majestic than the mountains He created, for He said the mountains were good, but only when He saw you did He say, “very good”. You are more precious than the stars of the sky. More beautiful than the ocean waves. Not for anything other than for you did He sacrifice himself. My friends, you are so worthy of love that Jesus knelt at the feet of Simon Peter, but Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Why not? Maybe you know why Peter wouldn’t let Him. There is an insecurity that creeps inside all our hearts. There is a voice that speaks to us when we are all alone. For some reason, that voice speaks up in middle school, and it keeps on talking, making us self-conscious. The insecurity just stays right with us. I used to think that people grew out of it, but I haven’t. People have started saying to me, “You look just like my proctologist, or my rabbi.” I’ll ask them to show me a picture, and basically, to an awful lot of people, I look a lot like the last bald, white dude they saw. Now, that kind of thing makes me self-conscious. It makes me want to buy a toupée or put on a hat, but my friends, we must fight that kind of insecurity, we must doubt the voice of the evil one, for the Word of God incarnate came not to shame or condemn the world, but to save it; not to make you self-conscious, but to wash your feet. To love you with an undying love. You must allow Him to wash your feet, for those who cannot accept the love of God, seek it out elsewhere. Our world feeds on those who are desperate for love and acceptance. I remember attending a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Tennessee. When we lived there, I’d be invited to these things. Because I was a pastor at an important church, they wanted me there, but I didn’t have any money to contribute, so it was always a little awkward to go to those things. After giving to the church, there just wasn’t much left, so I always felt awkward at those fundraisers because I’d go, but I couldn’t pledge anything. I couldn’t donate much. When they’d give the sales pitch and distribute the pledge cards, I’d excuse myself to the restroom or something, but at the Boys and Girls Club fundraiser, I’ll always remember this moment when the speaker said: I want you to know how important this club is. It’s important because the street will take these children. If they don’t have the Boys and Girls Club, they’ll be left to the street, and the street will take them. If they don’t find direction from us, who will tell them which way to go? If they don’t find acceptance at our club, they’ll find acceptance from gangs. If we don’t feed them, who will offer them food and what will they want in return? It was the most effective fundraising pitch I’d ever heard, and so I made contribution. The check may have bounced, but I had to give something because I knew the man was right. Those who can’t accept themselves go looking for acceptance. Those who don’t feel beautiful will pay top dollar until they do, and so much of our economy is built on insecurity, but I want you to know that Jesus commanded His disciples to “love one another” only after He convinced them that by Him they were loved. How much did He love them? He washed their feet. Now, you may have an image in your mind of what it was like for Jesus to wash the feet of His disciples. It’s possible that the image you have in your mind is based on the state of your neighbor’s feet, or when you think of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, you imagine having to wash a stranger’s feet. My wife, Sara’s, favorite place to shop is Goodwill. She finds all kinds of good stuff at Goodwill, and the day before yesterday, she was so excited because she found me some fancy flip flops that retail new for $90-100. These were not new, though. Someone else’s foot juice was all over them. The gunk from between a stranger’s toes had infected the thong of those flip flops, so I didn’t want them. I didn’t want my feet touching where someone else’s feet had been. It’s not that my feet are perfumed and manicured, so I ask the same question about my feet: What would it have been like for Jesus to wash my feet or your feet? Maybe you’re thinking, who would want to bathe some feet like mine with blisters, bunions, and yellow toenails? Yet remember with me that this is God we’re talking about and not you. What did the Creator God incarnate in Jesus Christ see when He held the feet of those disciples in His hand? What was it like? How did Jesus feel? The closest we can get to imagining how Jesus felt to cradle the disciples’ feet in His hands is if we can remember washing our own baby in the sink. Have you ever bathed a baby? Have you ever put a baby in a sink full of soapy water? Have you ever taken a baby’s fat little foot in your hand, with toes so cute you wanted to take a picture of them to hang on your wall? Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, and it wasn’t any different. The Creator of us all took those feet in His hands, and He said the same words He said in the beginning, “it wasn’t just good, it was very good.” Peter had to let Him because Peter wouldn’t have made it through the rest of his trial without knowing that he was loved. No one makes it through this life whole and complete without the conviction that she is worthy of love. Only those who know that they are worthy of love trust in forgiveness. Only those who know they are worthy of acceptance give people the chance to accept them. My friends, I want you to know that after Peter betrayed Jesus, the only reason he had the courage to seek Jesus out again, pleading for forgiveness, is because Jesus had washed his feet, treated even his feet as precious, and so convinced Peter that the love of His Father in Heaven was something like that of his mother on earth who had held his feet in her hands and kissed them. It’s hard to return home if you don’t trust the love of the father. It’s impossible to proclaim the Gospel that you’ve never allowed yourself to feel. You can’t go on believing in grace unless you’ve experienced it. Before you go paying for some laser treatment or beauty product, know that there is nothing more attractive than confidence, and it is easiest to love those who love themselves. Do you believe it? Would you allow Him to wash your feet? We say it to babies all the time when they’re baptized. We all know that a baby is loved in the sight of God. We all want to wash that baby’s feet. Why would it be any different with you or with me who are and will always be God’s children? Would you let Him wash your feet? My friends, you can’t very well love your neighbor as yourself if you don’t love yourself. You can’t very well love each other unless you know how much He loves you. That was His commandment. That’s His mandate: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. You can only fulfill this mandate, this command, if you know He loves you, so to convince you and assure you, He not only washed the disciples’ feet, but He also prepared them dinner. He took the bread, and He broke it, saying, “This is my body,” broken for you. Then He took the cup, saying, “This cup is poured out of my blood for the forgiveness of sins.” Why would you ever doubt such wonderous love? My friends, taste and see that the Lord is good. His steadfast love for you endures forever. Amen.

The Tyranny of the Urgent, a sermon based on John 11: 1-45, preached on March 22, 2026

There’s a great story that the author Ann Lamott tells about a women’s Bible study. The women’s Bible study was discussing Jesus, who He was, and people in their lives who had been like Jesus to them, and so the group went around the circle. The first woman said that as she went through her divorce, her golden retriever never failed to greet her warmly when she walked through the door. That empty house would have been so sad, but because of that golden retriever, she never felt alone. The next woman talked about her grandmother, who baked chocolate chip cookies and seemed to be pulling a pan of them out of the oven whenever she needed them most. Finally, the last woman at the table spoke, and she looked at the question differently, saying, “Who was like Jesus to me? Well, that would have to be the person who loved me so much that he was always honest with me, so honest that I wanted to kill him.” My friends, that’s true about Jesus. We call Him friend, we know He walks beside us, but we can’t domesticate Jesus. While we all need a golden retriever and a warm chocolate chip cookie, notice with me how many people in the 45 verses we just read wanted to ring Jesus’ neck. Jesus disappointed people. Jesus irritated His disciples because He was always pushing them to prioritize the eternal over the urgent. Have you ever known someone like that, when what you want is someone who will act immediately? Who will help and respond? When I’m panicking, I want someone who will not just stand there, but will do something, but there are thoughtful people who remain calm in those urgent situations, so calm that they drive me crazy. Do you know what I’m talking about? When I was a pastor in Columbia, Tennessee, one hot summer day, the air conditioner went out in the Sanctuary. Presbyterians get grouchy when they’re hot. I know that. You know that, so as I was walking into the Sanctuary to lead the worship service and a church member ran up to me letting me know that the air conditioner wasn’t working, what did I do but make my way out to the HV/AC unit as though I would know what to do once I got there because I’m the kind of person who will respond to your emergency with action whether I know what to do or not. Regardless, I’ll do something. I won’t always do what’s most important but what’s most urgent. Jesus never did that. Jesus never let other peoples’ worries distract Him from His true purpose, and so He often irritated the people around Him who wanted Him to hurry up and act, and that includes His mother. Do you remember His first miracle in the Gospel of John, when He turns water into wine? Then you’ll remember how anxious His mother was. She told Him, “They have no wine,” and you can imagine that she was worried about it because she makes a statement that’s obviously a command. “They have no wine.” In other words: Don’t just stand there. Do something! Sara does that to our children all the time. “I noticed that there are recyclables in the garbage.” That sounds like a statement, but somebody had better do something about it. Jesus had better do something about the wine, says His mother, but Jesus didn’t respond to the urgent with the same nervous energy of everyone else. Why not? Why didn’t the anxiety overwhelm Him? It’s because He prioritized the eternal over the urgent, and He could do that because He never forgot the power of God even when worry overpowered all the people around Him. He wouldn’t have rushed out to look at the HV/AC unit, yet His calm demeanor would have irritated the people around Him because misery loves company, and anxiety will spread through a crowd faster than COVID. Do you remember when a crowd of people followed Jesus out to a remote place where there was no food, nor any place to buy something to eat? His disciples were out among them listening to them grumble. The babies were hungry, so they looked to their parents for something to eat. The parents looked to the disciples to do something about it. The disciples looked to Jesus, and Jesus said, “You feed them.” How could He do such a thing? But He did. He was always pushing His followers to trust in the power of God, but it’s hard to trust when your babies are crying, and it’s even harder when your brother is sick. Think with me about Martha and Mary calling out for Jesus, sending a messenger to go and find Him, asking Him to come and heal their sick brother. I wish He would have treated their concern with a little more urgency. I wish He would have rushed over there to heal Him, just as I rushed outside to try to fix that HV/AC, but Jesus wasn’t worried. Jesus trusted in the power of God. He never succumbed to the tyranny of the urgent, and that made Him hard for people like us to be around, but my friends, why don’t we all take a moment to consider how we might become a little more like Jesus and a little less like the world? Think with me about the world. Gas prices are rising. How long will it take for people to lose their minds? I saw a snowflake on Monday. Was there a run on milk or bread at the Kroger? There probably was because we are anxious people who want leaders to do something when we’re anxious and afraid, even if it’s the wrong thing that they’re doing. “Don’t just stand there. Do something!” we say. However, Jesus was below deck asleep when the storm began to toss the ship, and He was calm when He received word that Lazarus was ill. What are we to learn from His demeanor? That in a world of high stress and anxiety, cooler heads prevail. Those who keep the faith are more than conquerors. Do you know what’s funny about the Gospel of John? For the second Sunday in a row, I’ve read a super long second Scripture lesson from the Gospel of John because the author tells long, sweeping stories to make his point, which is the exact opposite of the Apostle Paul. To summarize the 45 verses I just read, let me quote Paul the Apostle, who wrote, “I consider that the sufferings of the present evil age are not worth comparing to the glory about to be revealed to us.” John takes 45 verses to say what Paul says in one. Regardless of whether you need 45 verses or one to hear this truth, remember the Good News that suffering comes to an end. Sooner or later, suffering gives way to glory. Jesus always remembers that which annoys the people around Him, yet how much better would we all be if, instead of wringing our hands anxiously in the face of death, we always remembered that death will not have the final word? Lazurus died, yet the dead will be raised. Weeping may last for the night, yet joy comes in the morning. On American Idol the other night, I heard a man sing: “Your love is running after, running after me.” Would His love not catch up to me a lot faster if I could stop running outside to fix the air conditioner? Do you hear what I’m saying? Be still, and let the love of God catch up to you. Is it not far more faithful not to just do something, but to stand on the promises of God? The Lord Jesus faced death and conquered it. I want Him to stand beside me. I want Jesus to walk with me. Yet Jesus calls me to have more faith than I have fear. To have more trust than I have anxiety. To have more confidence in God than I have confidence in myself. For by His power, empty water jars will be filled with wine. Stormy seas will become calm, and tombs for the dead will become wombs of new life. Do you believe in Him? Would you trust in Him? Would you follow Him? Then conquer the tyranny of the urgent with your knowledge of the eternal victory. For death will not have the final word. Sorrow will not have the final word. Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes in the morning. If you believe, you will see the glory of God. Trust. Rejoice in suffering. Keep the faith. Face your fear with this assurance: Nothing will separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

The Question Jesus Asks, a sermon based on Psalm 23 and John 9: 1-41, preached on March 15, 2026

That was a long second Scripture lesson. You have to read the whole thing, though, to get the whole story, and getting the whole story is something that everyone is interested in. We all want to know the good, the bad, and the ugly. I once knew a lady who said, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit by me.” Spill. Give me the dirt. Tell me the story. Who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? When I first read it, I couldn’t believe that anyone would ask a question such as that in our second Scripture lesson, “Who sinned?” Then, I started to think how finding someone to blame is so natural a thing that it’s basically our national pastime. Think about it. When someone gets divorced, what kind of questions do we ask? We ask: What did he do? Who cheated? What happened? Who sinned, was it him or his spouse, that they are getting divorced? Asking some version of, “Who sinned?” is a natural question for us to ask, yet notice with me that Jesus doesn’t spend any time answering that question, for the question that Jesus asks is, “Do you want to be made well?” That’s what He asked the first time He healed on the Sabbath back in chapter 5. I wanted to include that chapter in our second Scripture lesson for today, too, but then I thought, “Maybe 41 verses is enough,” and it is for us to get this point: When the disciples asked, “Who is to blame?” the question Jesus asks is, “Do you want to be made well?” and that’s the question to ask people who are going through a divorce. Not, “Was it your fault or his?” but “How can I support you as you walk through the valley?” It’s hard, though, to ask such a helpful question if we get wrapped up in assigning blame, so know this: We are the ones who like to assign blame, while Jesus came, not to condemn the world, but to save it, and so He asks, not “Who did what?” but “Do you want to be made well?” That’s the question that Jesus asks, yet the church gets mixed up in assigning blame just as those first disciples did. Let me give you an example. Have I ever told you where I got my bike? I like riding my bike to the church. People stop and watch me ride by, as though they’ve never seen a man in a suit riding a bike. I like riding my bike to the church. Riding a bike gets people’s attention. I like attention. It’s also good exercise, which I like as well. Considering traffic in Marietta, a lot of the time I make it here to the church faster on my bike than I would have if I were driving a car. I like that too, but back to where my bike came from. I bought my bike for $100 about 15 years ago. If you know anything about bikes, then you might know that my bike is basically an antique. A teal Bianchi as old as mine is a collector’s item. Models like it sell for $500 to $1,000 which is why I keep that bike lock on it. Those who recognize the make and model know it’s worth money, yet I bought it for $100, which I thought was a deal. That was before I heard that the prior owner probably rode it naked. Did you hear that? Yes. I said, “naked.” Just like Adam and Eve. The man who owned my bike before I did was arrested for running through the county park in the nude. Because we lived in a small town, his arrest made the newspaper, and when news of his arrest reached me, I bought a new seat for my bicycle. Here’s why I’m telling you this: This all happened in small town, Columbia, Tennessee. Columbia, Tennessee has a Church of Christ church on every corner. If you know anything about the Church of Christ, then you know that they don’t have instruments. They sing a cappella. They don’t ordain women to the ministry. They’re very against dancing and alcohol, and if you mess up, you must confess your sins before the whole congregation. The man who owned my bike was a member of the West 7th Street Church of Christ, and the members of the West 7th Street Church of Christ were particularly diligent about having people confess their sins publicly. If you were caught drinking, you had to confess during worship on Sunday in front of everyone. If you were caught dancing, you had to do the same. And if you were caught running nude through the county park, you definitely had to make a public confession, so this man who owned my bike had to stand and repent before the whole congregation. Can you imagine? I can because I’m standing up in front of a room full of people who knew me when I was a teenager. You know, people ask me all the time, “What is it like to be a pastor in the town you grew up in?” I tell you; it’s a strange thing to be a religious authority in the town who remembers me when I was running around this church when I was supposed to be in Confirmation Class or the youth group meeting. When I first got back here in 2017, Howard Swinford told me how to get on the roof of the church, and when he did, he said, “We can show you this now.” I got in trouble all the time, and people remember. The other day, I was with my 7th grade English teacher, Betty Neale Lawton. I loved Mrs. Lawton. To know Mrs. Lawton is to love Mrs. Lawton, but that didn’t mean that I was always good in her class, and those memories of misbehavior stay fresh because she keeps bringing them up. The other day, I was standing in front of the church with Mrs. Lawton, my 7th grade English teacher, and Dr. Bob Harper, who treated my teenage acne. Mrs. Lawton wanted to tell Bob about the time she had to pull my friends and me out in the hallway to tell us we had to stop talking in her class, and because I loved Mrs. Lawton so much, I took her words to heart. After she let us know that we were being disrespectful to her, I felt shame and guilt in my heart. Those feelings were overwhelming me as I sat back down at my desk, and this is what Mrs. Lawton remembered, that when I sat back down, she saw tears in my eyes. “He got in trouble all the time, but he had a big heart. That’s what I remember,” Mrs. Lawton said, and I still don’t like getting in trouble, but the story I just told you isn’t about a boy who got in trouble. The story I just told you is the story of a teacher who loves me despite my sin, so what is it like to serve the Lord as a pastor in the same town as the dermatologist who treated my acne and the English teacher who had to address my bad behavior? It’s healing. It’s redeeming. Would you be healed? You know, it’s not easy to accept the invitation to healing. If you want to be forgiven, you must confess. If you want to be saved, you must admit you need a savior. If you want to be healed, you must let someone see your wounds. Christians don’t deal with problems by running away from them, but by turning towards the Savior. Go home to the Father and feel His arms of mercy wrap around you. Learn to face the people you hurt, not with fear, but with faith. Don’t avoid what feels awkward or uncomfortable, for you won’t make it to Heaven pretending to be perfect. To get there you must answer His question: “Would you be made well?” Would you rely on His grace? My friends: I have no righteousness of my own. I have been saved by His grace. Redeemed by His mercy. Found. Healed. Forgiven. Would you be made well? Amen.

Go From Your Country and Your Kindred, a sermon based on Genesis 12: 1-4a and John 3: 1-21, preached on March 1, 2026

I was blessed to have two grandmothers. I also had two grandfathers, but my grandmothers treated me with near-celebrity status, and today, I’d like to tell you a little about them in the hopes of reminding you of those people who, to use the words of Mr. Rogers, “loved you into existence.” My paternal grandmother, my father’s mother, was a painter. Still, to this day, when I smell oil paints and paint thinners, I am teleported in memory to her house where I often spent afternoons. There, she not only painted, but made blackberry jelly, served me Capri Suns, and encouraged me to go explore her yard. In her yard, I would bend sticks into bows and sharpen others into arrows. Once, while I was patrolling her front yard with bow and arrow in hand, headband with a feather on my head, she stopped me so that she could paint my portrait. That portrait still hangs in my parents’ house, and my sister brings it up sometimes: that there are photographs of us all but there is only one portrait, and that’s of Joe. I was beloved by my paternal grandmother, and my mother’s mother loved me just as much. One baseball season, a photographer took our team photo, then individual photos, and turned each of our individual photos into our own baseball cards. Had you looked on the back of my baseball card for my batting average, you would not have been impressed, but my grandmother was, so she took my little baseball card to the print shop and had it enlarged to poster size. Surely for Abraham, there were such people, yet God said to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house.” I just hope he was able to carry the memory of his grandmothers’ voices with him, for in this world of ours, such love seems to be in short supply. The journey is hard, and the people who loved us into existence cannot journey with us forever. We all leave the safety of home. We all step out on the road towards salvation, reading headlines of war and the rumors of war. Whose voice do you wish you could hear this morning to reassure you that everything is going to be alright? That’s part of why I come to church. I want to hear again the promises of God. I want to hear the reassurance that God is in control. Last Thursday, I went into the barber shop, and it was my barber who reminded me: There’s less hair for me to cut than last time, Joe, but God is still in control. I hope and pray that this church is like that barbershop, that here you’re surrounded by acceptance, love, and affirmation, along with the assurance that God is in control, yet years ago, a new pastor came to our church. His wife and four children sat in a pew near the pulpit. Just as they were settling in, a longtime member of our church greeted them with, “You’re sitting in my pew.” That just can’t happen, so yesterday I emphasized the need for hospitality to our church officers. The new class of elders and deacons will be ordained and installed just after this sermon. Yesterday, they attended a training, and every year for the past couple of years I’ve been telling the deacons the same thing: Each Easter, we’ll have as many as 100 first-time visitors to our church. Each Christmas Eve, the number is just as high. And every Sunday, we have between five and 25 people walk through the doors of our church for the very first time. They don’t know where the bathrooms are. They don’t know where they’re going to sit, but what they’re really looking for is a safe harbor. A place to rest. A sanctuary from our broken world where they’ll feel valued, wanted, loved, and respected. Where they’ll hear again that while the world is falling apart, God is in control. Perhaps that’s what Nicodemus was looking for. In our Gospel lesson for this morning, we heard about Nicodemus, who went to Jesus looking for answers. Perhaps he was called by God to go as Abraham had been called. Perhaps he was looking for light as the shadow crept into his heart. Whatever it was that pushed him towards Jesus, I give thanks to God for Jesus today because when Nicodemus knocked on His door, Jesus welcomed him in. Would he have received the same reception if he came knocking on your door? Would he have felt the same welcome if you found him sitting in your pew? My friends, Nicodemus went out one night looking for the light. Do you know how many people in our dark and desolate world are looking for the light today? Do you know how many are looking for hope? Think with me about how much it changed you to be loved by your grandmother. Or if your grandmother was a dried out old witch, then think with me how good it felt to finally feel loved and accepted by someone in your life. Who was it? What was her name? What did he do for you that made the difference? This is the power of Jesus, not just that He did miracles, turning water into wine, but when people sought Him out, He assured them that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. Would you allow Christ’s light to shine through you? I tell you, you don’t have to save the world, you need only remember that we have a Savior. You don’t have to welcome everyone into your house, just those who knock on the door. You don’t have to be a hero to change someone’s life. Just two weeks ago, a man wandered into our church on the worst day of his life. He walked into our church, and he wept, and I sat there and I listened, and finally I said, “This may seem like the end of the world, but it’s not. Everything is going to be alright because God is in control.” Halleluia. Amen.

The Tempter, a sermon based on Genesis 2: 15-17, 3: 1-7 and Matthew 4: 1-11, preached on February 22, 2026

This Gospel lesson from Matthew describes the first temptation of Jesus, and so temptation is my focus for this sermon. Your temptations. My temptations. As well as the particular temptation that Jesus faced. I say the particular temptation that Jesus faced because Jesus was tempted by none other than the devil himself. Our daily temptations are not like that of Jesus. He gets the Son of God treatment, so the great preacher Barbara Brown Taylor once said, “When it’s our turn, none of us is going to get the Son of God treatment from the devil because the devil only needs an all you can eat buffet and a tax refund to get our attention.” That’s true. From Adam and Eve down to us, let’s be honest: The devil doesn’t have to work too hard to tempt any one of us. It just takes an apple. Or a chicken wing. I was at a breakfast buffet determined not to get a donut yesterday, but someone suggested that I have at least one and so I got two. The devil tempts Jesus in ways that are particular to the Son of God. When the devil whispers in our ear it’s particular temptations to each one of us, and so the devil may not use the same words that he did with Jesus with us, for to Jesus, he said, “If you are the Son of God,” while to us, the devil might say, “Don’t you want just one more slice?” The devil may not say, “Throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple,” but you may hear the devil tempt you to do harm to yourself in more subtle ways. My point is that the temptation of Jesus described in our Gospel lesson is more personal to Jesus, and Jesus, being the Son of God, can withstand so dramatic an attack from the devil himself, yet do not underestimate the devil, for he comes to us all, whispering in our ears, and we are most tempted to listen when we are hungry and desperate in the wilderness. After 40 days and 40 nights, the Tempter said to Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Don’t you know that He was tempted to do just that? He was hungry. His belly was empty. He would have eaten the crumbs that fell from the table right off the floor, and this is when temptation comes to us. This is when the devil’s words have the most power to tempt us: not when we’re full, but when we’re empty, so we’re cautioned never to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach because when we are hungry, everything sounds good, and just as the food we shouldn’t eat calls to us when our stomachs are empty, so we are tempted to do the things we shouldn’t do when we are far from home and we long to be accepted. Do you remember the old cartoons when the angel would sit on one shoulder and the little demon on the other? The angle would lead towards virtue. The demon towards destruction. But if you’re hungry, and the Tempter offers you something to fill up your belly, then his voice is hard to ignore. Therefore, fill yourself up. Before you face temptation, eat a healthy breakfast, for when we are empty, the voice of temptation is hard to ignore, and that goes for all kinds of emptiness. Before you leave the house, look yourself in the mirror and remind yourself that you’re beautiful. Before you make a big decision, HALT. HALT stands for hungry, angry, lonely, or tired, for whether we’re desperate for food or desperate for affirmation, the devil has far more power to tempt us when we are empty, so fill yourself up. Remember who you are. Many of you know that I grew up in this church. Last week, I had lunch with the new pastor of Maple Avenue United Methodist Church. She asked me how long I’d been here. “I’ve always been here,” I said. Then she said, “That history comes with a lot of trust and probably a lot of baggage.” She’s right about both. When I was in confirmation class here as a 7th grader, for whatever reason, my friends and I thought it would be more fun to skip confirmation class and to hang out by the railroad tracks. I don’t know why we thought that would be such a good idea. Our parents would drop us off at 4:30. Confirmation class met right before the evening youth group back then. My parents would drop me off, and my friends were waiting right by those front doors. We’d wait for our parents to drive off and then go to the back of the building rather than confirmation class to run around and do a bunch of nothing, really. Why did I do that? Why was I tempted when I knew it was wrong to go with my friends and not to confirmation class? I wasn’t hungry for bread, but I was hungry for acceptance, and if the hungry are tempted by bread, what will the desperate do to be accepted? Parents will say, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you jump, too?” I literally did. There was an old railroad bridge that went over Lake Allatoona that I jumped off more than once, not because it was fun but because everyone else was doing it, for the hungry are tempted by bread, the desperate are tempted by acceptance, but Jesus knows who He is and doesn’t need the devil’s approval. Do you know who you are? These days, plenty of people are looking for an answer to that question, and they’re finding answers on social media. Young men, especially, are searching for meaning. They’re searching for purpose. They’re searching for affirmation and approval, and who is whispering into their ears? I’m so interested now in livestreaming and modern technology. I’ve just been to another conference to do a presentation that Rev. Cassie Waits and I created, telling the story of our church and how God is at work here through livestreaming and our tremendous outreach to the community, and so I’ve read all these books about the internet and social media. There’s a book out about the dangers of social media called The Anxious Generation. This book presents a convincing argument for keeping kids off the internet for as long as possible because they are so susceptible to the voices of temptation that come through those phones and tablets. The statistics are concerning. Young kids on social media suffer from lower self-esteem and higher anxiety because they are bombarded by the message that they don’t look good enough and don’t have the right clothes. It’s not just the cool kids at school who send them the message but the advertisers and influencers who have access to them, plus the kids at school aren’t just at school, for our kids still hear from them through text messages all day long. It’s constant. The only group resistant to the statistics are those kids who are active in a faith community. Why? It’s because kids who are a part of a faith community like this one know that they are loved by God, and so they don’t chase after the world’s approval. Kids who are part of a faith community like this one are accepted so they don’t compromise their morals chasing affirmation from those who would do them harm. They know what love is. They know that they matter. They know that they are beautiful. Do you remember who you are? Do you remind the people around you that they are beloved in the eyes of God? My friends, it’s true that the temptation of Christ is not our temptation, for He gets the Son of God treatment, yet His temptation is not just His. It is for our salvation. Remember what He did for you and rejoice in the truth that you are worthy of His love. Don’t go out into the world empty, and don’t let your neighbor. Before you go back out there to face the tempter’s voice, remember that you are God’s beloved and that Christ is ever by your side, and look to the person next to you and tell him the same. Amen.