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Rest In Peace Mrs. Perkins
Listen to “Rest In Peace Mrs. Perkins” by Fred Smith Mrs. Perkins stepped out from her pew and walked down the aisle of our Baptist church to rededicate her life on a regular basis – almost monthly. It was a mystery to those of us who knew her to be one of the kindest and godliest people in the congregation. Sunday School teacher, model wife and mother, and a light in our dark adolescence, we were confused. In time, we figured out the pattern. Whenever the pastor ended the service with, “If you were to die tonight, would you know for sure where you will spend eternity?” Mrs. Perkins…
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The Resurrection
I like to think that all of us are living in a gradual revelation of Jesus in our lives of one kind or another. We never get there completely but I think what we experience over time is probably better than getting everything at once. Everything at once would overwhelm us. Emily Dickinson said this: “Too bright for our infirm delight The truth’s superb surprise; The truth must dazzle gradually Or every man be blind.” That’s what we see when we look at the story of the resurrection from the perspective of Mary this morning. It was a gradual revelation from darkness to being dazzled. Let’s look at the passage…
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Bearing Witness
Listen to “Bearing Witness” by Fred Smith The first time I read the phrase “bearing witness” was in Elie Wiesel’s book “Night” recounting the horrors of the Holocaust and the responsibility he felt never to forget or allow others to dismiss what happened there. Over the years, the phrase has come to mean more. We bear witness by standing up for something in danger of being overlooked or discounted. We use it to defend unpopular causes and ideas. I would describe Phil Buchanan’s new book, “Giving Done Right” as bearing witness to the too often dismissed best intentions of both non-profits and philanthropy in a time when both are suspect.…
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The Anointing of Jesus: Mark 14
In the four Gospels, some stories are only told once – like the lost sheep and lost coin – while others are repeated in more than one – like the feeding of the five thousand, the widow’s mite, or the birth of Jesus. The story we are looking at this morning must have been important in the early church because it is found with some variation in all four of them. Not even the Resurrection is in all four gospels. “While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive…
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Mama’s Boy
Listen to “Mama’s Boy” by Fred Smith If you visit Elk Lake, Minnesota and the headwaters of the Mississippi, you will see a stream that is about 20 feet across and 2 feet deep. Sometimes it is so obscured by reeds that people lose sight of the stream altogether. But if you keep going for 2,300 miles you will end up in New Orleans where the Mississippi is 200 feet deep and 7600 feet wide. The flow has increased from 6 cubic feet per second to 12,000 cubic feet per second. It’s one of the largest rivers in the world that begins from a very unremarkable source. Stories about our…
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The Widow’s Great Treasure
Listen to “The Widow’s Great Treasure” by Fred Smith For years I have treated the story of the widow’s mite as an illustration of sacrificial giving. So remarkable is the exorbitance of her gift that even Jesus is astonished and calls his disciples over to see what she has done. “The truth is that this poor widow gave more to the collection than all the others put together. All the others gave what they’ll never miss; she gave extravagantly what she couldn’t afford—she gave her all.” It’s the ultimate story of faith and trust. However, I wonder if there is even more to it than that? Perhaps the larger sacrifice of…
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The Widow’s Offering
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” There are many stories of giving in Scripture. This is one of three we have looked at. The…
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White Noise
Listen to “White Noise” by Fred Smith The last time I watched a movie about whales was…never. I did buy a Judy Collins album years ago titled, “Whales and Nightingales” that featured a duet of whales singing with Judy in a beautiful piece, “Farewell to Tarwathie.” It was haunting, but I had not thought about it in years until speaking last week for a small conference attached to a much larger gathering in Dallas: EarthX. For almost a decade Trammell Crow has hosted thousands of advocates from around the world to address environmental issues and organize for change. During one of the sessions, we viewed the short documentary, Sonic Sea. Using the…
