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Sermons

The Spiritual Discipline of Rocks (Lk. 19:28-40) Chris Altrock – 12/6/15

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The holidays–Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year, are a time of arrivals. Many of you will be hosting friends or family who arrive for gatherings during this season. Many of you will be traveling to and arriving at gatherings during this season.

In fact, today is the second Sunday of what many around the world call “Advent.” The word Advent comes from a Latin word Adventus meaning “a coming or arrival.” It refers to the arrival of Jesus as a baby in the manger. Many around the world use the four Sundays prior to Christmas to celebrate Jesus’ advent, his arrival. In 2016 we will join that tradition and use the four Sundays prior to Christmas to experience Advent.Read More »The Spiritual Discipline of Rocks (Lk. 19:28-40) Chris Altrock – 12/6/15

Surpassing Relief (Luke 17:11-19) Chris Altrock 11/22/15

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11 On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance 13 and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. (Luke 17:11-14 ESV)

We’re going to do some imagination this morning. I want you to imagine what it would be like to stand in the sandals of those in this story. First, we’ll stand in the sandals of the 10 lepers. Second, we’ll stand in the sandals of Jesus. Third, we’ll stand in the sandals of 1 of those lepers who returns.

 

First, imagine yourself standing the sandals the 10 lepers. You share something in common with each other. You may be divided by income or age or race (after all there are Jews and Samaritans among you). But everything that used to divide you seems to have fallen away. What remains is the one thing you share in common: your crisis. Your leprosy.Read More »Surpassing Relief (Luke 17:11-19) Chris Altrock 11/22/15

Becoming a Church of Many Gospels (Gal. 2:1-14) Chris Altrock 11/8/15

 

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Memphis is marketed as the birthplace of the blues and the home of rock and roll. Tourists are drawn to places called Sun Studios, Graceland, and Beale Street. Our beloved teams are known as the Grizzlies and the Tigers. Life-saving hospitals named St. Jude and LeBonheur and lovely neighborhoods known as Binghampton and Chickasaw dot our city map. The “bluff city” is identified by many words.

But there is one word most synonymous with Memphis: barbeque. America boasts four styles of barbeque. Kansas City, the Carolinas and Texas offer distinct variations. But the fourth widely-recognized type of barbeque is simply known as Memphis barbeque. Memphis is barbeque. So much so that the largest barbecue contest, the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, is held each summer in Memphis on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi.

Thus it was a shock when my co-preacher Eric stated in a recent sermon that during a trip home to the Lone Star state he enjoyed beef barbeque. In the MidSouth those are fighting words because in Memphis “real” barbecue is pork. I like to put it this way: “When it comes to barbeque, if it don’t squeal, it’s ain’t real.” Thus, in suggesting that Texas beef barbecue may be superior to Memphis pork barbecue, Eric may as well have announced that Moses never parted the Red Sea, the walls of Jericho never fell, and the resurrection  of Jesus never took place.Read More »Becoming a Church of Many Gospels (Gal. 2:1-14) Chris Altrock 11/8/15

The Praise of Orphans (Ps. 146) Chris Altrock – 11/1/15

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In October my family went camping at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Tennessee. One day we visited a stable and rode horses. We weren’t the only customers that day. There were a total seven of us ready to ride. One by one the owners paired each rider with a horse they believed best suited that rider. But they weren’t quite ready for a crowd of seven, because they didn’t have enough horses saddled. We had to wait for them to saddle one more. His name was Jim. And Jim was given to me.

“Jim’s 25 years old,” the guide said as she helped me get in the saddle.

“Oh,” I said. “Is that old?”

“Well,” she said, “most horses die by the they time they are 25. In fact, we had planned on retiring old Jim. He doesn’t like anyone riding him.”

I’m not sure what bothered me more–the fact that I was riding a horse that didn’t want to be ridden and might die at any moment, or the fact the stable owners saw something in me that convinced them I was exactly the kind of person best suited to ride a nearly-dead cantankerous horse.Read More »The Praise of Orphans (Ps. 146) Chris Altrock – 11/1/15