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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

Toxic: The Poison of Partiality (Jas. 2:1-13)

The late Max Cadenhead once shared a confession at the beginning of a sermon:[i] “My message today is on the parable of the Good Samaritan.  Let me start with an illustration.  Remember last year when the Browns came forward to join the church?”  Everyone nodded; the Browns were a very influential family. “Well, the same day a young man came forward and gave his life to Christ.” No one remembered him.  “We worked with the Browns, got them onto committees. They’ve been wonderful folks,” Cadenhead said. “The young man…well, we lost track.  Until yesterday, that is, as I was preparing today’s message on the Good Samaritan. I picked up the paper, and there was that young man’s picture. He had shot and killed an elderly woman.  I never followed up on that young man…”  Cadenhead had eagerly followed up on the influential family of the Browns.  But he had ignored the scraggly and troubled young man who came forward.  The result was deadly.Read More »Toxic: The Poison of Partiality (Jas. 2:1-13)