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John N. Brittain

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All About Me? -- Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28 (29-31) -- John N. Brittain -- 2007
Since we all know that one of life's cardinal rules in the twenty-first century is that "it's all ab
With Our Own Eyes -- 2 Peter 1:16-21 -- John N. Brittain -- Transfiguration Sunday - A -- 2007
Leslie D.
No Partiality -- Acts 10:34-43 -- John N. Brittain -- The Baptism of our Lord | Epiphany 1 | Ordinary Time 1 - A -- 2007
You may be looking at the most fortunate person on the face of the earth. Let me explain.
A Disconcerting Sight -- 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 -- John N. Brittain -- Epiphany 6 | Ordinary Time 6 - A -- 2007
I once had a student whose dad was a pilot for a major airline who told me this true story.
Dare To Be Different -- Romans 13:11-14 -- John N. Brittain -- First Sunday of Advent - A -- 2007
A true story tells how the two sons of a ninety-year-old Fort Worth, Texas, woman were worried about
Headed In The Right Direction -- Romans 15:4-13 -- John N. Brittain -- Second Sunday of Advent - A -- 2007
If you don't know that Christmas is a couple of weeks away, you must be living underground.
Set Apart At Christmas -- Romans 1:1-7 -- John N. Brittain -- Fourth Sunday of Advent - A -- 2007
I am so old that I can actually remember when there was a difference between the number of "shopping
Are We There Yet? -- James 5:7-10 -- John N. Brittain -- Third Sunday of Advent - A -- 2007
"Are we there yet?
A Little Theology At Christmas -- Titus 2:11-14 -- John N. Brittain -- The Nativity of our Lord - A -- 2007
Scholars who study such things are quick to tell anyone who will listen that Christmas is much overr
Not What You Expected -- Hebrews 2:10-18 -- John N. Brittain -- First Sunday after Christmas Day - A -- 2007
Some years ago, my wife and I took a group of students on a short-term mission trip to Belize, the o
The Vastness Of Relationships -- Ephesians 1:3-14 -- John N. Brittain -- Second Sunday after Christmas - A -- 2007
At this time of year, the Christmas and Epiphany seasons, various preachers, teachers, and Sunday sc
Showing Up -- Ephesians 3:1-12 -- John N. Brittain -- Epiphany of the Lord - A -- 2007
We lived in Florida for a while in the 1980s and it was then that we learned about Tarpon Springs.
Caught In The Middle -- 1 Corinthians 1:1-9 -- John N. Brittain -- Epiphany 2 | Ordinary Time 2 - A -- 2007
It has become very popular to talk about how stressed out we are because we (both individually and c
Small-Minded Christians In A Big World -- 1 Corinthians 1:10-18 -- John N. Brittain -- Epiphany 3 | Ordinary Time 3 - A -- 2007
How familiar Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 1 sound!
The Way Things Are -- 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 -- John N. Brittain -- Epiphany 4 | Ordinary Time 4 - A -- 2007
The other day I stumbled onto a Discovery Channel show about underwater archaeology (not basket weav
Hidden In Plain Sight -- 1 Corinthians 2:1-12 (13-16) -- John N. Brittain -- Epiphany 5 | Ordinary Time 5 - A -- 2007
I had a much-loved professor in seminary who confessed to some of us over coffee one day that he fre
Will It Last? -- 1 Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23 -- John N. Brittain -- Epiphany 7 | Ordinary Time 7 - A -- 2007
A quarter-century ago, the little college at which I worked offered a scholarship for one year of st
By Whose Standards? -- 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 -- John N. Brittain -- Epiphany 8 | Ordinary Time 8 - A -- 2007
As the current century dawned, Time magazine placed Einstein on the front cover as the Person
Living Vertically -- Luke 24:44-53 -- John N. Brittain -- Ascension of the Lord - C -- 2000
Some years ago I attended a conference on the East Coast which concluded on Saturday but to save air
Belief Becoming -- John 20:1-18 -- John N. Brittain -- Easter Day - C -- 2000
It is the universal witness of the Gospels that it was women who came and discovered the fulfilled p
Believing Is Seeing -- John 20:19-31 -- John N. Brittain -- Second Sunday of Easter - C -- 2000
I attended graduate school at St.
Back Where It All Began -- John 21:1-19 -- John N. Brittain -- Third Sunday of Easter - C -- 2000
Here we are, after the resurrection, after a couple of dramatic appearances to some of the disciples
The Father And I Are One -- John 10:22-30 -- John N. Brittain -- Fourth Sunday of Easter - C -- 2000
The year my son was in the eighth grade he came home with all kinds of stories about the class bully
Rebecca's Creed -- John 13:31-35 -- John N. Brittain -- Fifth Sunday of Easter - C -- 2000
A couple of summers ago my wife and I took a twenty-fifth anniversary trip to visit friends in New M
How Can They Do That? -- John 14:23-29 -- John N. Brittain -- Sixth Sunday of Easter - C -- 2000
On February 5, 1597, a group of Christian missionaries became the first martyrs in Japan.
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Jesus told us that we should always pray and not lose heart, for God is on our side. In our worship today let us pray to the Lord for the needs of others and for all our own needs.


Invitation to Confession:

Jesus, sometimes you don't seem to be there when I pray and I feel like I'm talking to myself.

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I wonder how many of us here are named after someone.

Chances are that a good many of us carry family names. We are named for a parent, a grandparent, an uncle, or an aunt somewhere on the family tree. Others of us had parents who named us after a character in the Bible, or perhaps some other significant character from history.

All told, I expect a pretty fair number of us are named after someone else.

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Our reading today from the prophet Jeremiah is one in which the Hebrew people, not knowing what else to do in terms of addressing their predicament, decide to blame it all on God. They believed their problems to be the result of their sins and the sins of their fathers. Of course, one person's sin does indeed affect other people, but all people are still held personally accountable for the sin in their own lives (Deuteronomy 24:16; Ezekiel 18:2).
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As usual, the epistle is a little more graphic than we can quite grasp. Itchy ears: what a concept just in physical terms. Experience it for a minute. You itch, you scratch, you sort of know you shouldn't scratch because it will only make the itch worse. But still you scratch, while wondering how the itch ever got started in the first place. What a concept: itchy ears as a vehicle for spiritual truth.

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Did Jesus ever do comedy? Indeed he did, and the Parable of the Unjust Judge is partly comic monologue. The routine began with a probate judge so ridiculously dishonest that he announced, "... I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone...." (There must have been a gasp of disbelief from Jesus' audience.)

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And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? (v. 7)

Good morning, boys and girls. Yesterday, I was riding in my car and I kept hearing this noise. I call it a squeak. Do you know what a squeak sounds like? (let them answer) Squeaks are very annoying. It is hard to find a squeak in your car, so it is still squeaking.

I also have a chair that has a squeak and I brought it in with me today because it is

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