Sam Prellwitz

This is part #4 in a series called "On The Sermon". Sermons are personal things. By their very nature they deal with issues that lie close to each of our hearts. Forgiveness, Confession, Repentance, Loving your enemy... Simply stating one of these concepts can offend. And most good sermons are and should be offensive in one way or another. But here's the thing about the offensiveness of a sermon: that offense should also be felt by the person giving the sermon. Over the past few years, as I've given sermons, I've often found myself using the pronoun 'you' quite often. I found myself saying things like, "you should...", "you only have to...", "if you just...". I knew that I wasn't above the suggestions and encouragements I was giving, but if you were listening to me, you might think that I thought I was. Pronouns matter. We (you and me) must place ourselves in the same boat as the audience we are speaking...

This is part #3 in a series called "On The Sermon". I don't know a whole lot about music, but I do know that there's this idea that, to finish a song, it's often satisfying to finish it by 'resolving'. In other words, it's good to finish the song by ending with the chord you started with. Some songs purposefully don't resolve, but I'm a big fan of the songs that do. They provide a certain satisfaction. It's like coming home after a long trip. It puts you at ease. The thing about coming home after a long trip is that when you get home, it's the same and yet at the very same time it's different. You've just recently seen different places and upon arriving at the home you knew so well, it suddenly feels different. You are more aware of its beauty or possibly its imperfections. Maybe it feels even more like home, or maybe it's missing something that, because of your travels, you now realize should be there. Every time we...