When Faith Seems Difficult

Note: A sermon delivered to Orange City United Methodist Church (Orange City, FL) on March 12, 2023. Have you ever experienced a problem or idea that you found difficult or challenging? For example, something that you had to wrestle with mentally to grasp and understand it. As a student, I flourished in subjects like history …

Tamar, Judah, and Marginalization: A Reflection on Genesis 38

Author Note: A Sermon delivered to Orange City United Methodist Church (Orange City, FL) on November 7, 2021. Every part of the Bible screams “Gospel”; some just need to be squeezed harder than others. That’s what one of my professors told me, anyway. This passage strikes me as one that needs quite a bit of squeezing. …

Joseph’s Liminality and the Pit of Suffering

A Sermon delivered to Orange City United Methodist Church in Orange City, FL. Date: August 1, 2021. Scripture Text: Genesis 37:9-36 A video of this sermon can be watched here The journey of life is often fraught with difficult times of transition, change, and in some cases deep suffering. There are times that test us, …

The Worst Sermon: A Reflection on Jonah 3

Note: A sermon delivered to Orange City United Methodist Church (Orange City, FL) on March 21, 2021. It was the worst sermon I have ever heard. Sermon? That’s not right… There would’ve had to have been something good in it for it to be that… Worst prophecy? Worst exhortation to change? It was just so …

Shattering Hope

A Sermon delivered to Free Union Original Free Will Baptist Church in Pinetown, NC. Date: December 29, 2019. Scripture Text: Lamentations 3:1-33 Has life ever caused you to forget what happiness is? Life is full of frequent and tumultuous trials, many of these painful and distressing. Such times are undeniably strong, which inflict a toil …