In this Sunday message (November 26, 2023) I explain my own journey ...
my movement from a rather standard form of Christianity as a youth, the
loss of that faith – though I took up numerous adventures only because
I knew there was a "Hand" on my life – then a journey into a
well-programmed professional life (professor, housing construction,
political-risk consultant), then into a world of total confusion when
that well-programmed world failed to make any sense at all, then the
arrival of individuals that brought Christ (not just Christianity) into
my life, and finally my own call to Christian ministry. My part
actually begins 7 minutes into the video.
This is a Sunday sermon, or rather teaching, about how the American
commoners who in 1776 declared their independence from the highly
authoritarian English King George III were able to achieve a totally
unprecedented success – against all odds (all other historical examples
ending up with the rebels all being hung or shot) – because they
understood that they were doing God's work in their fight to preserve
the American social experiment as a "City on a Hill," a "Light to the
Nations." They full well knew that they were a society
established by God himself to show the rest of the world how God wanted
deeply all of his people to be able to govern themselves fully,
inspired to undertake greater things simply by their full faith in God
... and directed wisely by his (Biblical) instructions. In short
– the American effort to preserve its independence succeeded only
because God was with them. My part actually begins 8 minutes into
the video.
A sermon/history lesson delivered on December 27, 2020 at the New
Awakening Church in Schuylkill Haven. I teach when I preach, and
I preach when I teach. This is a bit of both ... about how God has
"awakened" America in the past rather repeatedly – when it drifts off
into self-rationalizing projects, projects which bring confusion and
breakdown in the American social fabric. And he sparks these
awakenings through just ordinary people ... people like us, people
willing to let God (and not human rationalizations) lead them.
And ... it seems that we Americans find ourselves in exactly the
same condition today – needing God to deliver us from our social folly
with another Awakening. We need a "New Awakening"!
A discussion (November 25, 2020) between my son-in-law, Pastor Rimi
Xhemajli, and me concerning the Pilgrims who held that famous
Thanksgiving feast honoring God ... in the face of all the personal
suffering and loss they had recently experienced in getting their
Plymouth Plantation up and running. Many are the lessons we could
draw today from the way they understood the dynamic that shaped them as
a people.
Another discussion (August 13, 2020) on a wide range of issues, but
most importantly concerning what it was that motivated and directed the
writing of my three-volume history of America's covenant with God.
Here's my first podcast ... with my son John. It's just a general
look at America ... and where it is headed. It comes at the
subject from two different generational perspectives, (more than 50
years separating us!).