“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” (Matthew 17:1-9)Rick Olson, February 3, 2008 That other famous Presbyterian minister, Fred Rogers, used to have a word of the day. He’d be addressing the camera, maybe putting on his sweater or his tennies, and he’d say “The word for today is ‘cow’” and he’d ask us “can you [...]

“Foolishness to the Greeks” (1 Corinthians 1:18-31)Rick Olson, January 27, 2008 I guess you could say that Paul spoke his mind – he didn’t have any trouble telling it like it is, or was . . . he got downright feisty in his letters, and his passion for his subject shone through all the time. [...]

“I’m With Him” (1 Corinthians 1:10-17)Rick Olson, January 27, 2002 Paul’s writing is the oldest in the New Testament – he began about 20 years after Christ’s death, and was martyred in Rome fifteen years or so after that. We know more about Paul than any other biblical writer, and his undisputed letters take up [...]

“Root of the Matter” (Matthew 3:1-12; Isaiah 40:1-10; Advent 2 A)Rick Olson, December 9, 2007 A brand new pastor is preaching his first sermon during Advent . . . and he’s nervous as all get-out, he’s pacing around up on the dias, and he gets to the part where he says: “Behold! I am coming!” [...]

“Fit for a King” (Luke 23:33-43)Rick Olson, November 25, 2007 When you read about the crucifixion these days, it’s hard not to think of Mel Gibson’s movie-version, “The Passion of the Christ.” You remember all the hype, all the controversy as people who hadn’t even seen the movie were condemning it as anti-Semitic, and you [...]

“It’s God Who Claims the Child” (Matt 3:13-17)Rick Olson, November 18, 2007 In the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou,” the none-too-bright prison-escapees are gnawing on a gopher-carcass in the Mississippi piney-woods. Suddenly they hear soft, almost nonexistent, music coming from somewhere . . . “When I went down to the river to pray, studyin’ [...]

“Baptism is Calling” (Matthew 3:13-17)Rick Olson, January 13, 2008 Have you all heard the story of my baptism? Well, if you hang around here long enough, you’ll hear it more than once, it’s one of the seminal stories of us all, and I think that one of the advantages of being Baptist in my misspent [...]

“A Manger Story” (Luke 2:1-20)Rick Olson, Christmas Eve 2007 Every year there’s a passel of holiday stuff on TV, from Christmas specials to the perennial Christmas movies . . . I usually catch a couple of the movies every year . . . I watch It’s a Wonderful Life, where Jimmy Stewart and Loretta Young [...]

“Joseph’s Song” (Matthew 1:18-25)Rick Olson, December 23, 2007 “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way.” Thus begins Matthew’s description of the birth of the seminal figure in world history: the birth of the messiah took place in this way. And skipping down to the end—you’re allowed to do that in [...]

“Vision” (Ezekiel 37:1-14)Rick Olson, November 11, 2007 A certain father of a certain president—himself president at the time—spoke often of “that vision thing,” and I can’t think of that without thinking of Saturday Night Live . . . and though it wouldn’t be prudent to do Dana Carvey doing George the First, because I can’t [...]