The Bible Meets Broadway: Funny Girl

The Bible Meets Broadway: Funny Girl

Ephesians 2:1-9; Romans 8:37-39

Funny Girl was written as a stage musical but achieved fame in 1968 when it was made into a film starring Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, and Walter Pigeon. Streisand played the role on Broadway in 1964, but this was her film debut. It is loosely based on the life and career of Broadway and film star Fanny Brice and her relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nicky Arnstein. A major critical and commercia

The Bible Meets Broadway: Camelot

The Bible Meets Broadway: Camelot

Micah 7:2-7; Deut. 31:6-8

Camelot was a 1960 musical by Lerner and Loewe based on T.H. White’s novel, The Once and Future King. The Broadway production starred Richard Burton, Julie Andrews, and Robert Goulet and won four Tony awards. In 1967, it was released as a movie starring Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero. When the show opens, King Arthur is nervously awaiting the arrival of his bride-to-be, Guinevere. At their meeting

The Bible Meets Broadway: Oklahoma

The Bible Meets Broadway: Oklahoma

1 John 4:7-11, 18-21; Luke 6:27-30

As I let on earlier, Oklahoma is not quite the musical I thought it was when I selected it as part of “The Bible Meets Broadway” sermon series. To give you some context, “Oklahoma” was the first musical written by the famous duo of Rodgers and Hammerstein. The original Broadway production opened in 1943 and was a box office hit. It ran for over 2,200 performances and in 1955 was made into an Oscar-winning

The Bible Meets Broadway: Annie

The Bible Meets Broadway: Annie

Ephesians 1:3-12; Romans 8:14-17

 Whether you’ve seen the musical Annie – or whether you haven’t – you have likely heard the story of the cute, little, eleven-year-old, red-headed orphan who knew little of her past except for her name. She began life as a comic strip in 1924 and then was featured on the radio show Little Orphan Annie which aired from 1930 to 1942, before making it to Broadway in 1977. Annie ran on Broadway for six years and wo

The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached

The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached

Matthew 5 – 7

 Today’s sermon has a bold title, “The Greatest Sermon Ever Preached.” It’s certainly not one of my sermons, nor is it a John Wesley sermon. You may have caught on from the call to worship: it’s a Jesus sermon and we know it as the Sermon on the Mount. Part of the seminary experience is learning how to preach. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that how to preach classes are often taught by professors who have never actual

Small But Mighty: 3 John

Small But Mighty: 3 John

This morning ends our sermon series, Small But Mighty, where we’ve been looking at the five shortest books of the Bible. Today our focus is on #1, the shortest book, 3 John, checking in with only 219 words in the Greek text. Last week, with 2 John, we looked at a letter, a postcard really, written to an unnamed head of a house church on the issue of false preaching and teaching in the church. In 3 John, we have another short letter or postcard, writ

Small But Mighty: 2 John

Small But Mighty: 2 John

In our countdown of the shortest books in the Bible, we’ve made it to #2, the epistle or letter referred to as 2nd John, in the New Testament near the end of the Bible. With only 245 words in the Greek text, 2nd John is more of a “postcard” than a letter, but as we might suspect it had an important message for the church to which it was written and it has a message for us as well. As with the other letters we’ve reviewed in this series, we begin wit

Small But Mighty: Philemon

Small But Mighty: Philemon

Philemon 8-21

We are in the middle of a sermon series called Small But Mighty, where we are looking at the five shortest books of the Bible. We are on a countdown which began with the fifth shortest, Jude, and then last week, the fourth, Obadiah. Now we come to Philemon, ranking at #3 with twenty-five verses and 335 words in the Greek text. In one respect, this little letter is unique because unlike Paul’s other letters which were written to church

Small But Mighty: Obadiah

Small But Mighty: Obadiah

Obadiah 1-21

This morning we continue our sermon series, Small But Mighty, where our focus is on the shortest books of the Bible. Today we are looking at Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament with just twenty-one verses. What comes to mind when you hear the name Obadiah? Probably not much. Last week had us thinking of the Beatles while humming “Hey, Jude” and my scientific survey at least brought up actor Jude Law. This week I tried the sc

Small But Mighty: Jude

Small But Mighty: Jude

Jude 1-25

 This morning we’re beginning a new sermon series where for the next few weeks, our focus is on books of the Bible that are difficult to find without using the index. This morning’s focus is on Jude, a small book near the end of the Bible, right before the last book of Revelation. Jude is so small that it’s not even really a book, it’s a letter. Some might say it’s not even a letter, but a postcard or maybe even an email. Twenty-five verses a

Life Lessons: Miriam

Life Lessons: Miriam

“A Story of Redemption”

Exodus 1:22-2:10; Numbers 12:1-15; Micah 6:4

The past weeks we’ve been looking at the stories of people in the Old Testament whose lives provide lessons for us today. In most cases, we found that while we may have known something about their lives, we were lacking the complete picture. We may have known about Daniel and the lions’ den, but missed the fact that he was 80 years old when he faced that challenge. Or we knew about Jonah

Life Lessons: Jonah

Life Lessons: Jonah

“Beware Whales and Bushes”

Jonah 3:1-10; 4:1-11

Our series, Life Lessons, continues this morning with the story of Jonah. Last week we looked at the life of Daniel and discovered his story much deeper and richer than his encounter with lions in the lions’ den. We looked at the lions we face in life and how, by studying Daniel’s story, we can learn to face any lion through a faith that is fearless, persistent, and based on the constant presence of God in ou

Life Lessons: Daniel

Life Lessons: Daniel

“Facing Lions”

Daniel 1:1-7; 6:1-9

Our series, Life Lessons, continues this morning with the story of Daniel. Two weeks ago, we looked at Esther’s life and learned how, although seemingly absent, God worked behind the scenes to use her life in such a way that impacted others. Then last week, we jumped 40 years forward from Esther’s time to a man named Nehemiah, a Jew living and working in Persia who acted out of love for his country but never lost sight o

Life Lessons: Nehemiah

Life Lessons: Nehemiah

“For Love of Country”

In our look last week at the book of Esther, we were surprised to find God seemingly absent. There are no prayers, no prophets, no apparent presence of God in the lives of Esther or Mordecai; and yet, in the absence we see a pattern of God’s continual movement in the lives of God’s people. In contrast, however, from the very beginning of the book of Nehemiah God explodes from its pages. Esther was a Jew living a secret identity in

Life Lessons: Esther

Life Lessons: The Story of Esther

“Between a Rock and a Hard Place”

Esther 2:5-11; 9:26-28 (4:14)

 Have you ever faced a time in your life when things just didn’t seem to be going your way? A time when it seemed that things couldn’t get worse until they got worse. I suspect at one time or another we’ve all felt that way but for different reasons. Perhaps it was due to a death or illness, a financial hardship, a job situation, marital difficulties, problems with children – and