GENTLENESS: POWER UNDER CONTROL by Ray Pritchard “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1 I have a friend who learned this verse the hard way. Whenever she said something in a harsh tone, her mother made her write this verse 50 times on a sheet of paper. It must have worke…
Sermon Series: Ponder This - 2002THE OVERCOMING SERIES by Ray Pritchard Everyone has a story to tell, even the people who seem to smile all the time. This is one of the first things a young pastor learns when he graduates from seminary and begins his ministry. Some people look so well-adjusted and happy that you think they don’t have a care in the wor…
Sermon Series: Ponder This - 2002BROKEN, THEN BLESSED by Ray Pritchard The story I’m about to tell comes from a friend who has been going through a very hard time. The precise details don’t matter except to say that this friend has struggled in his job for a long time and hasn’t been able to take care of his family the way he would like. He tried and tried…
Sermon Series: Ponder This - 2002GOD’S WRAPPING PAPER by Ray Pritchard Not long ago I had lunch with a man who said he was trying to “recover from God’s goodness.” That statement is so unusual that it arrests the mind. What did he mean, to “recover” from God’s goodness? We usually speak of “recovering” from sick…
Sermon Series: Ponder This - 2002IT’S HARD TO LET GO by Ray Pritchard The man and the woman involved in this story don’t know each other and will almost certainly never meet each other. They have nothing in common except that the woman sent me an e-mail (she lives in another country) and the man dropped by to see me this week. Here is part of wha…
Sermon Series: Ponder This - 2002FAITH AND DOUBT AT GROUND ZERO by Ray Pritchard Researchers tell us that one of the central questions arising out of the ashes of 9/11 is a spiritual one: Where was God when those planes crashed into the World Trade Center? Sometimes the question is put in terms that are agonizingly personal, such as the father who lost his…
Sermon Series: Ponder This - 2002KNOWING LESS AND KNOWING MORE by Ray Pritchard It is no secret that in less than a month I will celebrate my 50th birthday. Even as I write these words, I think to myself, “Is celebrate the right word?” But I’m smiling to myself as I ask the question. Yes, of course, celebrate is the right word. Outside the sun is…
Sermon Series: Ponder This - 2002REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11 by Ray Pritchard Sometimes you know an idea is right the first time you hear it. That happened to me in June when someone suggested we ought to hold a public service on the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Since then we’ve been working behind the scenes to make it happen. Firs…
Sermon Series: Ponder This - 2002THE WAY OF LOVE by Ray Pritchard A few days ago the “Bible bus” came rumbling through the Upper Room Discourse (John 13-16). This is the final message Jesus gave to his disciples before his crucifixion. While reading John 15, I was struck by the difference between the first half and the last half of the chapter. I…
Sermon Series: Ponder This - 2002THE CRISIS IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH by Ray Pritchard All of us, I am sure, have been shocked and saddened by the repeated revelations of serious sexual misconduct (and an apparent cover-up in many cases) by priests inside the Catholic Church. How should those of us outside that particular church respond? A recent editorial in…
Sermon Series: Ponder This - 2002