This morning we began a sermon series at the church I serve, Asbury United Methodist Church, in which we are “rolling out” our new Core Values Statement (which you can see above). After having been ruined by my preaching courses at Princeton Seminary, I’ve been preaching from a manuscript for the past couple years. Today was my first foray BACK into just having an outline and trusting in…hmmm…the Holy Spirit to show up. I actually do respect those people who preach from a manuscript (and I’ll do it again I’m sure). I just enjoy the more casual tone and conversational approach that comes from having to not rely on a manuscript.
I think it went pretty well. The passage of scripture used was John 15:1-17, and I focused on the “Centered in Jesus Christ” and “grow in faith” sections of our Core Values statement. I threw in a little Google-talk, some bounded/centered-set ideas and had some fun with it. If you’re so inclined, you can listen to the sermon below.
[audio:http://www.pomomusings.com/wp-content/mp3/Centered-in-Christ.mp3]