Morning Message
Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:
In the Begats
Luke 1:1-17 Dec. 6, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
David Steele, minister and columnist in The Presbyterian Outlook, tells a story about a Christmas worship service he was planning. The church borrowed a set of herald trumpets for Christmas. The yard-long, brass trumpets were just for show and couldn…
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Added by Keith Curran on December 8, 2009 at 10:11am —
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Morning Message
Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:
In Old Testament Prophecy
Micah 5:2 Is. 9:6-7 Nov. 29, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
Somehow, although it’s beyond my mortal understanding, God is at work behind the scenes to accomplish a divine purpose and plan in life. We humans often try to thwart God’s plans with our sin and consequences of our actions, but…
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Added by Keith Curran on December 3, 2009 at 9:22am —
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Morning Message
Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:
In a Pig Pen
Luke 8: 26-39 Nov. 22, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
The Greco/Roman fortress city of Hippos stood like the jutting head of a war stead on the basalt plateau of the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It could easily be seen from Capernaum and even Roman Tiberius that lay opposite Hippos on the west…
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Added by Keith Curran on November 24, 2009 at 12:00pm —
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Morning Message
Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:
In Midst of a Conflict
John 8:1-11 I Cor. 13:4-8 Nov. 15, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
What can we say in mixed company about this story from John’s Gospel? Caught in the very act! Where’s the man? (See Lev. 20:10) Notice that no women were invited to the stoning. And by the way, it might be interesting to not…
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Added by Keith Curran on November 17, 2009 at 11:04am —
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Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:
At Levi’s Home
Luke 5:27-32 November 8, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
There is a classic Saturday Night Live sketch that ranks as the #5 all-time favorite among fans. Some of you know it as the 2000 “More Cowbell” bit. The SNL troop is parodying the rock band Blue Oyster Cult’s song, “Don’t Fear the Reaper” (that alone sounds li…
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Added by Keith Curran on November 10, 2009 at 9:08am —
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Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:
Asleep In the Storm
Mark 4:35-41 Nov. 1, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
It’s interesting that the 3-year Galilean ministry of Jesus included 3 journeys into Gentile territory, loosely corresponding to the 3 missionary journeys of Paul in the Book of Acts. In today’s story from Mark 4, Jesus starts off on his first journey: from…
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Added by Keith Curran on November 3, 2009 at 10:15am —
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Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:
At the Offering Box
Mark 12:38-13:2
Oct. 25, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
How many of you will admit to the guilty pleasure of being a people watcher? People watching is a national pastime in the airport or at the mall. I’ve even heard that city engineers design the location of park benches so that they provide the best vantag…
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Added by Keith Curran on October 26, 2009 at 12:13pm —
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Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:
Back Home Again
Luke 4:14-30 Oct. 18, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
The late Mike Yaconelli, in his book Messy Spirituality, writes: “According to his critics, Jesus did it ‘all wrong’. He went to the wrong places, said the wrong things, and worst of all, let just anyone into the kingdom. What made people furious was Jesus’ irresponsible habit of throwing open the doors…
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Added by Keith Curran on October 20, 2009 at 10:54am —
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Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:
In Isaiah’s Song
Isaiah 53
Oct. 11, 2009
In the movie First Knight, staring Richard Gere as Lancelot and Sean Connery as King Arthur, we’re introduced to Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. Lancelot is a ‘sword for hire’ when we meet him. He rescues Guinevere from brigands and falls in love with her, but she is promised in marriage to King Arthur. In one scene, the core values of Camelot are contrasted with Lancelot’s selfish and self-serving lif…
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Added by Keith Curran on October 13, 2009 at 9:30am —
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Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:
At the Burning Bush
Exodus 3
Oct. 4, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
Sociologist Tony Campolo says that “The God we worship is a hidden God. He does not force us to confront Him, but waits patiently for the time to come when we all seek Him out. God longs for us to seek after him with heart and mind and soul.” (Let Me Tell You a Story, pg. 1)
In one lecture he told a sto…
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Added by Keith Curran on October 6, 2009 at 3:24pm —
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I received a phone call today from an old friend and seminary classmate who found our church’s name on ‘a list’. Brant is now at a church in Arizona and was doing research on mid-size PCUSA churches that are growing and asking what their ‘secret’ is. He asked our Louisville offices for a list of the top growing churches in the country between 300-700 members and he phoned the top church. He got the church secretary who sounded surprised that their church would be on such a list. Turns out it was…
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Added by Keith Curran on October 1, 2009 at 9:06am —
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Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:
In the Beginning
Gen. 1:1-2 John 1:1-5
Sept. 27, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
Are you ready for some heavy-duty theology? Is it too early in the morning for that? You may be tempted to quote Gov. Festus when the Apostle Paul started talking theology: “Thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee crazy.” (Acts 26:27 KJV)
One clever guy came up with a funny way…
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Added by Keith Curran on September 29, 2009 at 10:39am —
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Finding Christ in All the Wrong Places:</
In Serendipitous Moments
Acts 16:6-15 Sept. 20, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
What do you make of those times when God surprises the socks off of you?
Marie Hogan a divorced mom from St. Louis, Missouri tells a story in Guideposts of a strange thing that happened to her shortly after her youngest child had gone off to college and she was transferred to a new city.…
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Added by Keith Curran on September 22, 2009 at 9:30am —
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Calvin at 500: Calvin and
Elevation of Learning
Eph. 4:11-16
Sept. 13, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
An irate parent stopped our Dir. of Christian Education at the back door. He yelled, “My little girl said that if she misses church school too often that you’re going to drop her on a rooster. What kind of church is this?’ Beth, being the cool, calm and collected type, asked the parent the name of his daughte…
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Added by Keith Curran on September 15, 2009 at 10:15am —
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Calvin at 500: Calvin and Protestant Work Ethic
2 Thes. 3:6-15 Gen. 3:17-19
Sept. 6, 2009
Rev. Dr. Keith M. Curran
St. Andrew Presbyterian Church
1885 Bridge Road Suffolk, VA 23433
www.standrewpres.net
Victor and Parascevia Pltenik boarded the German cruise ship, Barbarossa in 1902 with a ticket for America. Part of the 20-year long massive migration of working class peasants from the Galatia region of the Austro- Hungarian Empire, Victor and his wife, known as Teresa, left their ancestral hom…
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Added by Keith Curran on September 9, 2009 at 11:14am —
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While on vacation in Newport RI with my family, I learned a few lessons worth bringing home and sharing with friends.
1. Overheard in a candy store between two women: Why does eating 1 lb of candy make you gain 5 lbs? Good question!
2. Always travel with an EZ PASS for tolls. We whizzed through dozens of toll booths along the way and saved at least an hour or two in travel time. One of the best investments we’ve made.
3. When eating at an Irish Pub, make sure you order an Irish dish. I got corne…
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Added by Keith Curran on August 10, 2009 at 8:04pm —
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You may have missed the last time we had a hymn sing or have been unaware of the little drama going on in the back row. One of the church moms of a 10 year old boy was fuming mad. I didn’t catch what the infraction was, but the boy did something that got him in big trouble that morning; getting yelled at in the car all the way to church and lasting into the service. Mom was whispering a scolding to the boy even as we were calling out the hymns to sing.
The boy, one of our bright kids in church s…
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Added by Keith Curran on June 26, 2009 at 2:17pm —
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