The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio A man is driving his car along a road. He comes upon another man who is holding a sign that reads “The End Is Near!” The driver ignores him and thinks to himself, “Crazy, religious fanatic!” He ignores the man and keeps driving…straight off […]
The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio Behind the street where I grew up was a big wooded area. The woods, as we called it. This is where we would play. This is where we would explore. This is where we played war. We’d go deep into the woods with our […]
© 2024, Dr. Tamilio Have you ever heard the song, “It’s Hard to Be Humble”? Mack Davis sang it. As one source said, this 1980 hit by Davis was “a humorous ode to his own perfection and ego.”[1] There’s nothing like writing an ode to your perfection. Here are some of the lyrics: Oh Lord, […]
© 2024, Dr. Tamilio Jesus was crucified for sedition, for being a traitor against the state. The Jewish leaders saw him as a threat to the religious power they held, so they convinced Pilate that he was going to lead a political rebellion. After all, his followers referred to him as a “king.” When Jesus […]
The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio Who is the greatest? This is what the disciples argued about one day, and Jesus called them on it. Jesus tells them that whoever wants to be first must be a servant of all. He uses a child — one that had no status […]
The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio After Jesus asks the disciples who they think he is, Peter gives the correct answer. But then, once Jesus tells them what will happen next — that he “must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes […]
Lord God, We come before you this day planted firmly in our faith and our hearts full of wonder as we imagine how your Word will nourish us this morning and move us to fully embrace our calling as your disciples. With the summer behind us — a time of rest and rejuvenation — we […]
The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio Here we are: a new program year for our church. There are so many opportunities for us: opportunities to think outside the box, opportunities to grow. I do not mean that we have to do things differently for the sake of doing them differently, […]
The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio This is it. The last hurrah. Labor Day weekend. The summer is officially over. Those of us who are here today didn’t go away for the weekend. We’ll be going home to mow, and paint, and clean, and organize, and all those other things […]
The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio I Put on the whole armor of God. When I hear that verse from Ephesians, I think of the hymn that we are going to sing in just a bit: “Onward Christian Soldiers.” This hymn doesn’t appear in our hymnal, nor is it published […]