3-31-2024 Easter Sunday “The Butterfly People” (Mark 16:1-8)

The Rev. Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio A huge tornado struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011.  If you go to YouTube and do a search, you will find video footage that is utterly astonishing.  Your jaw will hit the floor as you watch the horrific devastation caused by the F5 […]

3-24-2024 “Hope in Hopeless Times” Mark 11:1-11 Palm Sunday

© 2024, Dr. Tamilio So here is the Palm Sunday sermon.  The one I have given many times over the past twenty-five years, the same one many a preacher will deliver today.  Jesus enters Jerusalem triumphantly as the King of kings and Lord of lords.  The atmosphere is festive.  It is a parade.  People yell […]

3-3-2024 “The Top Ten” (Exodus 20:1-17) ~ Lent III

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio These are the big ten.  The top ten.  The Ten Commandments.  No, not the Cecil B. DeMille film starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner.  These are ten — the emblematic, key laws that the Israelites are to follow.  There are actually 613 commandments in all of […]

3-10-2024 “Life Abundant” (John 3:14-21) ~ Lent IV

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor 2024, Dr. Tamilio If you made a list of the most popular and the most memorized Scripture passages, John 3:16 would probably be at the top.  Millard J. Erickson agrees, writing, “Of numerous biblical references, John 3:16 is probably the best known.”[1]  Even nonbelievers know that it begins, “For God […]

3-17-2024 “Habitus” (Jeremiah 31:31-34) ~ Lent V

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor  © 2024, Dr. Tamilio One of the great philosophers in antiquity is Aristotle.  His teacher was Plato.  Plato’s teacher was Socrates.  Aristotle became the tutor to Alexander the Great.  Suffice it to say, Aristotle is a rock star as far as philosophy goes.  He is part of an intellectual lineage […]

2-25-2024 “Get Thee Behind Me” (Mark 8:31-38) ~ Lent II

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio Peter thought he was saying the right thing.  He thought he was showing his support for Jesus.  He questioned why the crucifixion had to happen.  This comes right after he offers one of the staunchest proclamations of faith in all of the Bible when he declares […]

2-18-2024 “Never Again” (Genesis 9:8-17) ~ Lent I

Dr. John Tamilio III © 2024, Dr. Tamilio Long before the rainbow became the symbol of the LGBT community, it was a biblical symbol — a symbol that goes all the way back to the story of the great flood in Genesis.  It is a sign of peace: a promise to remind God (not us) […]

2-11-2024 “Finding God in the Surreal” (Mark 9:2-9) ~ Transfiguration Sunday

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio I am currently rewatching the documentary Surviving Death on Netflix.  It is a provocative, six-part look into life after death.  It examines near-death experiences, mediums, reincarnation, and those who have passed on communicating to us from beyond the grave.  Parts of this series are gripping; parts […]

2-4-2024 “In High Demand” (Mark 1:29-39) ~ Epiphany V

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio There is a channel on YouTube that allows you to watch old commercials.  You can relive your childhood and see all the commercials that used to come on during Saturday morning cartoons or the ones that appeared before, after, or during Bonanza, the Honeymooners, All in […]

1-28-2024 “A New Teaching” (Mark 1:21-28) ~ Epiphany IV

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor © 2024, Dr. Tamilio You know the saying: people don’t like change.  It’s true.  The older we get, the more resistant we are to it.  There are several reasons for this.  Rosabeth Moss Kanter, writing for the Harvard Business Review, cites ten of them.  The one she lists first is […]