Iron Sharpening

There's a verse in scripture that says that iron sharpens iron.  Yesterday I was joined at my watering hole by Rev. John Adams.  He's a good friend and one of the smartest people I know; so, I invited him to get a beer and us swap sermons.  The hope was that we would sharpen each others preaching and both our congregations would benefit. 

While we chatted scripture, inclusion, theology, Jesus, and preaching I sipped on this:

It's the Deschutes Black Butte Porter XXVI.  (Check out the link for some great food pairings.) They make the Black Butte Porter year round, and it is delicious in and its itself.  Every year, however, they do a special anniversary batch that they age.  The 26 is over the moon amazing.  It starts off tasting like dark chocolate when it is first poured.  As it warms up though, the flavor profile transforms into something like Pinot Noir.

Preaching this week is a challenge.  The Gospel passage is the story of Jesus and the Canaanite women from Matthew, which is difficult enough alone.  Added to it, or course, is all the mayhem going on in the world from the Middle East to Ferguson, MO., and from the death of Robin Williams to the Ebola break out.  With all that it is easy to lose sight of the Gospel in all this.  I did my best to point to only place I am always sure there is Good News...you'll have to come to Church of the Resurrection on Sunday to find out where that is.  If that wasn't enough of a teaser, here's a word cloud of my sermon: