Rev. Dr. Jeff Garrison
I am away, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, for two weeks. One of the weeks is vacation and the other I set aside for study. During this time, I have been reading a lot! The Bible and commentaries on the book of Daniel, the new biography of Karl Barth by Christiane Tietz, Howard Thurman’s Jesus … Read more An update and two book reviews about walking
I am spending the next two weeks in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I’m staying in DeTour, which is at the far eastern end of the UP’s mainland. It’s where you catch the ferry from Drummond Island. I have a wonderful view of the St. Mary’s River, where the freighters make their way from the … Read more Saying Goodbye and Time Away
Jeff GarrisonBluemont and Mayberry ChurchesJuly 11, 2021Mark 6:14-29 Thoughts at the beginning of worship Last week we saw how, when famous, it can be humbling to go home where people know you too well. It was no different for Jesus. He visits his hometown and immediately faces opposition. So, he leaves. But he also greatly … Read more Fear, the impact of a guilty conscious
Aaron McAlexander, Greasy Bend: Ode to a Mountain Road (Stonebridge Press, 2016), 224 pages, a few black and white photographs. Highway 58 cuts across Southern Virginia, from Cumberland Gap (Along the Tennessee/Kentucky border) to the Tidewater. The highway crosses swamps, fields of peanuts and tobacco, old industrial towns like Danville and Martinsville, then climbs the Blue Ridge … Read more Highway 58 and some recent photos
Jeff GarrisonBluemont and Mayberry ChurchesJuly 4, 2021Mark 6:1-13 The video of the sermon was recorded on Friday at Mayberry Church. Because it was recorded on Friday, it is a bit different that the text below (that had two days more to jell). Thoughts at the beginning of worship: It’s a rough road to glory. You … Read more Hometown Rejection and Rough Roads
I have already told you about becoming the oven operator about a year after starting in the bakery. It was a good move. The position was at the top of the hourly pay scale, and I had almost a quarter of the plant to myself. I monitored the proof box, oven, depanner, and cooler. The oven, … Read more Another Bakery Story: The Perils of Working on the Christian Sabbath
Jeff GarrisonBluemont and Mayberry ChurchesJune 27, 2021Mark 5:21-43 Thoughts at the Beginning of Worship Let’s me share with you a quote I came across this week from Doris Haddock. She went by the name Granny D. In 2000, at the age of 90, she walked across America. It took her a year as she made … Read more Who receives the credit for these two healings?
The Christmas break from school was just beginning. My church youth group celebrated with a progressive dinner. We travelled around to different homes, one for appetizers, another for a salad, another for the main dish, then the last home for dessert. If we were adults, there might have been a stop for drinks, but being … Read more Mark Brown: Another Williston Memory
Jeff GarrisonBluemont and Mayberry ChurchesJune 20, 2021Hebrews 13:18-25 I am sorry for the format issues in the bottom half of the sermon. I’m not sure what happened, and I have to now get ready to head to church! At least you can still read the text. Setting the stage: At the opening of Worship In … Read more A Proper Goodbye
Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North. (2013, Audible, 2014), 14 hours 59 minutes What a complex book. At times I loved it and other times I wondered what I was doing immersing myself within these words. The Narrow Road to the Deep North, a title taken from Basho, a famous Japanese haiku poet … Read more Recent readings