Rev. Dr. Jeff Garrison
As we are expecting bad weather tomorrow, with snow overnight topped by freezing rain early in the morning, worship services at Bluemont and Mayberry Churches are cancelled. I have included copies of the bulletins and announcements from each church at the bottom. Stay safe! Jeff Garrison Mayberry and Bluemont Churches January 31, 2021 Hebrews 4:14-5:10 c2021 … Read more Jesus, the High Priest
A Brief Personal Essay on Maps I have a love affair with maps. It started in childhood when we lived in Petersburg, Virginia for a few years. As a third grader, I studied the maps of my home area during the Civil War. A couple years later, as a Boy Scout and living near the … Read more Maps, Old and New (and a book review)
Today is Robert Burns Birthday, the poet from Scotland. It’s also Virginia Woolf’s birthday, but for some reason Burns draws more interest. It’s probably the whisky. After all, Woolf is English and who’d want to drink gin when you can have the water of life. In honor of Burns, I’m pulling this post from my … Read more Burns’ Night
Jeff Garrison Bluemont and Mayberry Churches Hebrews 4:1-14 January 23, 2021 c2021 Thoughts at the Beginning of Worship Earlier this week, Tim Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, posted a photo of his vaccine record on Twitter. Keller, who I think is around 70, recently retired to battle cancer. … Read more Hebrews 4:1-14: Let’s Take a Break
Jeff Garrison Beaumont and Mayberry ChurchesJanuary 17, 2021Hebrews 3c2021 Introduction at the beginning of Worship Today we’re exploring the third chapter of Hebrews. At the beginning of this series, I spoke about how this book draws on Greek rhetorical arguments and Old Testament quotes. Throughout the book, the author flows back and forth from discourse to … Read more Hebrews 3: “Reach Up”
Amy Peterson, Where Goodness Still Grows: Reclaiming Virtue in an Age of Hypocrisy (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2020), 197 pages including notes. Fifteen years ago, I read Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue by Paul Woodruff. Since then, I’ve read it several times and have spent considerable energy thinking about virtues. Perhaps this itch drew me to this book. In … Read more Where Goodness Still Grows
Jeff GarrisonBeaumont and Mayberry ChurchesJanuary 10, 2021Hebrews 2c2021 Introduction at the beginning of Worship A lot has changed in our world since last Sunday when I announced we’d be exploring the book of Hebrews for the next few months. After the events in our nation on Wednesday, this is still a good book for us … Read more Hebrews 2: Christ’s Work of Salvation
I’m in shock over this week’s events at our nation’s Capitol. If you are a praying person, will you join me praying for our country. We need to open ourselves to God, asking for insight in how what we might do as individuals and in the groups we’re a part of to being healing to … Read more My thoughts on Wednesday’s riot at the Capitol
2020 has come to an end. It was a year that we’ll not forget. Personally, it didn’t rise up to the trauma of 2016 (when I ruptured my quad-tendon, was in the hospital with sepsis following a prostate biopsy, and dealt with a tropical storm and later Hurricane Matthew), but it was still a terrible … Read more Wrapping Up 2020 (my reading summary for the year)
Jeff GarrisonMayberry and Bluemont ChurchesHebrews 1January 3, 2021 At the beginning of worship, in preparation: Today, I’m beginning a series of sermons on the Book of Hebrews. My plan is to preach through this book, with a break around Easter, and complete the study in April or May. I enjoy preaching through longer sections of … Read more Hebrews 1: Why Jesus Came