“As some of you pointed out to me, I have run out of the Ten Commandments,” the Rev. M. Craig Barnes said. “Today, we will look at Jesus’ summary of the law, an interpretation of what was always at the heart of the law — to love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.”
“There is an old story going around the church about a Sunday school teacher, teaching on the Ten Commandments, who asked the class what the ninth commandment was. One little boy said ‘A lie is an abomination unto the Lord and a very present help in times of trouble,’ ” said the Rev. M. Craig Barnes at the 9:15 a.m. morning worship service Thursday.
“ ‘Thou shalt not’ does not leave a lot of wiggle room. God is not advising us against adultery or stealing. This is a warning on the road to freedom that, if you take this detour, you will fall off a cliff,” said the Rev. M. Craig Barnes during his sermon, “Honoring Boundaries” at the 9:15 a.m. morning worship service Wednesday in the Amphitheater.
“On the stairwell in our house, my wife and I have a ‘wall of witnesses.’ We have large, black-and-white photos of ancestors that go back six generations in both our families, some who saw the Civil War,” said the Rev. M. Craig Barnes at the 9:15 a.m. morning worship service Tuesday in the Amphitheater.
“My first encounter with taking the Lord’s name in vain was when I was 6 years old,” said the Rev. M. Craig Barnes. “You know how this is going to go. I was sitting at the table and asked nicely for the potatoes twice. The third time I asked for the g.d. potatoes. I had no idea where I had learned that, but I vividly remember the taste of soap.”
“Nobody gets over the Ten Commandments; they don’t go out of style,” said the Rev. M. Craig Barnes at the 10:45 a.m. Sunday morning worship service in the Amphitheater. His theme for the week is “Ten Signposts to Freedom” and the title of Sunday’s sermon was “Choosing a God.” The Scripture text was Exodus 20:1-6.
The great thing about preaching at Chautauqua, said the Rev. M. Craig Barnes, is that “those who gather to listen are so educated and well read.”
I was leading a meeting with all of the vice presidents of our seminary, but I could think about only one thing — my teenagers. My wife and I had been up late the previous night having the “these are our values talk” with one of them. Again.
The Chautauquan Daily 