Taylor Mertins

In Crazy Talk: Stories Jesus Told, you'll find pastors doing what pastors do, which is trying to get congregations to laugh. Only professors are thirstier for giggly affirmation from students than clergy from churchgoers. No, but seriously, folks. The excellent sermons collected here walk the reader through the unrelenting message of the gospel parables: that Jesus Christ the Risen Lord is here and in charge. We, humans, are here, too, but we mess everything up. Not to mention, we cannot understand Jesus to save our lives.Praise for Crazy Talk: Stories Jesus Told"Jesus got killed for the outrageous, irresponsible, and offensive stories he told. Read Crazy Talk from the posse at the Crackers and Grape Juice podcast and you will be reminded of what it's like to want to kill somebody because of his preaching." - Rev. Dr. Will Willimon, United Methodist Bishop, Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry at Duke Divinity""Like the parables of Jesus, the sermons collected here are earthy, humorous, and connect with our most hidden, secret self. Like the preaching of the prophets, they manage to afflict the comfortable, comfort the afflicted, and never sound preachy. Not since Balaam's ass has the Word of the Lord been delivered in such an entertaining package "-The Rev. Dr. Rub n Rosario Rodr guez, Professor of Systematic Theology, Saint Louis University"The Church has done more damage to the power of the parables than any other category of scripture. We have moralized them and purposed them for our own agendas. We have foisted them onto children and told them to "be good." We have called ourselves Good Samaritans and Eldest Brothers like a Biblically uneducated clown parade. They were never intended for any of that nonsense. The Parables are intended to be void of morality and only consumed with the agenda of Jesus, who came only to save us. Buy this book. Jason, Teer, and the other yahoos at Crackers and Grape Juice will remind you just how bizarre, compelling, and truly unfair the parables really are. Thank God."- Rev. Sarah Condon, Churchy: The Real Life Adventures of a Wife, Mom, and Priest

It is in Romans that Paul reveals that he is convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor demons nor the present or future-really not anything or any power in all of creation-can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (8:38). And even pithier-I love this one especially-Paul assures us in Romans that, if God is for us, who could be against us? (8:31).In this collection of sermons, you'll find three United Methodist pastors doing what pastors do, sharing the good news. And trying to help us members of the laity get a healthy dose of some blessed catechism.As you start reading, you'll discover that, like any good letter-writer, Paul starts out talking about himself. He does that a lot, explaining where he is in the region and what's next on his agenda. Then he pats the Roman Christians on the back for doing an ok job at life. And then-and this is a big deal in Jason's first sermon, where he explains how the gospel reveals the active rectifying that God does-he announces that despite who he is and his family's heritage, Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. The gospel, he explains, is powerful; and because he uses the word d namis, we might paraphrase Paul as saying that he's not ashamed to love the gospel of Jesus Christ because the gospel's got good juice in it. The way someone might say that the Hadron particle collider of the CERN laboratories has good juice in it. Then think about that, and what it feels like to be enveloped and restored to God by that power. That all-exceeding force and intensity of love.