Feb. 26, 2017 Matthew 17:1-9 The theme for the sabbatical I took a bunch of years back now was: finding the spiritual in the physical. That included physical presence with others, physical activity like yoga and the martial arts, as well as physical expressions of piety like architecture, and song, and art.  Angela and I […]

Feb. 5, 2016 Isaiah 58:1-12 Matthew 5:13-20   God tells Isaiah to give the people bad news and to give it loud and clear. Pull no punches.  Say it like it is.  God is mad and God wants everyone to know it. Preachers squirm when passages like this one come up. We’re probably apt to […]

Jan. 29, 2017 Matthew 5:1-11 1 Cor. 1:18-31   “God created us in God’s own image, and darn it – we’ve returned the favor.”[1]  That’s a line from a book I’m reading at the moment.  The message is that instead of reflecting God’s image, which is what we were created to do, we’ve imposed our […]

Dec. 4, 2016 Matthew 3:1-12 Isaiah 11:1-10   I’m not sure if this counts as a poem or not. But, it is called, “The best poem ever,” and I thought I would begin here.   What if, says a small child to me this afternoon, We made a poem without using any words at all? […]

Nov. 27, 2016 Isaiah 2:1-5 Matthew 24:36-44   First, I would like to think for a little bit about “keeping awake” and what this call to wakefulness might mean. If you read on in Matthew you’ll see that it’s less about right belief and right understanding and more about right work, actions that coincide with […]

Nov. 20, 2016 Luke 23:33-43   There he is with nails in his hands and feet, blood pouring from his side and dripping from the thorns that are tearing at his skull. He’s been stripped and whipped and hung on a cross to die.  And, in this moment of unimaginable horror and pain he says, […]

Nov. 13, 2016 Isaiah 65:17-25 Luke 21:5-19 When it comes to the church’s annual pledge campaign the most important reminder that I have to offer is this: when we give to the church we are giving to one another. We are not simply covering expenses.  We are giving really important, life-giving gifts not to an […]

Oct. 16, 2016 Jer. 31:27-34 Luke 18:1-8 Tom Long is a big name in the world of preaching and homiletics.  I remember reading one of his books as part of my seminary education.  And recently I came across a story he told about Mother Theresa in relation to today’s gospel passage. Mother Theresa was in […]

Oct. 9, 2016 Luke 17:11-19 I have three stories that I would like to share with you this morning.  The first is just this: When I was a student at Yale Divinity School I dated a genius (shocking, right?)  She was from the School of Graduate Studies, and I don’t just mean that she was […]