Seven Minutes…and Why Pay the Preacher?
Since I am not preaching this week - thanks to Jim Moyer, Martha Davidson and our music program doing the homiletical heavy lifting via our Lessons and Carols service - I thought I'd offer a [...]
God on the Job
Here’s the question for the week: do you take your faith to work? Do the values you profess on Sunday, have a bearing upon what you do on Monday – and the rest of the [...]
The Biggest Loser?
One of the comments in last Sunday’s sermon that garnered the most conversation (well, among folk I had a chance to talk with) was my reference to the popular television show The Biggest Loser. I [...]
Do You Pray, part 2…
I am yielding blog space today to my colleague in ministry, Brent Ferguson. Brent had trouble (like many of you , I'm hearing) posting a response - so I'm taking the liberty of making him [...]
Do you pray?
I really want to know. One of the edges that we seem to be treading right now - our staff, our leaders, our congregation - has to do with this question: how do modern people [...]
Cage match: Pilate vs. Jesus
What has power over you? This week, I’m back from a weeklong clergy renewal retreat in Arizona called CREDO. Although I had joked with our interns and staff that I was going to “Clergy Spa” [...]
Teach us to pray…
An early entry this week - for those tuning in. I am off this week, starting Monday, at a CREDO retreat in Arizona. From what I can tell, it's sort of "clergy spa" - a [...]
The Myth of Sisyphus
This week, we explore the world of Ruth – one of the most refreshing, astonishing and pleasant books found in the scriptures, in my humble opinion. I suggest you read the whole book – just [...]
Bonhoeffer at the Gallows
This Sunday’s lectionary text, John 11:32-44 is about one of the two certainties of which Ben Franklin spoke: death (The other being...taxes of course). It fits well with the liturgical order of the day, which [...]
The Ungenerous Life?
This is a very very quick entry - appropriate, inasmuch as I am not the one preaching on Sunday. My colleague Dana Fearon is taking the pulpit - and I am left anticipating - looking [...]
Your Money or Your Life
This week's scripture texts really represent a tee-shot for stewardship season, the text from Mark especially - the story of the Rich Young Ruler, who is asked by Jesus to give it all away. Most [...]
What did Jesus really say about divorce?
There are times when I want to say to the lectionary committee: thanks a lot.(Note: The lectionary, in case you're not up with the church lingo, is the set of Bible passages that are prescribed [...]
Falling Into an Outhouse
During a round of golf, here's what you say when you make a particularly bad and embarrassing shot that nevertheless ends up in wonderful spot: "falling into an outhouse and coming up with ice cream."Crass. [...]
Repentance: getting a clear view
Last week's sermon spurred several responses. I'll mention one here. One member shared with me having had a marital spat the night before - which had been weighing heavily that morning, and about which he [...]
Repentance: The Theology of Apology
This Sunday, I begin a new series called "Repentance: The Theology of Apology". I invite you to prepare, along with me, to hear and discern God's Word!Some Information about this three-part series, beginning September 13 [...]
Heroditus vs. Thucydides? The Melian Debate
In today's sermon, entitled "The Melian Debate," I am posing two differing ways of thinking about history - and I might add, different understandings of international and political relations among human beings. Today's sermon offers [...]
Bentham vs. the Bible: Can We Use Scripture to Justify Torture?
The sermon that I gave this morning deals with the question, Is it right that our society self-consciously and self avowedly employs the method of torture in the effort to keep us safe?Without repeating the [...]
What does the Bible say about immigration?
For you folk who want to cut to the chase, here's the question for this week: Does the gospel (and the scriptures in general) speak to how we ought to treat the stranger in our [...]