Amendment 10A and…Hell
Last Sunday was installment two in our new sermon series, "Questions from the Floor." The topic: "How will Amendment 10A affect the Presbyterian Church (USA) going forward?" My approach was simply to describe some of [...]
Questions from the Floor – Part I: Family Values? Whose?
This Sunday, we began a new sermon series called Questions from the Floor. This series is the brainchild of my colleague Louise, who compiled a list of questions that came from...you! Each of the [...]
Sexuality: How Do We Have the Talk?
First: please insert here my much-to-self-referential brooding about...sin and forgiveness...the weakness of the flesh...writer's block...the insane schedule of a parish Pastor. Having intended to keep up with my blogging discipline, I see I have failed [...]
I Can’t Get No…Satisfaction
Is it possible that Mick Jagger has really nailed it, in describing the prime spiritual malady of our times? Well - maybe for all times? This Sunday's sermon (sermons - plural - as I'll [...]
What is Postmodernism?
Back on the blog horse, and dipping my toe in. (Aha! Master of the Mixed Metaphor! To dip my horse hoof in? My blog's equine lower digit...?) This year, as I return to my blogging [...]
Four Ways to Have a Conversation – Post Mortem
First - a brief word about my personal M.O. I am an ENFP according to the Myers-Briggs type indicator. When I took this test - er, I mean "inventory" (they make a big deal about [...]
Paul vs. The Fundamentalists
Feeling rather guilty for not writing here for the last several weeks - and then (in Pauline fashion!) I realize that I do well not to make more of myself than I ought. Might I [...]
The Catastrophe of Success and the Quest for Greatness
Sometimes when you're short of words, you need someone else's to bail you out. How cool to hear Cornel West riff on Jesus, Tennessee Williams, John Coltrane, and Anton Checkov - among others. What does [...]
Cultivating Christian Followership
This Sunday, I have five minutes. Five minutes of homiletical air-time, during a worship service that we are calling "Confir-baptismo-palooza". Six baptisms, representing a bell-curve of ages from adult to infant, and then we celebrate [...]
Fishing on the Other Side
The text for this Sunday is the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus in John 21: Jesus' breakfast by the sea with his disciples. Perhaps many of you are familiar with this story. The Disciples are hard [...]
Revive Justice! Join Us!
This week's posting is NOT about the sermon - either the one last week, or the one upcoming. This Sunday, I'm off pulpit duty - and hats off to Leigh Stuckey, who will be preaching [...]
What To Do When Your House Burns Down? A Call for Stories
I write this entry...guiltily, knowing that I skipped my blogging discipline last week. (Many do not realize that the week before Holy Week is really Hell week for preachers). So, I'm getting a jump this [...]
Mary and Isaiah: Biblical Throw Down This Sunday
"Is this not the fast that I choose: To loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?" This Sunday, Isaiah [...]
Prayer is a Way of Seeing
[Note: for those who follow this, glad you found your way to this new blog site. Be patient with me as I primp and tweak. The main reason for my changing services is to allow [...]
What Prayer Isn't
I'm going to take up the advice of some of you and, invoking Janus (the Roman god of new beginnings, who was able both to look back and look forward), I'm taking a new approach [...]
Does God Speak? And, Questions from the Grab Bag
This week, I am doing a rather hasty blog entry...mostly to put out some questions. For myself, mostly - and for anyone who might like to chime in. (By email, in person, or...here). About the [...]