A year ago today, right at the start of worship, two elders of the church I serve stood before
the congregation to communicate a resolution that had passed that would make permissible, upon routine session approval, marriages between any two people for whom it is legal. In other words, the session made the statement that weddings between same-sex couples would be considered and approved according to the same process and standards as weddings between opposite-sex couples. Our church would not discriminate against same-sex couples seeking God’s blessing on and the church’s recognition of their marriage. The sermon I preached later in that worship service is here.
Continue reading
Uncategorized
“I tell God to wait outside” – Eric Fair and Consequences
I just finished listening to the episode of NPR’s Fresh Air entitled “‘It Was Torture’: An Abu Ghraib Interrogator Confesses.” I’ll give you a second to go download it and get it into your queue before you come back to read the rest. Don’t worry. I’ll wait. You need to do this. I promise.
To the ends of the earth – a (brief!) sermon for Holy Humor Sunday
A good joke is fun to pass on. Happiness is infectious. Joy travels 
quickly. Like a pebble dropped into a still pond the ripples move out in increasing larger circles until the entire surface of the water is moving, is dynamic, is dancing because of the one simple act that started it. Continue reading
The Faith in Fear – a sermon on Mark 16:1-8 for Easter
The way a story ends can make or break the impression we carry of it. Think of some of the all-time great TV shows and how they ended. Do you have any favorites?
M. A. S. H.? Cheers?
I very clearly remember the end of Family Ties as a good ending to one of my generation’s favorite childhood TV shows.
One of the things we tend to like about a good series finale is when it leaves us feeling like there aren’t too many loose ends. There can be some wondering about what comes next, but all in all we like to know that even if our favorite characters don’t come out alright in the end, their lives and the story had a purpose.
This is it – a Good Friday sermon from Mark 15:33-47
When I was at the grocery store earlier today I overheard one customer say to another, 
“Have a happy Good Friday,” and it, well, brought about mixed emotions in me, to say the least. On the one hand, in a time when our culture is growing more and more secular I wanted to jump up and down excitedly and shout, “Yes! It is Good Friday! Someone knows it!” On the other hand – – happy Good Friday? Really? I’m not so sure that’s the exact emotion we’re going for here. But I think I’ll stick with my first impulse – – gratitude for the recognition that this isn’t just another day, that something happened, something important and horrific and life-changing, earth shaking, and kingdom altering even. Something happened on that Friday in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, and it wasn’t good, and it most certainly wasn’t happy, but it was something that changed the world forever, changed the world for the better. Continue reading
The Passion in Story, Symbol, and Song – worship on Palm and Passion Sunday
On Sunday the proclamation of the word took place through the words of Scripture themselves. It’s not often that many of us hear this whole story – – from the anointing of Jesus through the last supper with his disciples to his death and burial. It’s not often that we hear how the crowds shouted “Hosanna!” on Sunday, wondered what’s coming next on Thursday, and then denied Jesus and scattered in the days that followed. It’s not often that we hear the fear of Jesus’ enemies turn into anger and, ultimately, violence.
And so as the words of Scripture proclaim the love of God in the suffering of Jesus, as the story is opened for us in word and symbol and song – – May we listen for our place in it. May we find ourselves in the passionate anointer, the nervous disciples, the tragic deserter, the mocking soldier, or the compassionate provider of the tomb. May we find ourselves and use these first witnesses to guide our devotion and reflection not just this morning, but this whole week, and even next Sunday when we hear the good news of the resurrection, good news for all people. Continue reading
The End is Near – a sermon on Mark 13:1-8, 24-37
The end is near! I imagine most of us, either in person or on TV or in the print media, have 
seen someone like the person who probably drives this van. He or she is usually around at events or occasions that draw a big crowd. They don’t even have to be religious events, although I’ve seen people like this warning us “apostate” Presbyterians at our General Assemblies in the past. But I’ve also seen and imagine you have, too, these poster waving, self-identified prophets declaring “The end is near!” at football games and festivals. It may even be just what they call “Tuesday” in popular tourist spots like Times Square or the Washington DC Mall of monuments in the busy summer season. These prophets (I use the term loosely, very loosely) may turn up anywhere there are a lot of people around because they are trying to announce what they think is a very urgent message – “The end is near!!!” Judgement is coming! You better get your stuff in order, because this is your last chance. Continue reading
A Different Campaign – A sermon on Mark 11:1-11
Yep. I did just read the story of Jesus’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
By Wilhelm Morgner – The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH., Public Domain
Nope. I didn’t mix up the calendar. Yes I did just read the story about Palm Sunday. No, next week is not Easter.
Bear with me here for a little.
In our worship for a few years we have followed the Narrative Lectionary, a schedule of readings that brings us through the Bible chronologically even if that doesn’t always line up with the traditional celebrations of the church year. Continue reading
Giving Up Greatness – an Ash Wednesday sermon on Mark 9:30-37
It’s time for a little bit of pastor confession. Will you hear it for me? Here it goes – I go back and forth on this whole idea of “giving something up for Lent.” I wasn’t raised with it in my family or early church up-bringing. Many of us Presbyterians are pretty new to the whole idea. I learned about it in college, mostly from my Catholic friends who, from the outside, seemed to be going on some kind of holy diet — no chocolate, no potato chips, no pepperoni on the Friday night pizza.
The sermon I didn’t write
Anyone who presents material to others regularly — I’m thinking of course of preachers, since that’s what I do most often, but also teachers, workshop leaders, researchers, journalists — probably runs into this problem fairly often – the problem of having more material to present than can fit into the allotted presentation time. Continue reading
For Some Reason 