This past week is not one that I would describe as blessed.  On Monday, while changing the radiator in a car with one of my daughters on the streets of west Baltimore, we ducked down as we heard gunfire ring out with so many rounds I was sure someone was dead.  Three people shot, including … Continue reading Blessed by God?

The Corinthians were divided over who is the better Christian, who gets the better seats at the table, who is the most righteous or the most authentic Christian?   Is is people who have had the most ecstatic charismatic experiences, or those who have evidenced the most straightlaced moral piety?   Is it those who have their … Continue reading Cultivating a Common Life

“I’ve worked for nothing.  I’ve nothing to show for a life of hard work.”  So says the mysterious servant in this passage in Isaiah.   He could have been speaking for any number of people I’ve listened to recently.   He could have been speaking the Black pastor who said to me last week, “I’ve never been … Continue reading Lacking in Nothing

Chestertown, MD, November 24, 1931, “Special Dispatch to the Baltimore Sun:  A mob of 500 persons, among whom were some of the most prominent residents of Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Cecil Counties, stormed the Kent County jail here tonight in an attempt to wreak vengeance upon George Davis, a 28 year-old Negro, arrested today in … Continue reading God Plays No Favorites

Jesus has been looking forward to this Passover meal. He’s planned it all out, found an AirBnB with the perfect upper room, told his disciples to take time to prepare it what will become the Eucharistic meal – that is the Thanksgiving meal – for the church. And maybe he’s excited because for the first … Continue reading Bickering at the Thanksgiving Table

Last week, Andrew and I finished a sermon series on environmental stewardship and our responsibility to participate in creating the world as it should be. Today we start our month long journey through the lectionary and focus on the stewardship of our church community and our lives. To assist us with this month of reflection, … Continue reading Come Down

If you’re not offended by what Jesus is saying here, you should be. I know we’ve come to think of Pharisees as hypocrites and tax collectors as maligned and even oppressed. But tax collectors were the worst kind of people – they were sort like individual tax collection agencies enfleshed in a person. Tax collectors … Continue reading An Environment of Grace