Brown Memorial Park Avenue Presbyterian Church

It was early in the formation of “Imago Dei,” the name we gave for the gay straight alliance at Columbia Seminary that my friend caught me off guard with a comment on this Psalm. “The first time I remember reading this psalm,” she told me, “I remember how disturbed I was.” She caught me off … Continue reading The Bull of Heaven

On facebook this week I came across a video from a Toronto ad agency featuring Canadians concerned about our elections. “As you’re thinking about your future,” they say, “we just want you to know that you guys are great.”[1] Reaching into our past the Canadians offer examples they believe set us apart – from our … Continue reading Orthodox Generosity

There was this moment when Andrew and I realized that we had lined up a sermon series based on children’s books for the final six weeks of the Presidential Election. This was not an intentional decision. We organized these dates maybe six months ago, when the election didn’t feel so…visceral. We were thinking…fall. New school … Continue reading The Days Are Surely Coming

This past May I was riding in the passenger seat of a battered old Volkswagon, rumbling through the streets of Bethlehem. My eyes were as wide as saucers. I just couldn’t believe I was in Bethlehem. Perry and I had jumped on an opportunity to travel to Israel with a group from his school, and … Continue reading We Fell In Love In A Hopeless Place

Sometimes I wish Presbyterian theology allowed for purgatory. I say that mainly because I spent a fair amount of time in purgatory in middle school. We called it In School Suspicion – ISS for short. It was the place where the really bad kids were sent to sit and do nothing except write “I will … Continue reading The Gulf of Privilege

My Grandmother was a great storyteller. Some of her best she told while we rocked together on the screened in porch of her home in SC.   She commented on the boyfriend of the neighbor next door who had moved in. “You know, they’re not married,” she said quietly in a voice that could have been … Continue reading Saints, Maybe

When I was learning the craft of preaching in seminary, we talked about the scenario of the Bird in the Sanctuary. As a preacher you spend a lot of time thinking about the text and working on a message and praying that you will have something meaningful to say. And then the moment comes and … Continue reading The Taming of the Shrewd

I was talking with a new-comer to our church this week, someone who grew up in Baltimore, who was telling me how he moved back from a place not too far from here. “It was gorgeous,” he said, describing the clean streets, friendly neighbors, safe, almost idyllic place where he had been living. “Well, why … Continue reading A Joyful Mess

In election season, I gotta say, it’s refreshing to know that at least one person doesn’t pander to the crowd. I know it makes it hard on churches trying to recruit – Welcome to Brown Memorial. It’s Hate Your Family Sunday. But in a world where we are constantly be sold something, where we are … Continue reading Downward Mobility

This sermon is for our youth. Our young people. Our 6th-12th graders. To be clear, it’s not a sermon about our youth. It’s written for them. To them. It’s true that many of you are not here right now. That’s alright. We have talked a fair amount in the past year about why you often … Continue reading Hunger Games