Text: Colossians 1:1-14 Lighten our darkness, we beseech Thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night: for the love of thy only Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. If you have spent time in an Episcopal church, you may recognize this prayer. It comes from […]

Text: Galatians 6:7-10 Several months ago I found myself in a conversation with a local Presbyterian minister about what it’s like to pastor a church in these challenging times in which we are living: a time when all religious institutions are seeing a decline in membership. In the course of us exchanging stories about our respective […]

Text: Galatians 5:1,12-25 Freedom. My first taste of freedom, or so I thought, came on October 4, 1979—the day I turned 16. I awoke early that day, dressed quickly and waited rather impatiently for my father to take me to the DMV to get my driver’s license. All that stood in the way of my freedom […]

Text: Luke 8:26-39 When I was in sixth grade my grandfather bought a baby pig. It only took about five minutes for me to bond with this baby pig as my new pet and playmate. On the days that I would stay with my grandparents after school I would spend all afternoon playing with and talking […]

Text: 2 Samuel 11:26-12:9, 13, Luke 7:36-8:3 SIN. For progressive Christians that word is like the estranged family member missing at the Christmas dinner table that no one wants to acknowledge is absent. To be such a small word, it packs a powerful and evocative punch for those of us who consider ourselves progressive in our […]

Text: Galatians 1:11-24 The year was 1979. It was my junior year of high school. Life for me that year, as it had throughout all of my adolescent years, centered around school, sports and church. If I wasn’t in class, I was either on the basketball court or softball field. If I was not playing basketball […]

Text: I Kings 18:20-21, 30-39 Throughout history American literature has chronicled the epic contests between good and evil, right and wrong, the strong and the weak. Homer and Hesiod. Moby-Dick and Ahab. Aslan and the White Witch in C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Frodo Baggins and the Dark Lord Sauron in Tolkien’s Lord of […]

Text: John 16:12-15; Romans 5:1-5 I’ll be honest: Trinity Sunday is not my favorite Sunday nor favorite theological topic on hich to preach. I don’t claim to understand the Trinity and for the most part have a healthy skepticism for those who say they do. It reminds me of a childhood experience that I would […]

Text: John 17:20-26 On the first Sunday of every month, we join millions of Christians around the world to reenact the last meal Jesus ate with his disciples. We call this experience communion or the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist, which literally means “thanksgiving.” For some among us, it is a deeply meaningful ritual rooted […]