On the volatile topic of gun violence, the Sermon on the Mount and the 22nd Psalm offer two places to begin a faithful conversation about guns – “gun violence is sin,” and “fear has its place.”

For our “Fat Tuesday” weekend, we are listening to the story of the Transfiguration through the lens of two great New Orleans traditions. Even the sermon is filled with music!

Guest Preacher Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, Transitional Pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Garden Grove.

On a Sunday when our congregation is reeling from the news of a tragedy within our church family, we turn to a story of “a man with an unclean spirit.” The Gospels are deft in describing the tragic power of “unclean spirits,” which are a part of someone’s story, but not the entirety of that […]

When Jesus calls disciples saying, “Follow Me,” there is a profound immediacy in their response. It is when the call from the outside meets that deep longing for justice, purpose, and meaning on the inside. It is, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, a call to “Come and die” as the daydreams that we build up melt […]

The priest Eli was not a good man, not a good father, and not a good priest. He was corrupt and his sons, born into privilege and power, were even worse. And yet, when God speaks a word condemning Eli’s house to ruin, Eli accepts God’s will as just. It is an astounding form of […]

The Down and Up of Life – The gospels describe Jesus’ baptism in a way that captures the fullness Christians faith and life, particularly in the movement of Jesus “going down” into the water and “coming up” out of the water. For John, the eternal Word becomes flesh and lives among us, even while we […]

Luke’s story of Jesus’ birth does not just include Mary and Joseph, Zechariah and Elizabeth, shepherds and angels. It includes an old man named Simeon and an old woman named Anna. They are the village of faithfulness who hold on in faith, speak words of truth, and tell the story. They show us what it […]

Celtic spirituality has a phrase, “thin place,” which refers to that space where the distance between time and eternity, space and infinity, human and divine, is very thin. When the Gospel of John says, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” it points to the coming of Christ as the “thin place” between the […]