Holy Spirit Chaos Theory

Acts 15 A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church May 13, 2017 I don’t know if you caught it in last week’s story about Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch he met on the wilderness road. But when the Ethiopian man said, “what is to stop me from being baptized?” the good Presbyterians probably all thought,…

Broken for You

Luke 22:1-27 A Maundy Thursday meditation April 13, 2017 This is the night where all of our theology and traditions and practices as a church come together. Where the rubber meets the road, as they say. Because this is the night we lift up our praise of God as the psalmist tells us in the…

Who Owns Meaning?

I shared an article recently on Facebook about how the artist who made the Wall Street Bull sculpture is upset about the sculpture of the little girl that has been placed in front of the bull. He claims it “fundamentally corrupts the integrity” of his art. “Fearless Girl” was added this year on International Women’s…

The Harmony of Joy and Sorrow

    A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho April 8, 2017 Palm Saturday Luke 19:29-44 You get extra Jesus points for coming to Palm Sunday worship on Saturday night. We joke about traditions and how sacred they can be, but we know there are good reasons for tradition. I’m grateful to…

Women are NOT Children

This is a follow up to a post I made last night about Vice President Pence’s policy to not be alone with any woman who is not his wife. You can read the first post here. In the conversation on Facebook about that post, people brought up sexual misconduct between clergy/priests and parishioners. They brought…

Transfigured for Compassion

Luke 9:21-45 A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church Feb 26, 2017 Today is Transfiguration Sunday. Each year, before we enter the Season of Lent, we spend some time looking at the texts of Jesus’ transfiguration—when he takes a few of his disciples and goes up on the mountainside. Matthew, Mark, and Luke each tell…