I spoke Sunday evening at a peace vigil in response to last week’s shootings of unarmed black men in Baton Rouge and a Minneapolis suburb. You can read my remarks here. As I was preparing my words, and even as I was waiting to speak, I felt like a fraud. I wasn’t sure why I was…
It was a bad week. So it is good for us to gather together. There were two high profile shootings of men of color by police last week–Alton Sterling and Philando Castile–one in Baton Rouge and one in the Minneapolis suburbs. There were two other similar deaths that didn’t get much news at all. They…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian in Boise, Idaho July 9, 2016 Job 3:1-10, Job 4:1-9, Job 7:11-21 Our first reading tonight from chapter 3 is from a horrible and beautiful poem in Job’s own voice, where he curses the day of his own birth. This is not just “woe is me!”. This is deep…
When I was a kid, my favorite book was PD Eastman’s Go Dog, Go! Partly I loved the final image of the dog party in the tree. I still want to go to a party like that. All of the different colored dogs of the world gathering together to eat cake and bounce on a…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church July 3, 2016 Job 1:1-22 Today, the Narrative Lectionary moves from 2nd Corinthians to a 5 week series on the Book of Job. Job is an old, old story. There are versions of Job’s story in other cultures of the ancient world too, although the details vary. Job…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho. June 26, 2016 Exodus 16:11-18 2 Cor 8:1-15 This part of 2nd Corinthians was an important part to Paul. The offering to the church in Jerusalem was a big deal and is referenced throughout his other letters too. One of the reasons, I think, that…
With thanks to Anne Lamott, Broderick Greer, and a few other things I have read and prayers I have heard and spoken, here is the invocation I gave today at the General Assembly luncheon of the Covenant Network. Thank you to Jessica Vasquez Torres, Bruce Reyes-Chow, Jerrod Lowery, and Denise Anderson for the important conversation…
Here’s a longer version of an upcoming newsletter article I’ve written for the congregation I serve. Last week, a gunman opened fire in a nightclub full of members of Orlando’s gay community. As I write this, 49 people are dead, with many more in the hospital. It is the deadliest mass shooting in American…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho June 11, 2016 2 Corinthians 4:16 to 5:10 I love this passage of scripture. There has been more than one time in my life when hearing these words of Paul has given me comfort. I’ve preached before about how they once gave me comfort and…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho May 29, 2016 2 Corinthians 2:1-10 For all the talk about forgiveness in our culture, I don’t think we’re primarily a forgiveness culture. I think we are an “eye for an eye” culture. We may speak superficially of forgiveness. In practice, though, I see more…
