A sermon preached at Calvary Presbyterian Church in San Francisco, California August 1, 2021 Ephesians 4:1-16 We don’t know much about the origins of this letter. It likely wasn’t written by Paul, even though his name is on it. The vocabulary and understanding of the church is not quite the same as the letters we…
My birth mother died this morning. She had been in failing health for a while. I don’t know what I am feeling. I am sad. And I’m sure I will feel more sad at some point. I’m also grateful, not to replace or ignore the sadness, but as a companion to it. Before Washington State…
I’ve been thinking about my birth mother lately. Maybe because thinking is all I really can do. She doesn’t want to be in a relationship with me, and even if she did, she’s not in very good health. Maybe I’ve been thinking about her because her 91st birthday is around the corner. My birth mother…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian in Boise, Idaho Matthew 1:1-17 Dec 30, 2018 I was always the person in my family who wanted to know the family tree. Even though I was adopted, and none of the blood, genes, or quirks from that tree ran through my veins. While I’ve always been grateful to…
……I got all my sisters with me. That’s about all the lyrics I know from the Sister Sledge song, but they are enough. This weekend I flew to Seattle, stayed with my sister, visited another sister, and met a new sister. I have one more sister yet to meet, and one other sister I have…
We saw the film Three Identical Strangers last night. Here’s the synopsis of the film from its website: Three strangers are reunited by astonishing coincidence after being born identical triplets, separated at birth, and adopted by three different families. Their jaw-dropping, feel-good story instantly becomes a global sensation complete with fame and celebrity, however, the…
I haven’t published much lately about my birth family discoveries, mainly because some of the more recent ones are taking me a while to process. There continues to be much gift for me through all of the experiences I’ve had, whether they’ve been the joyful reunion kind or the painful answers kind. I’m the kind…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho Feb 4, 2018 John 4 Last week, you heard the story of Nicodemus meeting Jesus. While the woman at the well is my favorite story in the bible, I also love the Nicodemus story, and I noticed some contrasts and some similarity between them. Nicodemus…
William Stafford’s poem, “The Way it is”, is my companion on this first day of a new year. The Way It Is There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard…
Last night at our church’s Session meeting (our church board), someone shared this quote from Roger Bannister during her devotion to start the meeting: “Doctors and scientists said breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. Thus, when I got up from the track after collapsing at the finish line,…
