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 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…
A sermon preached at Southminster Presbyterian Church in Boise, Idaho May 22, 2016 2 Corinthians 1:1-11 Last week, on Pentecost, we spoke of how God empowers our gifts; of how our gifts become more than they are when the Holy Spirit moves among us and inspires us. That same “empower” word is in the Greek…
I read an interesting article in the Sunday NY Times. The Busy Person’s Lies. According to a recent Gallup poll, 61 percent of working Americans don’t feel they have enough time to do what they wanted to do. I commend the article. The author logged how she spent her time for a year, which used 18…
Glass Overflowing 