I am drawn to suffering. It is surely the universal experience of being alive. Hope is universal, too, but less quickly recognized, less likely to offer the ready recognition of …
Pentecostal Groaning
Homily Day of Pentecost May 20, 2018 (Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:22-27) Let’s be frank, the early church was a hot mess. Sure, there were unbelievably miraculous things happening. Aliens and …
Fully Entrusting and Fully Embraced: The Seventh Word
Of the Seven Last Words of Christ, the seventh and final word comes from the Gospel According to Luke, the 23rd chapter and the 46th verse and it reads “Father, …
A Non-Anxious Church
I want to invite you to stand at the intersection of three related items. First, a New York Times editorial by David Leonhardt about an event at the Newark Airport …
Particular Beauty
Yesterday I was reading an interview with philosopher Martha Nussbaum and came across this quote: “To be a good human being is to have a kind of openness to the …
Who Cares?
I was taken this morning with a quote from Mary Oliver: “This is the first, wildest, and wisest thing I know, that the soul exists and that it is built …
The Beloved Community
I hope that each of you dedicated some time this past weekend to reflect upon the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. James Lawson, the apostle of nonviolence …
Making the Connection
This week I want to follow-up on last week’s word about the difference between outreach and connection – and the difference that difference makes. I don’t want my scruples about …
A New Year Begins
A few of us had a delightful time gathering for brunch on New Year’s Eve. The conversation turned towards “outreach” and the various ways congregations go about increasing their numerical …
Long Day’s Journey for a Map (Orlando on Friday)
#MennoCon17 has concluded and it was perhaps both a success and something less than a success. There was to my eyes and ears a degree of anxiety at the beginning …