Texts: John 14: 1-3, 18-19, 25-27; Acts 4: 23-31; Galatians 2: 20a The Elements of Worship: Invoking the Spirit Click the arrow below to listen. Could take a few seconds to download. Here’s a scene that takes place in a film released last year, though it actually occurred back in 1971. It’s called Amazing […]
Texts: Amos 5: 21-24; Luke 19: 1-10 Interrupting the Elements of Worship I’d like to begin this morning by repeating words from the book of Amos. They’re some of the most famous, if also some of the most difficult words in all of the Bible. “I can’t stand your religious meetings,” the writer has […]
Texts: John 4: 1-15, 21-26 The Elements of Worship: What’s Worthy of Our Deepest Attention? Click the arrow below to listen. May take a few seconds to download. “You might be an ambassador to England or France. You might like to gamble, you might like to dance. You might be the heavyweight champion of […]
Luke 18:35-43 On a Theology of Presence: A Sight for Sore Eyes Click the arrow below to listen. May take a few seconds to download. It was a chilly and cloudy Friday, and I had a few more stops to make. My list of other people to see and places to be, felt too ambitious. […]
Click the arrows below to listen – could take a few seconds to download. PRIOR TO THE SERMON, THE SENIOR CHOIR DELIVERED A STIRRING RENDITION OF SANCTUS, By Charles Gounod The Elements of Worship: When In Our Music… Texts: Matthew 26: 26-30; Colossians 3: 16-17 I’d like to set the stage for what will […]
Texts: Psalm 16: 5-11; Psalm 46: 1-3, 10-11 The Elements of Worship: Entering the Stillness Press the arrow below to listen. It may take a few seconds to download. Over the past several weeks, I’ve been circling around the Afro-Cuban ceremonies that I witnessed in early January when I traveled to Havana and Matanzas, […]
Texts: Exodus 3: 1-6; Psalm 100 The Elements of Worship Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. -Psalm 100 Most of you know that I’ve recently returned from Cuba as a part of my sabbatical leave, where I had the opportunity to witness some of the rituals and ceremonies practiced […]
Texts: Isaiah 51: 1-3; Acts 17: 22-28 The Deeper the Wound, the Sweeter My Song[1] The place to start is in a grove of trees, deep in the Cuban countryside. We walked across a rutted track in a field, and as we walked, the sounds of drumming and singing could be heard drifting from […]
This morning we welcomed The Rev. Paul Verryn, who has been our theologian-in-residence for the past two weeks. Our church has been in partnership with Paul and the Methodist churches he serves in South Africa for nearly thirty years. As always, it is wonderful to have Paul visiting with us. ********************************** Paul preached two different […]
This morning we welcomed The Rev. Paul Verryn, who will be our theologian-in-residence for the next two weeks. Our church has been in partnership with Paul and the Methodist churches he serves in South Africa for nearly thirty years. As always, it is wonderful to have Paul visiting with us. Paul did not have a […]
This morning we welcomed The Rev. Paul Verryn, who will be our theologian-in-residence for the next two weeks. Our church has been in partnership with Paul and the Methodist churches he serves in South Africa for nearly thirty years. As always, it is wonderful to have Paul visiting with us. Paul did not have a […]
Text: Luke 2: 1-20 The Exuberant Pluralism of Christmas[1] After returning from Mexico last month, I shared with you that rituals have come to play an important role in my understanding of the world. I told you about the Day of the Dead ceremony that several of us witnessed in early November, and I […]
Texts: Isaiah 60: 1-5a; Matthew 2: 1-10 Can You Still See the Star? Here are a few lines from “The Journey of the Magi,” T. S. Eliot’s poem about the night passage of the wise men, as they follow an elusive star toward the manger in Bethlehem: A cold coming we had of it, Just […]
Texts: Isaiah 40: 1-5; Luke 1: 26-37 Mary, Gabriel, and the Blessings of Confusion[1] Most every morning, I get up early, and when it’s still dark, I leave the parsonage and begin running. As soon as it’s light enough to see, I step onto the forest trail at the end of Library Lane, and […]
Matthew 1:18-25 You May Say I’m a Dreamer: Learning to Walk in the Dark Followed by Simon Holt playing John Lennon’s IMAGINE on the organ “Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way…” (Matthew 1:18-) Who doesn’t love a good birth story? My seven-year-old nephew, Fitz, waits all year for his […]
Texts: I Peter 3: 8-16a Accounting for the Hope that I Feel (Even in Foreboding Times) “Always be ready to give an account for the hope that lives inside of you…” -I Peter 3 I had intended to offer something upon the theme of Thanksgiving this morning. I recently finished Nathaniel […]
Texts: Luke 6: 20-26; Hebrews 12: 1 Fortunate Are You, When Your Heart Becomes Porous Click the arrow below to listen. Might take a few seconds to download. “Fortunate are you who are poor; the kingdom of God is yours. Fortunate are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Fortunate are you […]
Texts: Exodus 1: 12-14, 22 – 2-10 A River of Humanity, and a Basket of Pitch [Following Steve’s sermon is a beautiful rendition of the hymn “Shall We Gather at the River” Sung by Brian Cheney] Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the […]
Psalm 85:10-13, Luke 15: 11-32 Unfinished Stories: Open Doors and the Ways of Homecoming Click the arrow below to listen. Might take a few seconds to download… Last Sunday afternoon, I walked through the galleries of The Florence Griswold […]
Texts: Isaiah 53: 1-4a; I Corinthians 1: 28 On Marigolds, Blue Eyes, and Beauty Unheeded A book is a pathway of marigold petals. In Mexico, on the Day of the Dead, marigold petals are placed on the ground to help the departed to find their way back to the land of the living, where they […]