I missed writing last night because we were traveling back from Richmond. I am still figuring out what to say about what I saw in heard in our days there. I keep coming back to the image of layers that I used in a different context a week ago as I began this year’s...
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Our trip to Richmond has given me more than I can begin to unpack right now. Those stories will come in the days ahead. Tonight, I offer another poem. no joke I once heard a comedian say the only way to get to the good jokes was to push past the easy ones: say...
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Before I stared to write tonight, I scrolled through Facebook to see what folks had been up to today and found this video on a friend’s page. The poet in the video is responding to the shootings in Florida and asks, more than once, “When is it time to talk about it?” His question...
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I preached at my church today. The person who was supposed to be our speaker for MLK Sunday was ill and Ginger and Sarah asked me to fill in. I am sorry she got sick and I am grateful for and humbled by the opportunity to preach today. Here is the manuscript of the...
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food for thought the bible says we are made of dust . . . our bones, perhaps, but our spirits are made of the savor of sautéed garlic, the hope of rising dough, the laughter of bacon frying,the simmer of friendship— every morsel of our mortality a reminder to remember that we came from...
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“From This Window . . .” A Sermon for Westbrook Congregational Church UCC Genesis 22:1-14 September 17, 2017 I was a high school English teacher for a number of years. When I had to be out of the classroom, I tried to leave lesson plans for the substitute that were easy to implement. I...
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Though I preached this sermon only a couple of days ago, the events of the week have continued to unfold. Rather than try to update it, I will let it stand as its own little time capsule, even as I continue to figure out how to respond to what is happening around us. “Two...
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“You’ve Got to Carry That Weight” Matthew 10:37-42 A Sermon for First Church or Christ, Congregational East Haddam, Connecticut July 2, 2017 When it comes to the stories of our faith, there’s not a Sunday that goes by that we don’t start in the middle of something. Our passage for this morning is a...
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I’m taking a break from miracles this week and posting, instead, the manuscript of the sermon I preached Sunday at North Haven Congregational Church in North Haven Connecticut. I hope you find something here that speaks to you. “No Easy Way Out” Genesis 21:8-21, Matthew 10:24-39 We have sparrows in our barn. Behind our...
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I didn’t write last week because I was listening. Ginger and I spent the week in San Antonio at the Festival of Homiletics, or Preacher Geek Camp, as Ginger likes to call it. The week was inspiring, challenging, and invigorating. I came back with both my mind and my heart feeling stretched. Before I...
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