My congregation got to meet in person for the first time in three weeks and we were glad to see each other. That is was also a Communion Sunday made it even more meaningful. My sermon was in conversation with Matthew’s account of the first section of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which is more…

Thanks to the winter storm that affected almost half the country, we had a virtual worship service once again this week. The verses from Matthew tell the story of Jesus calling some of his first followers, asking them to literally drop what they are doing and go catch people. Here is what I said. _______________________…

Church got snowed out in Connecticut last Sunday—or at least our in-person worship did. I ended up recording my sermon from home and sharing it on YouTube, as many congregations learned how to do during the pandemic. Rather than following the lectionary, I am working my way through Matthew’s gospel, so this week’s sermon looks…

Jesus’ baptism is one of the most intriguing stories in the Gospels, not because it underlines the institutional rite but because of the way it validates our humanity. Here’s my sermon from last Sunday. ___________________________ A little over three hundred years after Jesus walked the earth (and Matthew and the others wrote down the gospel…

I spent the week wondering if the magi ever knew what their visit had helped to set in motion on a couple of fronts, which led me to this sermon. ______________________________ When I was in high school I had an after school job working as a gofer—all errands all the time—in a doctor’s office. It…

The magi came a week early at our church so we could look at the second half of the story (what happened after they left) sequentially, which means we get a clear look at the way Matthew framed the birth of Jesus–and it’s a tough picture. On our calendar, the travelers always arrive at the…

Though the history of our Thanksgiving holiday is complicated and layered, observing a Sunday of Thanks feels worthy in any season. Here is my sermon this week. May we all find reasons for gratitude in the midst of everything. ___________________________ I ran into my friends Becky and Dave while I was grocery shopping yesterday. Becky…

This week I preached on a passage that never shows up in the lectionary cycle: the parable Jesus told right after his encounter with Zacchaeus. It is not an easy story to digest, but it felt worth talking about. _______________________ If you were to pick up a poetry anthology for a high school or college…

This week’s sermon continues working through the end of Luke’s gospel, as the lectionary year draws to a close, finding Zacchaeus by the shore of the Great Salt Lake. ______________________ On our recent whirlwind trip to Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho, Ginger and I were reading about the Great Salt Lake and I learned a term…

Here is my sermon for All Saints Sunday, based on Luke’s version of Jesus’ beatitudes and woes. ______________________________ Years ago, I was a member of a wonderful church in Dallas called Royal Lane Baptist Church. They, like many Baptist churches, had a tradition of a Wednesday night meal and prayer service. On most Wednesdays, we…