I spent two hours this afternoon offering “ashes to go” on the campus of Quinnipiac University, which sits about a mile from my church. The school enlisted several clergy to take shifts today. They placed me on the first floor of the Student Center, across the atrium the Starbucks. This was the inaugural year of…
I was traveling on the day I usually post my sermon. When I went to look for it to link to the newsletter, I realized it was left unsent, which means your inbox will get a little crowded today. _________________________________ Singer Amy Grant has been making the interview rounds lately because she released a new…
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. _______________________…
I know the saying is that necessity is the mother of invention, but I find, when it comes to cooking, that the pantry plays a pretty big role. From time to time, I take inventory just to see what I have and what needs to be used up. What gave birth to this recipe is…
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…
This last Sunday of Advent leans into Christmas at our church since many folks will not be around Christmas Eve. This morning we looked at Matthew’s telling of Joseph’s side of the experience, brief as it is. I closed our service with my last Advent carol, “Knock Again.” ________________________ When I read the brevity of…