I preached again today at the First Christian Church, Congregational of East Haddam, Connecticut—a wonderful congregation. My text for today was John 15:9-17. I was a high school English teacher for about ten years. One of the things I was determined to differently than those who had taught me was the way in which I…
I preached this morning at the United Churches of Durham, Connecticut–a lovely congregation. Here is my sermon, “This is What Love Looks Like.” Our choice of scripture today follows the Revised Common Lectionary, which offers a psalm, an Old Testament reading, a reading from one of the gospels, and a New Testament reading. Out call…
I preached at my home church yesterday and afterwards we shared a pot luck meal called “Every Dish Tells a Story . . . .” We asked people to bring food that had a story attached to it, and then we ate together and talked about our lives. We had a great day. Here’s the…
Quinn, the storm, has been making its way across America and gets to the East Coast early tomorrow morning, which set me thinking about storm songs, mostly from a metaphorical sense. I couldn’t help but begin my soundtrack for the storm with Kris Kristofferson’s cover of Bob Dylan’s “Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)” Dougie…
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 gave…
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 sermon….
“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 was…
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 Questions”…
I am a few days late posting my sermon from last Sunday, but here it is. “A Forgiving Air” Genesis 32: 3-12, 22-32 A Sermon for The United Churches of Durham, Connecticut August 6, 2017 To say their relationship was difficult would be an understatement. Jacob, the younger brother, had cheated Esau out of the…
“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 good…