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I have a colleague, an Episcopalian minister, who had a chaplain internship at a Connecticut mental health institution when he was in seminary at Yale Divinity School. Part of Campbell’s responsibilities included leading a Sunday chapel service each week along with a volunteer who played the piano for hymns. The small group of residents who […]
Today, we are hearing the story of Jonah in two parts, the first two chapters that Taylor just shared with the children – I hope you were listening closely. And in a moment, I will read what comes next. But before I do that, I want to say a word about the book of Jonah […]
A new student looks out on a sea of strange faces in the high school cafeteria, wondering where she should sit, which group she should join, how she will be accepted. An older man groans in his sick bed. Retirement from his successful law practice had been difficult enough. But now, he is felled by […]
Someone passed on a quote to me this week about being an adult: “Being an adult is pretty easy. You just feel tired all the time, and tell people about how tired you are, and they tell you how tired they are.” Do you ever feel that way? The poet William Wordsworth once wrote, “the […]
When you read Paul’s letter to the Philippians it feels like he is writing to “his pride and joy, his favorite child.” There are none of the angry or cautionary admonitions that you find in Galatians or the l and 2 Corinthians. Instead, he writes with great affection for the Philippians and expresses gratitude for […]
I have a confession to make. I have been preaching now for 34 years. And, in all that time, I have never preached on this parable in Matthew. Not because it doesn’t come up in the lectionary that I have often followed – because it does. No, I haven’t preached on it because this parable […]
There is a question in the PCUSA study catechism which Kerry and I often used with our Confirmation classes. It was a question that often made those confirmands chuckle. I confess it has made me chuckle, too, to think that those writing the questions thought to include it. “Won’t heaven be a boring place?” Maybe […]
There are a lot of people in recent years who say they don’t need the church – or any religious community. The number of people who check the box for “none” to the question of their religion is growing on various national surveys. Then there are a lot of people who claim to be “spiritual […]
Writing not long after Hurricane Katrina in his book, Letter to a Christian Nation, Sam Harris explains why he cannot believe in God with these words: “An atheist is a person who believes that the murder of a single little girl – even once in a million years – casts doubt upon the idea of […]
Last week, I began a 4-week preaching series on “Conversations with a Skeptic.” Each week, we will look at a question posed by skeptics. The purpose is not to score points in a sharply-pointed counterattack. The point is to face the questions, and not dismiss them, because they are valid questions. And if we are […]
Edward O. Wilson was one of the most outstanding scientists in the United States until he died in 2021. In his book, On Human Nature, he confidently claimed that science can explain all that needs to be explained, including religion as a human created phenomenon. Theology’s days are numbered, he contended. Richard Dawkins has written […]
He is a college freshman far from home. In high school, he was President of his class with a great group of friends. Now he is at a big school and doesn’t know anyone. It is a Southern school, so fraternity rush has already begun. He is a sociable guy, so he goes to the […]
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