Habakkuk 1, 2 A Prophet, a Rock, and a Car This is the second of my two-part series on the prophet Habakkuk. We learned last time that he lived in a time of grave danger. The Babylonians would soon descend upon Jerusalem and utterly destroy the city. In the face of this threatening violence, Habakkuk… Read more Worship Reflection, Sunday, November 6, 2022
Habakkuk: A Prophet for Our Time Part I The book of Habakkuk is short. Just three little chapters, that’s all. It has no big words. Not hard to read in that sense, but there is so much here that I have to break this sermon into at least two parts. This week and next week… Read more Worship Reflection, Sunday, October 30
Luke 18:9-14 A Revolution of the Heart In Luke’s gospel Jesus and the Pharisees bump heads at every turn. The Pharisees are the foil, the gang that can’t shoot straight. They never seem to be able to do anything right. If there is an opportunity to take the wrong side of the fight, you can… Read more Worship Reflection, Sunday, October 23, 2022
Luke 18:1-8 What is Justice The reading for this morning is usually called “The Parable of the Unjust Judge.” Commonly, it is interpreted as a parable about prayer. The widow is an example of the need for persistent prayer and advocacy. I confess that this title has always seemed to me to border on blaming… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, October 16, 2022
Worldwide Communion Sunday A Meditation on Communion I love Worldwide Communion Sunday. It speaks to me about the unity of the church worldwide, and more inclusively the unity of humanity and of all creation. We share one bread and one planet. Christians like us living throughout the Americas, in all parts of Asia and Europe… Read more Worship Reflection, Sunday, October 2, 2022
Psalm 84 (Leslie Brandt/Corita Kent) Boldness in a Broken World The theme of Psalm 84 is “Boldness in a Broken World.” How do we experience the presence of God, the holy, the mystery, whatever word you want to use, the central question is: How do we experience the presence of God in this fractured, broken,… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, September 25, 2022 
Luke 16: 1-13 Beyond the Status Quo Most commonly this story is called “The Parable of the Dishonest Steward,” or “The Shrewd Steward.” I think this approach to the story, though generally accepted, is misguided for a couple of reasons. If, the story is about the dishonest steward, we think of the steward, the manager… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, September 18, 2022
Exodus 3:1-9 “Meeting God” When I first learned about the story of Moses and the burning bush, I thought of Moses as some kind of superhero alone on the mountain top having this strange encounter with God that was unlike anything I would ever know or ever could know. Then I read Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, August 28, 2022
Psalm 133 “Living in Community” “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when people, women and men and children, live together in unity, in harmony, at peace with each other. Seems like a utopia doesn’t it. We are used to “red” states and “blue” states and never the twain shall meet. We have normalized violence… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, August 28, 2022
Luke 13:10-17 “A Healing Religion” This morning I want to talk about a method for biblical study and interpretation. You can do this yourself, but you can also use this method with a small group. The method is called: see, judge, act. It was used by a Roman Catholic bishop several years ago. See means… Read more Worship Reflection Sunday, August 14, 2022