Monthly Archives: December 2014
Just the other day I was remembering 11 years of Christmas Eve services at my former congregation. I recall the first year I was there, trying desperately to come up with a unique idea for a service that had become a bit tired, when one of the older members of the congregation offered to build a stable in his woodshop, bring it down to church, and install it in the sanctuary. With… Read More
I am so happy I got to share this homily with The Riverside Church tonight. This Christmas Eve homily is adapted from a story shared by friend and colleague Jim Somerville. My friend’s grandfather was a strict Calvinist preacher, a Primitive Baptist for those of you familiar with that tradition–stern, severe and, as my friend always described him, joyless. The gospel he preached was also joyless, uncompromising, and he preached it with… Read More
I’m wondering this week if we’re having enough difficult conversations. Horrible images on the news, protests in the streets, a growing awareness — if we didn’t know it before — that all is certainly not right with the world. All of this should be sparking some very difficult conversations. I don’t care who you are or where you fall in the landscape of our society, there are people on your Facebook page… Read More
Illumine Joy Luke 1: 39-56 In and among this reality of human life we come today to the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of joy, when we read the words of Luke’s gospel, a song attributed to Mary, the mother of Jesus. You may know it as The Magnificat, Mary’s treatise about the state of the world and her stubborn insistence that it doesn’t have to stay that way. You’ll recall,… Read More
As the days have passed since the verdicts in the Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases and, as Charles Blow so eloquently describes, “the jagged slope of truth replaces the soft slope of fantasy,” all of us have watched the protests all around the country, wondered about the ways in which our own hearts and minds need to change, and pondered the challenge and opportunity of a thoughtful response. I’m deeply grateful… Read More
Last Sunday we began a three week series of conversations about race and reconciliation called: Advent of Hope. Together we talked about our feelings of lament, learned about the Psalms of lament, and then teamed up to write our own laments. I’ll be sharing them on the blog; here’s the second: Oh God hear us now at this time of unrest People do not understand that we need each other I believe… Read More
Last Sunday we began a three week series of conversations about race and reconciliation called: Advent of Hope. Together we talked about our feelings of lament, learned about the Psalms of lament, and then teamed up to write our own laments. I’ll be sharing them on the blog; here’s the first: Dear God, see us, hear us, feel us, Be amongst us. We are in distress! We are beyond rage, sorrow, and… Read More
Illumine Peace Isaiah 40:1-11 December 7, 2014 Seventy three years ago today, the worst happened. They had gone to mass the evening before. They preferred that to getting up too early on Sunday morning and fighting the traditional church crowd. Anyway, it was always nice to start out on Sunday with the morning free to get some of the housework done at a more leisurely pace. It was almost a social event… Read More
Tonight I had the opportunity to share my experience of traveling to Ferguson, MO yesterday. And as our church community made its way to worship tonight, our city was, and is, erupting in protest over the decision in Staten Island not to indict the officer who killed Eric Garner. The hopelessness we felt hung heavy in the room. And, the tears and stories and music and candles and hands clasped reminded us: we’re… Read More
If your family is anything like mine, you probably recently engaged in the annual Thanksgiving tradition of sharing some things for which we are each thankful. It can be a tradition that lessens in meaning with its repetition every year. Even with the Pinterest flourishes engaged by those in charge of decorating this year at my house, there were some who sighed with resignation: “Here we go again!” It seems silly that… Read More
Talk with the Preacher 