The church I served in Connecticut had a youth program called Journey to Adulthood. It is a wonderful program that recognizes that young people are on a trip, an adventure, through adolescence that leads toward adulthood. It recognizes that their lives are not static. They are passing through important transitions and facing many changes as […]
Matthew tells us that immediately after Jesus’ baptism, immediately after the heavens open and the voice of God says, “This is my Son, the Beloved”, the Spirit leads him into the wilderness. Not away from God. Not into punishment. Not because he has failed. The Spirit leads him there. And that matters. Every one of […]
“You are the salt of the earth.” “You are the light of the world.” Not you should be. Not someday you will become. Jesus speaks in the indicative, a statement of reality, as plain as winter light off the Damariscotta River: you are. And because you are, because this is already true, Jesus pivots immediately […]
Hear what the Lord says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the Lord has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. Micah 6:1-2 Micah opens not in […]
When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea. . . (Matthew 4:12) In the present moment in which we find ourselves, I think this easily overlooked opening verse of our Gospel reading for this morning is remarkable for what […]
On this Second Sunday after the Epiphany, the lectionary drops us into the Gospel of John with a phrase that is easy to miss: “the next day.” The next day after what? Well, the next day after John has been questioned by the religious authorities, interrogated, really, about who he is and what he’s doing […]
You received yesterday the sermon I had intended to preach but did not. It was already scheduled to go out and did. What follows is what I actually preached with some editions and edits (after all I wrote it 20 minutes before the 8 am service began and have since had time to refine and […]
This morning, we find ourselves standing once again on the banks of the Jordan River, listening to a familiar story from the opening chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus comes from Galilee to John, wades into the water, and asks to be baptized. John hesitates. “I need to be baptized by you,” he says, […]
Two days before the festival of Epiphany and the end of the Christmas Season, the lights are still up, the music still familiar. And yet the Gospel appointed for today refuses to let us stay in that safe, sentimental place. Matthew gives us a Christmas story that is not cozy. It is dangerous. It is […]
On this first Sunday after Christmas, the church gives us a story that feels a little strange. There are no angels here. No shepherds. No manger. No one is kneeling beside a crib. No one is hurrying through the night with good news. There is no stable, no star, no newborn wrapped in cloth. Instead, […]