This morning I decided not to write and preach my own sermon, but instead to share with you the words of Nathanael, a Jewish man who lived about 2000 years ago and knew Jesus face-to-face. He asked me to read his words, because he hopes that his story will strengthen and inspire you in your […]

The new church year began with Advent at the beginning of December. With the first Sunday of the season of Epiphany (today), we are entering the year of Gospel readings that come from the Gospel of Mark. There will be some Sundays when we don’t hear from Mark, but by and large this will be […]

You have heard me say before that when I find a passage from Scripture that I want to avoid I find that it is better for my spiritual health to throw myself into it than to avoid it. I realized recently that I am not applying this discipline in all circumstances—I avoid Paul’s letters like […]

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.” (John 1:1-2) And this Divine Multiplicity of Being that was relationship within the Divine self […]

Do you remember the song “From a Distance” sung by Bette Midler in the early 1990’s? “From a distance, the world looks blue and green And the snow-capped mountains white From a distance, the ocean meets the stream And the eagle takes to flight From a distance, there is harmony And it echoes through the […]

Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. I could repeat this verse from Psalm 85 all day long, the words are that beautiful to me. Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed […]

s with all parables, the parable of the sheep and the goats offers many different interpretations depending on your perspective. Some argue that this parable is about the nations, or the gentiles, and Jesus is saying that those Gentiles who care for the followers of Christ will find salvation and those who don’t will be […]

As I read our readings from Isaiah and Mark for today, I was struck by the fact that the authors of both were addressing grieving communities. Both passages of Scripture were written to people who were living through a time of great chaos, social upheaval, and pain. Both were written to communities who were experiencing […]

he idea of eternal punishment or “hell” is a difficult concept for modern progressive Christians. Because we understand that God is love itself, we cannot imagine that God would ever condemn any human being, no matter what they did during their lifetimes, to eternal pain and suffering. I think this evolution in our thinking is […]

I think it is important to read Scripture in light of Scripture. Too often we Christians, even progressive ones, read passages of Scripture in isolation from other Scripture and come up with very mistaken interpretations as a result. I believe it is much more helpful to follow the lead of our Jewish forebears, including Jesus, […]