On April 15, 2018, then Pope Francis was visiting a public housing complex in Rome.  The church of St. Paul of the Cross was a spiritual home for many in those homes and Pope Francis held a meeting with some of the very young people in the church.  The children lined up to ask the Pope a question.  When a 5-year-old boy named Emanuele – a great name for this Advent season and for today’s scripture– was handed the microphone he smiled but could not bring himself to ask the Pope his question.  “I can’t do it,” he repeatedly said to those assisting the Pope.  Pope Francis intervened and asked the boy to come up to him and whisper his question into his ear…

Back at the turn of the century (for some stupid reason I love saying that phrase when I am applying it to myself), I was Director of Education and Outreach at Protestants for the Common Good, in Chicago.  PCG was faith-based political advocacy organization focusing mostly on statewide legislation.  My job included going to as many congregations as I could to discuss not only our legislative issues but also the scriptural and theological foundations for our advocacy.  PCG was what you might call a “mainline” Protestant organization.  The congregations I visited were mostly Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, UCC, and, of course, Disciples…

I have a confession to make.  OK, to be clear, there are a lot of things I could confess to, but even though confession in the early churches was required to be public in character, you all will not get to learn about my numerous transgressions…Alright, fine.  I will give you two confessions, the first that I was already planning to reveal and first one more, just because I like you all.  I confess this with some trepidation, as I know that some of you will consider this a sin at least against nature, if not also against God.  I…like pineapple on pizza…

Although by any straightforward definition of a Christian I am a heretic, I nonetheless believe strongly in the importance of churches, even when I disagree with much of what many of those churches affirm.  The churches provide not only community, ritual, and sacred space, they also educate, challenge, and support individuals in their life of faith.  They are opportunities for regularity in our lives, something we can count on.  One dimension of the Christian churches that I fully support is the lectionary cycle of scripture readings…

A sermon based on Luke 12:32-40

More than 4,000 years ago, a high-ranking bureaucrat in the Sixth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom in Egypt named Nefer-seshem-Ptah, perhaps his friends called him Nef, was dying.  He was worried about what people would think about him after he died, so he had the following inscription written on the wall of his tomb…

A sermon based on Luke 10:25-37 and Psalm 25:1-10

In the beginning…we denied responsibility.  Adam blames Eve.  Eve blames the serpent.  Cain denies that he is his brother’s keeper.  Only God accepts responsibility, and quite an admission of responsibility it is.  God seems to have had second thoughts about the wisdom of killing all flesh on earth except for the inhabitants of the ark.  God declares in Genesis chapter 9, “Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth” (9:11).  Perhaps recognizing a penchant for rash decisions, God creates a reminder to make sure such a harsh action is never chosen again…

Jesus, at about age 14, and his father Joseph are walking in the countryside of Galilee, and a conversation starts up…

Last year, I was asked to contribute to a collection of responses to Thomas J. Oord’s newest book, The Death of Omnipotence and the Birth of Amipotence. Contributors were asked to do one of three things: support the main ideas of the book in new ways, critique the main ideas of the book, or expand on the ideas of the book. The short essay that I wrote for this effort is a strange combination of all three. I think that Tom is correct that…