Psalm 23 is one of the most prolific poems of the Bible, familiar to many outside the Judeo-Christian tent. It’s a poem of reassurance, inviting us to join David as he rests in the comfort and guidance of God. We are not alone, this Psalm speaks softly to us. And not only will God guide […]
Growing in Faith
Reflections on my faith journey
What do I tell your children?
I have a question for you. You, my friend or colleague or family member who is elated (relieved, maybe) at how things turned out at General Conference last month. (Yep, it’s a #GC2019 post.) We have been over so many angles of what happened there, what may be yet to come, but one thing has […]
#Homiletics2018 Day 3 – Looking Inward
Wednesday was a day of more inward focus for me at Metropolitan AME. The sermons and lectures I heard were no less focused on justice, nor did they neglect the people we serve. But each speaker moved me to consider my own holistic ministry practice in a meaningful way. Sadly, I missed what I heard […]
#Homiletics2018 – Days 1 and 2, a recap
It is already halfway through the week at the 2018 Festival of Homiletics, and I can barely catch my breath! It’s one thing to lay out your color-coded calendar and see ten worship services and nearly as many lectures in five days–and that’s just in one location!–but being in the midst of such fire and […]
Providence
Providence: The Christian understanding of God’s continuing action by which all creation is preserved, supported, and governed according to God’s plans and purposes for human history and human lives. For the past eight months, I have done more thinking about my call to ministry than I did in the two years that led me tof […]
I’m certain of uncertainty
Brian has a drawer in his dresser full of t-shirts that he’s either had since before I met him in 2004, or that I bought for him early in our relationship. Many of the shirts are wearing thin; many have holes forming in the reinforced collars because of age, wear, and that time he lived in a […]
Cleansing the Temple
My goal this Holy Week is to look at my faith and the church’s engagement in the world through the lens of Jesus’ time in Jerusalem. Today, I’m thinking about the typical sermon one hears on Palm Sunday – Jesus enters the gates of Jerusalem on the back of a donkey, with children waving palm […]
Transitus
Palm Sunday is the beginning of the end of Jesus’ active ministry on earth. His arrival in Jerusalem, foretold in the millennia before he took human form, sets into motion all of the events of Holy Week. This post is based on a sermon I delivered at Shoregate UMC this morning as part of the […]
Speaking Compassion
I gave my first sermon this weekend, called “Speaking Compassion”, to the congregation at Shoregate United Methodist Church. Below is the sermon in its entirety.
Learning Obedience
I’ve had an idea for a post on my heart for some time now, but it wasn’t until this week that I knew just how to share it. My original focus was how to handle the good and the bad coming at the same time – it seems, though, that the real issue at hand […]