Dear friends, I have a lot of systematic theology swimming in my head about Christmas. I know, you're surprised, right? I tend to...

Advent is a strange season in the church year. We just celebrated Christ the King Sunday. From the perspective of Christ the King...

I've been thinking about thanksgiving (little-t, being grateful and feeling gratitude) in the face of abundance that makes it easy to...

What does the word "communion" mean? When someone "communes" with nature, they are going outside to be present in the world. This is...

One of the most profound things I learned is one of those things that's easy to get wrong, but if you stopped and thought about it, you'd...

In the 1980s, American Express commercials told us "Membership has its privileges." I never understood that. Other cards like Visa and...

I remember the first time I was ordained as a ruling elder in my 20s. The interim pastor, Harry Beverly, called in the big guns, and we...

"A Scout is loyal: a Scout is true to his family, friends, Scout leaders, school, and country." This is the second point of the Scout...

When I was a consultant, I was trained in project risk management. List things that could go wrong. Assign a best guess of the percent...

I had an email exchange with a friend about forgiveness. My friend vaguely referred to someone with whom he had had conflict. My friend...

"What does it mean," I asked on Easter, "that Christ is risen?" I listed a lot of good things: It means we're free from fear, free to...

In the tenth chapter of John, there are three sheep-farming images in a row. In verses one through six, the shepherd is known to the...

Calvin said, "I interpret repentance as regeneration, whose sole end is to restore in us the image of God that had been disfigured and...

The Book of Common Worship says that this season of Ordinary (it means "ordered," not common) Time after Epiphany "highlights themes of...

There is a significant event on the church calendar that comes up in early January. It's a little confusing, in the church, thinking...

December 25, 2022 Dear friends, I have to admit that I don't really get into the building hustle and bustle before Christmas: decorating,...

Matthew starts with a genealogy. "Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his...

Ok, I know that 2022 is not over, but in a sense, it is. We just finished a liturgical year. This past Sunday was the end of the year...

Josiah Royce, 19th century Harvard philosopher, was investigating loyalty. When you are loyal to a group or community, what is it that...

On the last Sunday in October, many protestant churches celebrate "Reformation Sunday." On Halloween in 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95...