“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”
In today’s passage from Amos, the prophet announces to peaceful, comfortable Samaria that he has had another vision from God, and that things will surely not be peaceful and comfortable for much longer. In the vision, Amos saw God holding up a plumb line. I have to tell you that I really enjoyed saying the words “plumb line” all week.
Read MoreSo on this holiday weekend, as we celebrate our secular freedom, let’s also celebrate our spiritual freedom. Each one of us is already graced enough that we can stop showing up here with our resumes in hand and our arguments for why God should or should not accept us. We are free from all that measuring. Each week we come into this space and hear a declaration of our independence from the works righteousness of the secular world. The ministry of Jesus is ready and waiting for us to carry it out.
Read MoreJesus walks, moves, doesn’t stick around. He doesn’t wait until you’ve figured out your plans, vested your 401(k), said your goodbyes. Jesus has a mission and that mission means movement.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus is driven toward Jerusalem, compelled to his final confrontation with the powers of Death—he wins through the cross and resurrection, but his mission doesn’t end there. Jesus is still on the move, going out and sending out, finding those broken places and people who need the healing power of his love.
Read MoreSince travel is about having new experiences, I offered a piece of lobster to my oldest, who had never tried it before. Obviously this was a generous sacrifice on my part. I wanted him to have a true taste of the north east. I wanted his first bite of lobster to be a revelation, a kind of Oprah moment about living his best life and savoring the good stuff. He agreed to try it. I swear that the piece of lobster had only been in contact with his mouth for a fraction of a nanosecond before he grimaced, spit it out, and declared it, “too squishy.”
Read MoreThe forest is not what it seems. Trees, plants, the soil beneath them--they are not simply the inanimate furniture of animal life. Instead they are a living, breathing, speaking reality--a sentient wholeness that can nurture the weak, warn of danger, speak across miles of subterranean networks. We are only beginning to understand this wholeness, it remains mostly a mystery, but it is changing everything we thought about the world around us and the ground beneath our feet.
Read MoreToday is a principal feast day in the church. It’s an occasion for celebration. It’s day when we can be proud of the mission and ministry of the Jesus movement we’re all part of, which began over 2000 years ago, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples during Shavuot, or, the Festival of Weeks, which took place in Jerusalem fifty days after the Resurrection.
Read MoreEvery now and then in life, you need a big dumpster to get rid of things. Sometimes it’s a symbolic dumpster that you need, say when it’s time to toss a lot of emotional baggage or if you need let go of some past chapter in your life and move on. But other sometimes you need a literal dumpster.
Read MoreWhen I was a child, few movies captured my imagination like the Indiana Jones series. Indy was everything I wanted to be--an adventuring scholar, at home equally in a library or a jungle; a good guy with a gruff edge. I saved my money, bought myself a felt fedora and set off into the woods in search of adventure. I didn’t discover the Ark of the Covenant or escape ancient booby traps, but I did find a few old bottles and a cobbled leather shoe-- exciting enough fare for a ten-year-old.
Read MoreIt is possible to use a word so frequently that we forget what it means. I discovered this over the last week as I pondered our scripture passages for today, which all mention doors or gates. This strange repetition nagged at me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on the spiritual significance of a door. I decided to take my query back to basics. I challenged myself to explain the concept of a door to someone unfamiliar with the word - without using a dictionary.
Read MoreThere’s a certain mood that comes over me at times. I can be found staring into space, a grim look in my eyes. When dinner comes, I am quiet at the table, distracted and melancholy. Emily, my wife, usually senses the shift and knows the cause. “Are you reading another book on climate change,” she asks?
Read MoreWe have a couple of things to get settled right up front. First, at one time I took a vow never to preach about Mother’s Day; it is not on the church calendar, and the sermons about the holiday that I heard in the country church of my youth were too saccharine for anyone’s spiritual –and perhaps physical—health. And they did not have too much to do with classical Christianity.
Read MoreThese days, the popularity of good storytelling is on the rise. People are flocking to live story telling events, and podcasts of engaging stories are in demand. Storytelling isn’t new, of course. It probably started as soon as humans sat around a campfire and tried to make some meaning out of life.
Read MoreWhatever perfect days Barret knew in this life, whatever joy he had, whatever giftedness he possessed, he now enjoys fully. We don’t know what heaven looks like, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s rather close to a day of wine tasting on the central coast of California. Whatever heaven looks like, Barret is there, fully in his element, and no longer lost. His perfect day is now eternal, shared with the one who found him and showed him the way home.
Read MoreIt is safe to say that America is obsessed with personality types. This isn’t a new phenomenon but it has changed over time. Thirty years ago, a common pick-up line was “what’s your sign?” referring to zodiac astrology. Today, you’re more likely to hear “what’s your Myers-Briggs type?” Or, if you visit the office at Christ Church, “what’s your Enneagram number?”
Read MoreOur rebuttal game is no match for God’s. God’s game is much stronger. No matter how squawky we get about what’s wrong with the world, or other people, or what’s wrong with ourselves, Easter comes along with a defiant little conjunction. But there is forgiveness. But there is grace. But there is resurrection.
Read MoreIn the fall of 2013, I was midway through my first semester of seminary in Northern Virginia. I hadn’t gotten off campus much, but I was determined to change that. Northern Virginia is known for its stunning vistas and rich history, and I was ready to start soaking them up.
Read MoreMy sophomore year of college, I traveled to London with friends. There were four of us–three with majors in philosophy and one in economics. With that mix, one stop on our trip was clear–University College London.
Read MoreYesterday was a Spirit-filled day for many of us here at Christ Church. In the morning, we celebrated our sister, Elizabeth Henry-McKeever, as she was ordained a deacon. Then a few hours later, we celebrated the life and mourned the loss of our brother Gus Fulk.
Read MoreWe are all very good story tellers. We tend to reserve that praise for professional story tellers or talented grandparents and great actors, but we are all good at telling stories.
Read MoreThere was no cell signal so paper had to do, a Mapquest printout and an old Arkansas atlas stashed behind the driver’s seat. The road was right, we’d double-checked at the last turn, but we’d been going for over an hour and…nothing.
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