We Fell In Love In A Hopeless Place
This past May I was riding in the passenger seat of a battered old Volkswagon, rumbling through the streets of Bethlehem. My eyes were as wide as saucers. I just couldn’t believe I was in Bethlehem. Perry and I had jumped on an opportunity to travel to Israel with a group from his school, and […]
The Gulf of Privilege
Sometimes I wish Presbyterian theology allowed for purgatory. I say that mainly because I spent a fair amount of time in purgatory in middle school. We called it In School Suspicion – ISS for short. It was the place where the really bad kids were sent to sit and do nothing except write “I will […]
Saints, Maybe
My Grandmother was a great storyteller. Some of her best she told while we rocked together on the screened in porch of her home in SC. She commented on the boyfriend of the neighbor next door who had moved in. “You know, they’re not married,” she said quietly in a voice that could have been […]
The Taming of the Shrewd
When I was learning the craft of preaching in seminary, we talked about the scenario of the Bird in the Sanctuary. As a preacher you spend a lot of time thinking about the text and working on a message and praying that you will have something meaningful to say. And then the moment comes and […]
A Joyful Mess
I was talking with a new-comer to our church this week, someone who grew up in Baltimore, who was telling me how he moved back from a place not too far from here. “It was gorgeous,” he said, describing the clean streets, friendly neighbors, safe, almost idyllic place where he had been living. “Well, why […]
Downward Mobility
In election season, I gotta say, it’s refreshing to know that at least one person doesn’t pander to the crowd. I know it makes it hard on churches trying to recruit – Welcome to Brown Memorial. It’s Hate Your Family Sunday. But in a world where we are constantly be sold something, where we are […]
Standing Tall
It seems strange to preach about a “bent-over woman” from a pulpit that is straight up and down. Take this pulpit, for example. It’s solid wood — beautiful and dark and stately. Likenesses of the gospel writers are carved into its four corners. These men seem thoughtful and scholarly, attuned to the Word of God. […]
Hunger Games
This sermon is for our youth. Our young people. Our 6th-12th graders. To be clear, it’s not a sermon about our youth. It’s written for them. To them. It’s true that many of you are not here right now. That’s alright. We have talked a fair amount in the past year about why you often […]
Hidden with Christ
I don’t remember how old I was when I first saw the movie “Jaws,” but I know was too young. I know because for months after seeing the film I was terrified of going in the water. And not just the ocean, either. I was old enough to know that sharks do not swim in […]
Shadow & Substance
You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. […]