You will not be left orphaned
The self-giving, self-emptying love that we celebrate this weekend of Mother's Day changes everything. And if we have eyes to see it, it is still all around us.
All posts filed under: Sermons and audio
A Meditation for the Earth in observance of Earth Day
Entry 2: A Meditation for the Earth Today is Earth Day. Exactly two weeks ago, in the middle of Holy Week, Holy Trinity Church in Tiverton hosted an Earth Tenebrae for the Endangered & Extinct. (This is the second installment of our Dear Rhode Island Church series.) There’s more info about the service and its meaning at the link above.
Looking sideways at God
Twenty years ago I was on a late-night radio program in Phoenix with a rabbi and a Christian host who insisted the Bible was simple — just open it and read. The rabbi stiffened. So did I. What followed was one of the most clarifying conversations I’ve had about faith and reason. This Sunday I’m preaching on the Road to Emmaus at St. Martin’s in Providence — a story about two people who walk beside […]
Easter: A New Way of Being in Relationship with Others
Peace that is imposed by force is not the true peace that begins with Easter.
Easter 2026
God will not abandon us to the darkness and to despair. Easter is our destiny.
Palm Sunday 2026
The Passion describes something commonplace and unique in history. It’s something that has changed the course of history. It’s still changing us. It exposes a truth we would kill rather than recognize. And that truth saved us from ourselves and still does.
Learning to see the world with eyes of mud
Preconceived notions and rigid interpretations can blind people to God’s work. Be open to seeing God in unexpected forms, such as mud and mess, and be surprised by God’s creative action
Sermon posting forecast: erratic
Over the next few weeks, including this weekend, my calendar is such that, between travel and other commitments, I’m not going to be able to keep my weekly sermon posting schedule. I’m sorry about that. And extra sorry that this weekend I don’t have a sermon from three years ago to share instead. But I see that one of my favorite preachers, Andrew Gerns, has already posted his sermon for this weekend. Here’s a taste: […]
Seeking in the Shadows
Nicodemus came with genuine questions about what God was doing, even when the answers were confusing and incomplete. That orientation — toward discernment rather than recruitment — is what distinguishes faith from politics, even when they are standing in the same room.
The Assayer in the Wilderness
The wounds from trauma, from broken institutions, from years wandering in cultural and spiritual wilderness - those are brought to the refiner’s fire not to be forgotten but to be transformed.