A New/Old Psalm of Lament

  If you don’t mind, I’m going to take some liberties with Psalm 13. How long Holy One? Will you forget us forever? How long will you let them kill us? How long will you let them deny us justice? How long O Lord? How long will you hide your face from us? From what...... Read More

Exorcising America’s Murderous Demons

[In an earlier version the title was misspelled as “exercising.”] In the Name of the God who loves we who are hated, those who hate, and those whom we hate. Amen. Forty-nine. Forty-nine lives cut short. Forty-nine people murdered. Forty-nine souls martyred. Forty-nine of God’s children executed for living and loving out loud as gay,...... Read More

Ascended to Where?

Open our eyes that we may see. Amen. We are here in no small part because of the power of the story Jesus. That power permeates the words of the story and extends far beyond them. It is a power that defies the rules of logic and science. The touchstone confessions of our faith are...... Read More

She is God

Alleluia! Christ is risen! For fifty days the Jewish and Gentile Christians of the early church told the stories of Jesus, his life, his death and his life-from-death over and over. Jesus was raised from the dead as he said he would be. I imagine everyone knew someone who had seen him, touched him, broken...... Read More

Confessing Christ and Christian Anti-Semitism

What do you believe? What do you believe about Jesus? What do you believe about the scriptures that tell his story? What do you believe about the God he proclaimed with his life and death and what happened after his death? What do you believe happened after his death? What do you believe? We will...... Read More

When the Crucified Rise: A Black Lives Matter Easter Sermon

After the Sabbath… Those three little words can’t possibly convey the emotions of that morning. After the sleepless night that turned into a Sabbath that was anything but a day of rest… After another sleepless night that turned the Sabbath into mundane time on a day that was anything but mundane… After wrestling night and...... Read More

Scripture Begets Scripture

Image: The Samaritan Torah Today’s lessons offer the perfect paradox for interpreters of scripture, Deut 4:2 You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it… The Samaritan Jews take this torah literally—do not add anything to the canon. So their bible, the Samaritan Pentateuch ends with Deuteronomy. There...... Read More

Thirsty

  You know you want it. You’re so thirsty. It’s all you can think about. You’re just thirsty. Some may know that the word thirst denotes much more than longing for water. It speaks of a deep craving, one might even say a carnal craving. Thirst is a primeval biological imperative. Thirst is a reminder...... Read More

Smashing the Biblical Patriarchy

Gen 12:1 Now the Holy One said to Avram, “Get-you-gone from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great. Now, be a blessing! 3 I will bless...... Read More