My Good Friday Sermon 2011

Each year, I represent my church as one of the seven or eight preachers in our town’s three hour Ecumenical Good Friday Service. The second to speak today, here is what I said: Today, on Good Friday, we have a picture of a scourged Jesus, beaten, bleeding, and ridiculed with a crown of thorns, dragging … Read more

New Poem by Me: Immaculate One

Immaculate One Self (innocent, perfect, pure) conscious (cognizant, alert, attentive, sentient) communion (trustingly at one) with God (inseparable omniscient ever-presence) contemplating… mediator way of salvation manifested in glory connecting transparent; comprehending conception (origin, existence) of being (life eternal) unconfined, unencumbered… Messiah (promised deliverer) hope, full-orbed complete fulfillment – encompassing perpetual peace – astonishing but true … Read more

Book Review: Beyond Belief

A review of this book in the Christian Science Monitor said, “This remarkable book will stir and provoke thought. It offers rewards to any reader concerned with the promise and power of faith, and the hunger for spiritual discovery.” It lived up to this description and much more. Pagels makes clear how choosing the gospel … Read more

A Disappointing “Jesus”

We went to see Jesus Christ Superstar today. I have loved the soundtrack for decades but never have seen it. I have always wanted to. I have a personal tradition of blaring the song “Hosanna” every Palm Sunday. So when I saw that we could see the actual musical, on Palm Sunday of all things, … Read more

Abandoning Self-Interest

This sounds like heresy and sacrilege in our society. But it is a foundational Christian concept that if correctly adopted would go a long way to solving all the ills that confront us, not only individually, but societally as well. I always thought Jesus sounded harsh asking people to follow him when he wouldn’t let … Read more