Parting Words June 15, 2014 I always admired my father’s tools as a child. My father was big into tools, because my father was big into fixing just about anything from broken plumbing to broken bikes to broken engines. There was nothing my father could not repair, and there was no tool he did not have to repair it with. The garage was my father’s domain, and he kept it as clean and spotless as a surgical room. Hanging proudly on the walls of the garage were all of his hand tools – an … [Read more...]
Running on Faith – Easter 2014
Matthew 28:1-10 Easter 2014 Over the last couple of weeks Lori and I have been going from room to room in our home, thinning things out, determining what we’ll take with us to Colorado and what we’ll leave behind. We have three kids, and two of the three, I’m happy to say, made the final cut. I found three years of Architectural Digest magazines in a cupboard, and I didn’t even know I had a subscription, so they’re gone. Dozens of Barney and Friends VHS cassettes, a box of Cadbury Eggs from … [Read more...]
In Praise of Folly
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Whether you find yourself jumping at the site of a spider or working up a sweat at the mere thought of boarding an airplane, fears and phobias seem to plague just about every one of us, often in very debilitating ways. If I were to ask you to name some of your personal fears, you might list the fear of death, or the fear of snakes, or the fear of heights, or the fear of clowns, otherwise known as coulrophobia. Perhaps you would list the particular condition called … [Read more...]
In Praise of the Imperfect Life
Jeremiah 1:4-10 Ordained ministry is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling vocations imaginable. As a pastor, I am given to share with others both the ache and the awe of human experience—to sit with others in their darkest hour, to share with them in their greatest joys, and to walk with them through all those seemingly ordinary moments in between. It is a gift. Along that journey, it’s my calling to utter the good news of Jesus Christ—that God is nearer than you may know; that God is … [Read more...]
Without Let or Hindrance — A Sermon on Homosexuality and the Christian Faith
Acts 8:26-40 Later this afternoon, United Methodist clergy and laypersons from our Annual Conference will meet in Pasadena with our Bishop, Minerva Carcano, for what is called a time of “Holy Conferencing on Biblical Obedience.” Both Rev. Martha and I will attend, along with several hundred others, as we seek to respond to the growing conflict between our denomination’s policy on homosexuality and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Book of Discipline, which constitutes the official law and … [Read more...]
