Last week in what turns out to have been our last time to physically worship together for who knows how long, I talked about how often the scripture readings for a particular Sunday, in a schedule set decades ago, seem to talk to our current...
First this morning, I have to recognize the irony that two out of three of our scripture readings are about living water in the same week that we emptied the baptismal font as a precaution against the coronavirus. Perhaps that...
Years ago I was interviewing people for a position at the church where I worked. One woman seemed very qualified for the job, and came across as competent, capable, and personable. The interview took an unexpected turn when she asked me a question: “What is your...
Baptisms are cause for celebration. After almost every baptism there is a special reception at church, often followed by another party at home for family and friends. That was not the case for Jesus. He was baptized by his cousin John at age 30 in...
Today we come to the end of the season of Epiphany, what is known as the season of light. Epiphany always begins and ends the same way. The first Sunday of the season is always the time we celebrate Jesus’ baptism. And the last Sunday of the season is always the...
“With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and orphan,...
A number of events collide on the calendar today. My guess is that to most of the country today is first and foremost Super Bowl Sunday, a day when even people who are not football fans find themselves in front of a television,...
It was on a hot, humid, sultry August day that I left Nashville to move to Sewanee to begin seminary. Loyal friends had come over early that morning to help me load all of my worldly possessions into a rented truck. Now the...
