Sermons

Years ago, I worked as a hostess in a family restaurant.  One day, the owner of that restaurant asked me if I would be willing to assist her in the office with a little book-keeping.  Given that I was relatively reliable, trustworthy and somewhat detail-oriented, she probably figured that she had the right helper for… [Read More]

Sisters and brothers, this is a sermon that really isn’t a sermon.  It’s more of a love letter, more of a virtual hug.  It occurred to me that we’ve been in this pandemic now for 6 months—6 months of uncertainty, 6 months of monumental changes to which we are all still adjusting, and 6 months… [Read More]

What is worship?  Most of us, when we think of worship, we consider what we do on a particular day of the week.  If Christian, we might first consider what we do on the Sabbath: the act of saying prayers, or listening to a sermon, singing hymns, or participating in some kind of gathering.  Part… [Read More]

The first thing that you might notice about today’s scripture passage is that there are a whole lot of women involved.  The story is about the birth of Moses, the rescue of Moses from a tyrant who did not know or remember the Hebrew hero, Joseph, and right away, we know that something is amiss. … [Read More]

A few weeks ago, my kids and I planted a bunch of seeds: squash, pumpkin, peas, carrots, some flowers, and a couple of things that I don’t even remember.  We also, in a fit of over-zealous gardening, bought a tomato plant at Home Depot, some pepper plants, and buried a couple of wrinkled, growing potatoes… [Read More]

When a person chooses to make oneself the main character of his or her story, we call that story an “autobiography.”  Autobiographies are distinguished from their counterparts, biographies, by the simple fact that an author is relating his side of things, her perspective.  See if you can recognize the author of this short autobiography: In… [Read More]

  Have you ever considered the weight of silence?  Put another way, have you ever suffered for the secrets that you have kept?  Recently, I finished a book by Philip Roth entitled, The Human Stain (2000).  An award-winning book at the time of its creation, it is a disturbing book: disturbing because of the complexity… [Read More]

Have you ever feared being replaced?  It’s a common fear.  Perhaps you work in a department that is considering downsizing in the pandemic.  Perhaps you are anticipating saying goodbye to an adult child who is getting married or forming a new relationship or moving out and who is currently making space for a new nuclear… [Read More]

Perhaps to some, it may seem unusual for this particular congregation to have a Juneteenth service, though we have held a Juneteenth service before.  In some parts of this country and in some congregations, Sunday Juneteenth services coincide with Juneteenth celebrations in various towns and states.  For those who may not be familiar with Juneteenth,… [Read More]

The English crime-writer, Dorothy Sayers, was once quoted as saying, “The whole [Trinity] thing is incomprehensible… If it were comprehensible, nobody would have struggled to make it comprehensible in the various creeds of the church(es). Nobody has yet succeeded, and perhaps the very incomprehensibility is why we no longer pay more than lip service to… [Read More]