June 16, 2019 Trinity Sunday
Twenty-five years or so ago, I was living in Topsham and working in Westbrook. My daily commute took me past the paper mill with its tall chimneys. During that same time I needed to replace my glasses, and because my prescription was woefully out-of-date, I needed a new one. I had the exam and bought…
June 2, 2019
“As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us…I in them and you in me” and “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together”…Sorry, I lapsed in The Beatles I am the Walrus there at the end. Kookooachoo. I’m…
May 26, 2019
Last month, when we were gathered together for Breakfast Church, I left my table during the period of reflection on the readings, and went out to where the kids were gathered. We ended up talking about our favorite Bible stories, and I realized that in my 18 years of preaching, I have never once had…
May 19, 2019
Every now and then one or another of my more conservative colleagues will listen to us celebrating the ways in which the church has become more inclusive and welcoming to all kinds of different people, and he or she will throw out some Bible verse that is supposed to make us all feel ashamed for…
May 12, 2019
As some of you know, I spent part of Easter Week in Vermont. I posted some pictures of my trip on Facebook and said that I had decided that the easiest way to answer the question, “What are you doing while you’re there?” was to answer, “I am Vermonting.” One of my friends tried to…
April 7, 2019
Have you ever had a moment when a smell elicits a really strong memory for you? I had that happen a few years ago, when I walked into that Hungry Hollow store out on Route 26. I stepped in and a wave of nostalgia washed over me. It took me a minute to figure it…
March 31, 2019
So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. We hear the second half of that statement, the call to be reconciled to God, every Ash Wednesday. It is the heart of the message of Lent: we have a…
March 24, 2019
He was a liar, a deceiver, a coward, and a murderer. No, I’m not referring to anyone whose name might have appeared in the paper this week. I’m talking about Moses, the one who was called by God to lead his people out of oppression and slavery in Egypt, into the Promised Land where they…
March 17, 2019 Lent 2
What does the word sacrifice mean to you? Does your mind go to the troubling image from this morning’s first reading: bloody, dead animals set out for the Lord God? Or is it something a little tamer—a parent giving something to their kids instead of keeping it for herself? A baseball player making a sacrifice…
March 3, 2019 TRANSFIGURATION
Every year, the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday is Transfiguration Sunday. We hear one of the Gospel’s stories of Jesus going up on a mountain to pray and suddenly being transfigured into something dazzling, blindingly bright, standing with Moses and Elijah. We read how the disciples respond—usually badly—and occasionally we hear the story of what…
