“He expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!” Have you ever thought about how hearing readings from a lectionary shapes your experience of the Bible? Lection, means “reading,” so the lectionary is the prescribed set of readings that we do each Sunday; Hebrew Bible lesson, Psalm, Epistle (letter), and Gospel readings. Today, we use the Revised Common Lectionary, which came out in 1994, and was part of a process to get all of the mainline denominat

I’d like to begin today by saying something really quite obvious: Life is about making choices. Profound, I know. And yet, how often we have to be reminded how important our choices are for the living of our lives. We are surrounded by systems that have power over so many pieces of our lives, and it can sometimes feel like our choices don’t matter, But the Prophet Ezekiel reminds us today that we have choices, and that we are responsible for making the best choices that we ca

The biblical story of Jonah and the Whale is a Sunday School favorite. It’s one of those stories that lends itself to a simple retelling. It holds a simple and valuable lesson about how running away doesn’t solve our problems or change our responsibilities. It’s also interesting to imagine a creature so big that you could actually live inside of it. Playing with this idea of living inside of a whale was the starting point for one of the most memorable scenes in Disney’s adapt

On this Sunday, just a few days after observing the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, I’m moved to preach to you about forgiveness. How often do you pay attention to the collect for the day? Not the collection, but the collect; That short opening prayer at the beginning of every service that we do every Sunday morning; the one that changes every week depending on the lessons. Today’s collect says: “O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercif

“Let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” This statement is one of the most famous examples of polysyndeton in the Bible, (a word which sounds elegant and high-minded; like your preacher has spent too much time in post-graduate education) It really just means that Jesus said “and” a whole bunch of times in a row. And, and, and… But, that’s not what I came to preach about today. Two significant things happened this week: The first is that Dolly Parton,

Have you ever been back to a place that was once familiar to you (and you to it) only to find that everything had changed? Maybe going back for a school reunion, or a hometown; going back to a place where you had worked; a place where you knew everybody and they knew you? The place was still the same: the buildings, the sidewalks Your memories of the time spent there, fresh as if they happened yesterday. Some small detail that of course you remembered well, but only after see

“Oh how good and pleasant it is, when brethren live together in Unity.” In a provocatively titled editorial for the political newspaper, The Hill, opinion editor John Mac Ghlionn gives an answer to the question, “Why Americans hate each other more than ever.” The premise of the piece is based on a new Marquette Law School Poll, which shows the level of trust that each generation of Americans has in their fellow citizens. Unsurprisingly, those born before 1960 have more basic

There was quite a lot happening at this church yesterday. We had a back to school parking lot carnival, where we hosted more than 100 kids and their families thanks to the amazing work of our ECW led by Vicki Washington. After our Juneteenth Block Party, Vicki worked with Ebony Stone from Voices of Promise and Never the Less to give the neighborhood another fabulous event. Kids were getting their hair cut and braids done, Eating shaved ice and hot dogs, Visiting community org

Sermon 7.26.26 Organized Religion Our gospel says that um the scribes will bring out what is new and what is old. And I take that as a challenge to bring out something new. People often we read this this this passage, there's going to be a separation of the good from the bad. There's going to be a separation of the good from the bad. And I wonder we all do that, right? We all separate good things from bad things in order to live our lives. And uh one of the things I've been

Before there was the Stonewall, Before there was a Pink Pony Club, where boys and girls could both be queens every single day, There was a “disorderly house” at 12th and F streets in Washington DC, a legal euphemism usually associated with brothels, where – according to the Washington Post – a man dressed in “a gorgeous dress of cream-colored satin” yelled at an arresting officer, “you is no gentleman.” According to research by Channing Gerard Joseph, during the massive cultu

May I speak only to the greater glory of God. In the name of the Father, the name of the Son, and the name of the Holy Spirit. Amen. <Please be seated> I’m a bit of a science fiction buff. I love movies like Star Wars and The Matrix. I’ve enjoyed reading books by Asimov, Heinlein, and Herbert. I like the gritty dystopian stories that ask the tough questions or make you question our reality and I like the shiny, hopeful stories that paint a picture of a fantastic new wor

Good Morning St. Andrew’s Happy Trinity Sunday, or as I like to call it, the day where we all try our hardest not to be modalists. May 31st is also the day 45 years ago that I was baptized in the name of the trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and welcomed into the household of God. When I was living in Lincoln Nebraska after college before I really became reintegrated with my faith life, I remember driving on the main street through town, “O” Street. And when you got to

“Believe in God, Believe also in me,” Jesus says, “for I have prepared a place for you.” Today, as we lay Gloria Holmes Riley to rest, confident in the holy habitation that Jesus has prepared for her from the beginning of creation, I’m moved to preach to you: Gloria in excelsis. To strive for excellence, to be excellent in all that you set yourself toward is a truly difficult thing to do. It is difficult, because in order to even set yourself on the path requires attention to

The 20th century monk, Thomas Merton, said, “At the center of our being is a point of nothingness which is untouched by sin and by illusion, a point of pure truth, a point or spark which belongs entirely to God… this little point of nothingness… is the pure Glory of God in us… His Name written in us… It is in everybody, and if we could see it we would see these billions of points of light coming together in the face and blaze of a sun that would make all the darkness and crue

The 1970’s R&B group the Sylvers once sang, “Just when I thought it was over, just one look at you, and here I go again.” I think this is probably true of all weeks, but in a week where so many things seem to be happening on so many fronts, And we can’t even keep track of how many things have been happening in the world around us, From Royal state visits from the sitting British monarch to the aftermath of last weekend’s assassination attempt to new revelations about the way

As we move into the second week of the Empty Tomb, I’m moved to ask the question: How do we deal with the absence of Christ? This Easter, so far, has been a very strange one for me, I wonder if it has been for you. The Joy of Easter, the Joy of having the church more full than it has been in more than half of a decade. The Joy of welcoming more people into the household of God in one day through baptism than we have done collectively in the last 13 years. The Joy of the music

Alleluia, Christ is Risen! Good Morning, Church! On Easter Day of 1742, Handel’s Messiah was played publicly for the first time with its famous Alleluia chorus. Alleluia…. It was played in 1863 after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Alleluia…. On the first day of this millennium, it was played at sunrise on the island of Kiribati, the Polynesian island closes to the international date line, making it the first music, the first sound to usher in the 21 st century

“Since the Law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered?” Pope Leo, this past Palm Sunday, made the bold claim that God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war and pray for things like “overwhelming violence.” Those who play war games with other people’