Jesus taught something very challenging about how to respond to violence, and I talk about it in this sermon. This week, I also wrote a letter to the President (and others in Washington) about the current wave of student protests, and about the crisis in Israel and Gaza. I talk about that too.
It’s Earth Day, so we’re celebrating God’s creation. Unfortunately, at the same time, we’re voting to un-create it.
I love my small town: Princeton, Illinois. At least, I love it now. Hated it when I first moved here…
Sometimes, we pay so much attention to our own churchy customs that we neglect the way of Jesus. I used two “texts” for this sermon: Amos 5:21-24, and an episode of the Andy Griffith Show (season 4, episode 4: “The Sermon for Today”). The television clip is omitted here, for reasons of copyright, but it’s worth looking up!
The author of the Gospel of Luke thought it was very important that Jesus appeared after the resurrection, not just as a vision but in the flesh. He also thought that, after the resurrection, Jesus gave the church a mission and the special authority to carry it out. I disagree.
The resurrection is not subject to rational explanation. I can only say: it feels like spring—like spring might feel to a person who thought winter was forever. And, it involves all of us.
Here’s a song I wrote, inspired by a story from the Gospel of Luke. I performed this at the close of our Sunday morning soulcare at the Open Prairie United Church of Christ on Palm Sunday, 2024.
Jesus’ ride into Jerusalem was part of his work of standing against the rule of Rome and Rome’s collaborators—and standing instead for the divine rule of God.
The prophet Jeremiah longed for a day when we all could find God already written on our hearts. Mary Oliver would add this: that we can also find God already written in the natural world—the signature of the Creator in all creation.
If only we could read scripture the way we read poetry!