This Sunday, we read a story from the Gospel of Mark about a disagreement Jesus had with some Pharisees concerning proper observance of the Sabbath. Deep inside the story is a beautiful teaching of Jesus—a teaching that’s important, whether you work on the Sabbath or not.

Before John 3:16—the best-known passage in the New Testament—the gospel writer invites us to go deep.

It makes me happy when children come to church. In this Pentecost reflection, I explain why. (The Pentecost story was dramatized by three voices before my reflection; here, I only repeat one verse of it.)

The eleven remaining apostles chose a twelfth to replace Judas. Looking at how they did it can teach us some useful things about our own decision making.

Here’s a prayer for Mothers Day, with some reflections about the 23rd Psalm.

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.

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.