God calls to the seed, and to us: come forth!

Jesus was far more interested in how people behave than in what they believe. We should be too. Live lovingly!

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!