A Piece of the "Advent Conspiracy"

December 1, 2009.Reading time 3 minutes.

I’ve been fans of the folks at “The Advent Conspiracy” for a couple of years now. Every December, I like to see the kinds of things they’re putting out, to encourage folks to buy less and yet give more at Christmas. If you are confused by how one might buy less yet give more, check […]

The Light Dawns Slowly

October 30, 2009.Reading time 18 minutes.

Important relearned life lesson during the past few weeks: I am not in control.I know this. I really do. I teach/preach/sing it all the time. I celebrate with others when they re-discover it too. But it seems to me that the most important life lessons get learned and relearned. We have short memories. The light […]

All the Good We Can: A Sermon on Healthcare

September 7, 2009.Reading time 3 minutes.

Sunday’s sermon seems to be getting a lot of positive comment from folks in various quarters. When that happens, I tend to post it to my personal blog, in the hopes that anybody else who might find it helpful can easily find it. It’s a sermon about healthcare. As you can’t help but know, this […]

Senator Kennedy’s Letter to Pope Benedict

August 30, 2009.Reading time 5 minutes.

I haven’t written much about the death of Senator Ted Kennedy. Today was his funeral in Boston and graveside service at Arlington Cemetery. We had a busy personal day with a whole series of activities that kept us away from the television for most of it. But one moment we happened to see really captured […]

Health Care Blog

August 19, 2009.Reading time 2 minutes.

Since Health Care is in the news, and since some folks who commented on my blog yesterday seem hungry for a serious discussion of the issues, I remembered a blog I wrote last year on Health Care and the Federal Government. You can find it here. Why it took me two months of current national […]

It Wasn’t That Long Ago

August 18, 2009.Reading time 10 minutes.

Set aside your beliefs about health care for a moment. Friends, things are getting out of hand with respect to respect for the President. Things are getting out of hand with respect to the things people are saying about Barack Obama. Things are getting out of hand with respect to their actions. I have written […]

Does Your Worship Have This Kind of Joy?

July 23, 2009.Reading time 1 minute.

This got posted to the web about three days ago. It’s gone from about a thousand hits last night to 30,000 this morning. My strong hunch is that, by the end of the week, it’ll be in the millions. Apparently posted by Jill Peterson and Kevin Kheinz, and apparently from their actual wedding processional. Check […]

Our Faith Too: Being a Progressive Christian

July 13, 2009.Reading time less than 1 minute.

This summer at Northaven we’ll be doing a series on the values of a Progressive Christian, at least as we understand them to be. Below is the link to the first sermon in this series, delivered this morning at church. It got a lot of nice comments today, and a couple of very emotional reactions […]

Clergy Cowardice?

July 1, 2009.Reading time 4 minutes.

Dear Clergy Colleagues: I am looking for your feedback and comments. I hope you will all take the time to read this great blog entry. The blog sites the results of several new surveys on the attitudes of both clergy and layfolks in various mainline denominations. It was written by Candace Chellew-Hodge and is entitled […]

Confronting Atonement Theology

April 9, 2009.Reading time 21 minutes.

What Is Atonement Theology Anyway? The basic idea of Atonement Theology posits that Jesus’ death was necessary in some tangible, cosmic way, as a “sacrifice” for the sins of humanity. Further, it suggests that this sacrifice, and this sacrifice alone, is the “salvific” work of Jesus; the moment that Jesus’ earthly ministry is complete. (The […]