God turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. The upright see it and are glad; and all wickedness stops its mouth. Let those who are wise give heed to these things, and consider the steadfast love of God. Psalm 107: 35; 42-43 I spend a lot of time with folks who have no interest in the Bible, less interest in Jesus, and zero interest in the church. I’m not surprised. Too many “christians” have done so many hateful, despicable, and disgusting t

I often tell folks that the most important and useful training I received for ministry came from my days as an opera stage manager and production coordinator. Seminary certainly taught me a great deal about theology, exegesis, and history, but doing triple rep in an opera company taught me about the power of patterns. Patterns are everywhere and yet they can often be elusive to discern. On the other hand, it is also pretty easy to establish a new pattern and it can be trans

Anything scares me, anything scares anyone but really after all considering how dangerous everything is nothing is really very frightening. – Gertrude Stein in Everybody’s Autobiography (1932) My first two weeks of commuting to Montclair from our home in San Francisco have been way more interesting than we might have expected! The first week, the Bay Bridge was closed and I left our second car in Sari Kulberg’s driveway and used BART to go back and forth. (thanks Sari!) This

The future of the Church is jazz. I first wrote that sentence in 1996 as I was just starting out in ordained ministry in the United Church of Christ. At the time, I was serving as a community-based chaplain serving women living with HIV/AIDS and out-of- town families coming to San Francisco to care for their loved ones dying from the disease. The calling to serve as a spiritual caregiver in the HIV/AIDS community was not easy. At the time, no one was really tracking the parti

Imagination is more important than knowledge. – Albert Einstein I am fascinated by prophets – both ancient and contemporary. The ancient ones such as Isaiah had the ability to both warn of danger and demise AND to spin beautiful visions of the world the way it “ought” to be. The 11th chapter of Isaiah presents a particularly wondrous description of a world at peace. In this world, equality and safety mark this “peaceable kingdom” that is led by a wise master. Predator lie

An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching. – Mahatma Gandhi Concert pianist Arthur Rubenstein was walking down the street in Manhattan when a tourist stopped him and asked, “do you know the way to Carnegie Hall?” And Rubenstein reportedly replied, “practice, practice, practice!” Do you know the way to develop a deeper relationship with the Divine? Same answer. Now Rubenstein was certainly thinking of the piano (or any other artistic pursuit), but what are t

The miracles of the church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always. – Willa Cather, (1873 -1947) U.S. novelist, poet and journalist. Growing up on the southern plains in the Texas panhandle, I have always appreciated the insights of Willa Cather. What she describes in such

This past Sunday was in the midst of Memorial Day weekend and in between all the grilling, drinking, graduations, and festivities, I spent some time thinking about freedom. It is a regular part of the vocabulary when talking about sacrifices made by members of the American military to speak of the “fight for freedom”. And I am grateful for their service and faithfulness to our nation. Still, there are other ways to “fight” for freedom. In my sermon at Mira Vista United Chu

For the past few days, I have found myself increasingly depressed and angry over the general reaction to the strike by the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony. I have observed via social media and in person a variety of people refer to these top flight musicians as “whiners” because they make @$165,000 per year. Such comments are usually followed by, “I wish I made that much money.” Well, you might if you were at the TOP of your profession, although in virtually every

The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. – John Milton (1608-1674) Want to change your life? Change your practice. Want to be loved? Change your heart. Want the world to be different? Change your mind. But don’t expect anyone else (or your church or your family or your community or your whatever) to fix you or change things to make your life better. Our grasp of heaven is always in our hands and we are in the hands of God whose