Why church? Love Will Not Stand for the Status-Quo
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...
Grace
When despair for the world grows in me, and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may...
Mandela and the Power of Silence
In my sermon for the First Sunday of Advent at Montclair Presbyterian Church in Oakland, I “outed” myself as a mystic. Clearly not a...
The Art of Being Church
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,...
Jazz, Postmodernism, and BBQ
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...
Why I Love Opera
Singing has always seemed to me the most perfect means of expression. It is so spontaneous. And after singing, I think the violin. ...
Imagine Another World is Possible
Imagination is more important than knowledge. – Albert Einstein I am fascinated by prophets – both ancient and contemporary. The ancient...
Wrapped in Light
Psalm 104 : 1-4 (NRSV) Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty, 2 ...
All You (we) Need is Love
What a crazy political time it is, this summer of 2013! The Supreme Court of the United States has just gutted the voting rights act...
Art and Blasphemy
“You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.” – Anne Lamott I...