It’s been a bad couple of years for musicians dying. Last year we lost George Michael, Leonard Cohen, and Prince, among others. This week, Gregg Allman died. Last week it was Chris Cornell, who hit me the hardest of all. I’m at the tail end of Gen X, a generation who has lost most of…
Month: May 2017
“The Elusive God?” A Sermon on Acts 17:16-34 and John 14:15-21
When I was in 9th grade, the high school band took a tour to Chicago. One of the things we did there was a trip to the Chicago Institute of Art, which was my first ever trip to an art museum. The Renaissance and impressionist art seemed familiar and while I enjoyed seeing it, it…
Easter 7A
This week’s lectionary readings have me thinking about legacy. What have others left in us? What will we leave with those who follow? Sometimes I’m amazed by the brevity of Jesus’ earthly ministry. What can one really accomplish in three years? I was in my first congregation for roughly that amount of time, and it was just…
Easter 6A
It’s that time again, and this week I’m torn between two lectionary paths. The first idea that came to me is to preach intra-biblically using Acts 17:22-31 and John 14:15-21. Both texts seem to me to be about questions of who gets to know God and how one gets to know God. In the gospel passage, the…
“A Bunch of Nobodies” – a sermon on 1 Peter 2:2-10
1 Peter 2:2-10 Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into…
Lectionary Blogging – Easter 5A
On Sunday I began my call as the pastor of the Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. In moving from an associate position to that of a solo pastor, I have shifted the focus of my work pretty significantly; one of the most notable changes is that instead of roughly twelve sermons a year,…
