What Is Your Cross? What Are You Afraid Of? Mark 8: 31-38 March 8, 2009
   "Anyone who would follow after me must take up the cross and follow me. Whoever saves their life will lose it; whoever loses their life for my sake will save it."
    Wow! Tough words.

"On Further Thought...Can We Talk Some More About the Dilemma of Christmas and Shopping?", Luke 1: 26-56, December 14, 2008
    My sermon, or reflection as I prefer to cal it, is often an attempt to work out--to clarify and articulate--my thoughts and feelings on a particular issue that is important to me as a Christian, or more fundamentally, as a human being living on this planet in this time and place, with all of the challenges we face as individuals, as communities, and as a planet.

"Christmas With No Anxiety or Crankiness, No Guilt or Resentment,
No Shopping. A Truly Beautiful Christmas", Luke 1:5-24, Dec 7, 2008
    This past Tuesday, the Austin American Statesman published an editorial entitled "Bargains to Die For." The editorial addressed the incident at the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, New York where an unruly crowd of 2,000 people pushed against the doors, banged on them, and pressed in on them until they gave way. ...

"Hope Is a Tricky Thing", Mark 13, November 30, 2008
    Sixty-seven years before Jesus was born, the Roman General, Pompey, invaded Palestine and subjected the Jewish people to Roman rule. For a number of years, Rome ruled the Jewish territory through client kings who collaborated with Rome in order to maintain their own power and privilege. ...

"Is God Judging Us?", Mathew 25: 31-46, November 23, 2008
    When reflecting on today's story from Matthew's Gospel, we typically focus on the part about feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, welcoming the stranger, and visiting the sick. The other part of the story--the judgment part--is the part we like to quickly pass without giving it much thought. Yet, that other part is a big part of what the story is about--judgment. In the end time, Christ will judge humanity. ...

"The Crucifixion of Jesus, A Triumph Renewed", Palm Sunday, 2008
    A New Yorker magazine comic shows people dressed to the hilt in ostentatious luxurious fashion as they pour out of a Christian church after worship one fine Sunday morning. In the background, the smiling pastor shakes hands with his parishioners as they leave the sanctuary. In the foreground, one of the extravagantly dressed people turns to another and says, "it must be awfully difficult for him not to offend us."

"Have an Odd Christmas", Matthew 1: 18-25, December 23, 2007
   Christmas day is just two days away, which probably means you're quite ready for the Christmas shopping advertisements on the television and radio, in your newspaper and mailbox, to finally stop ...

"Baptism:You're Not On Your Own...We're In This Together", December 9, 2007
   Isaiah 11: 1-10 and Matthew 3: 1-12. Last weekend, I traveled to Houston with a bunch of folks from the faith-based community-organizing group, Austin Interfaith, for the southwest regional Industrial Areas Foundation meeting. The Industrial Areas Foundation ...

"Remaining Open to the God Who is Still Speaking, Embracing Our Uncertainty", November 11, 2007
   Luke 20: 27-38. According to Buddhist tradition, after the Buddha attained enlightenment, he decided to remain silent. Assuming no one would take him seriously or that that he couldn't teach enlightenment to other people even if he wanted to, he decided to keep his understanding to himself..

"Sabbath Jubilee 2007 Debt Cancellation, Good News for the Poor", August 26, 2007
   At the United Church of Christ's General Synod meeting in Hartford this past June, I attended a workshop entitled "Becoming A Jubilee Congregation." A Jubilee Congregation is a congregation that advocates for the cancellation of the debt of the world's poorest countries.

"Hope Transcending Belief", Easter Sunday 2007
    About two weeks ago, Pat Oakes sent me a report entitled, The Real Cost of the Iraq War to American Taxpayers.
    According to the US Department of Defense, as of June 2005, the war in Iraq cost the United States taxpayer $195 million a day. According to a number of other sources, including the U.S. Department of Education, the Department of Labor, the United Nations, and Doctors Without Borders, the money we spend on the Iraq war could fund a host of other programs and projects around the world. ...

"Babylon and Jerusalem" Revelation 21: 1-8, John 18:33-37, November 26, 2006
    About a year ago, a controversy erupted surrounding photographs of coffins draped with American flags being flown home from Iraq. The coffins contained the bodies of American service men and women killed in the Iraq war. Neither the Bush Administration nor the Pentagon wanted the reality of death publicly displayed.
    There is a similar controversy currently brewing in Oakland California. ...

"Religious Hypocrisy...There May Be More Than Meets The Eye", Mark 12: 38-44 November 12, 2006
    While reflecting on today's gospel lesson this past week, the name Ted Haggard popped into my mind, and I found myself wondering whether there was any connection between today's lesson and Haggard, the former President of the National Association of Evangelicals, who stepped down recently because of allegations that he visited a male prostitute.
After the news hit the airwaves just before the mid-term election, ...

"Stewardship: Generosity, Vision, and Trust" Mark 10: 46-52 October 29, 2006
When talking about stewardship, most pastors and most stewardship resource guides that churches publish focus on generosity.
     Opening our hearts and hands, and giving freely.
     Nurturing an attitude of God's abundance rather than an attitude of scarcity.
     Discovering the joy of giving. ...

"Imagining a New Creation Becoming a New Creation" Isaiah 60: 1-9 October 22, 2006
     The men's book club recently read Azar Nafisi's book, Reading Lolita in Tehran.
     A professor of western literature who earned her Ph.D. in the United States, a secular woman with a fiercely independent mind, Nafisi found she could no longer teach in the Islamic Republic of Iran under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini. ...

"Road to Emmaus, Road to Jerusalem" Luke 24: 13-36 April 30, 2006
    In her memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion reflects on the sudden death of her husband and daughter. In deceptively simple prose, she describes how death haunts her daily life, and how it turns the most insignificant acts into significant occasions of pain. ...

"God's Prophets: One Foot In This World And One Foot In The Next World" Amos 7: 7-17; Luke 4: 16-30, February 26, 2006
     Today's scripture lessons are bursting at the seams with prophets.
     There's Amos, who saw God's plumb line hanging in the midst of Israel's crookedness and who thundered on God's behalf, 'let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.' ...

"You Know Me Through And Through..." Psalm 139 January 15, 2006
     In the past several weeks, I have participated in memorial services for Sylvia Underwood, George Wright, and Weldon Scheel. All three services were powerful and moving, each one filled with celebration and mourning, laughter and tears.
     I find memorial services to be deeply meaningful rituals. In them, we lift up the unique qualities and accomplishments of a person's life by sharing personal memories and stories ...

"Jesus is Lord" Ezekiel 34: 11-16, Matthew 25: 31-46, November 20, 2005
     Several months ago, I took the United Church of Christ to task for passing a General Synod resolution affirming Jesus Christ as "Lord and Savior." It's not that I object to affirming Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, because I don't object. My disappointment arises from the fact that the proposal does not call upon the UCC to provide resources to local churches to help them interpret the titles Lord and Savior. ...

"Getting Prepared" I Thessalonians 5: 1-11, Matthew 24: 1-3; 25: 1-13 November 13, 2005
     I spend a lot of time getting prepared.
     This past spring and summer, John Goff and I spent hours riding our bikes up and down the hills of Travis and Williamson Counties getting prepared for some major cycling events around Texas. I spend a good part of the week getting prepared for my Sunday morning reflection on the scripture lessons. Nodie and I meet every month at Starbucks to plan the music for the upcoming month's worship. Right now, we're getting prepared for the Advent and Christmas seasons. I'm currently working with the Deacons getting prepared for the weekday Advent worship service and luncheon in December, and with the Board of Christian Outreach getting prepared for freeze night shelter and the Christmas Dinner. ...

"Christianity, Not Churchianity" Micah 3: 5-12, Matthew 23: 1-12 Oct 30, 2005
     In the beginning, there was Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ and twelve guys he picked up along the way. There were four fishermen--Peter and Andrew, James and John. A tax collector named Matthew. And seven others--James, Simon, Bartholomew, Philip Thaddeus, Thomas, and Judas. In the beginning that was it--Jesus Christ and twelve ordinary folks who possessed some of the strength and much of the weakness of being human. ...

"An Image of God",Genesis 1: 1-2; 26-31,Matthew 14: 22-33
   The first creation story in Genesis begins with the well known words:
    "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
    The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters."
    The story culminates with the creation of humanity: ...

"Biblical Values", Ezekiel 34, Matthew 25: 31-46, Nov 21, 2004
    The 34th chapter of Ezekiel provides us with some powerful images that describe God's indictment of a nation's leaders. The shepherds slaughter and eat their own sheep. They shear and strip the wool off the backs of their sheep to make find clothing for themselves. But they provide the sheep with nothing in return.
     The shepherds do not feed their sheep. They do not protect the weak and vulnerable sheep. They do not heal the sick sheep. They do not bind the wounds of the injured sheep. They do not search for the lost sheep. ...

"Neither Jew Nor Greek, Biker Nor Runner", Acts 10: 44-48
     I recently discovered there are two of me. What a shock it was when both of me discovered the other.
     It dawned on me the other day that when I ride my bike on the Town Lake hike and bike trail, I'm a biker, and when I run, I'm a runner. Now this sounds so obvious it seems ridiculous. But hear me out. When I ride my bike on the Town Lake trail, I have a biker identity, biker consciousness, biker mind, biker practices, biker friends, and biker enemies. When I run on the trail, the exact same thing happens, except I have a runner identity, runner consciousness, runner mind, runner practices, runner friends, and runner enemies. ...

"Disputing Thomas", John 20: 19-31
     Did you know that John's gospel is the only gospel in the New Testament where the disciple Thomas is an actual character who speaks and interacts with Jesus? Matthew, Mark, and Luke all mention Thomas in their list of disciples, but he's never given a role like Peter, John, James, or Judas. The other three gospels treat Thomas much like the disciples Thaddeus or Bartholomew--he's mentioned but he's never developed as a character.
     This should pique our curiosity a bit. Why does John's gospel draw our attention to the disciple Thomas when the other three gospels do not? ...

"What Does God Promise Us", Genesis 17: 1-8; 18: 1-15, Matthew 9: 35-10: 8
    There are few things in life more aggravating than a broken promise. We feel deeply disappointed, let down, or betrayed when someone promises to do something, then doesn't do it. When someone promises to be somewhere, then doesn't show up.
     It's one thing when people try their hardest to fulfill their promises to you, but situations beyond their control prevent them from doing so. It's quite another when they just blow you off, forget, or decide they don't feel like doing what they promised they would do.

"Born Again...A Transformational Path of Discipleship",John 3: 1-17,June 11, 2006
    This past week, the Austin American Statesman featured an op-ed piece by Richard Cohen of the Washington Post. In his piece, Cohen reflects on words that Pope Benedict spoke during his visit to Auschwitz last month.
     "In a place like this, words fail," the Pope said. "In the end, there can only be dread silence--a silence which itself is a heartfelt cry to God. Why, Lord did you remain silent? How could you tolerate all this?" ...