A Church where the Preaching is Damn Good Every Time

July 31, 2012.Reading time 2 minutes.

A few weeks ago I was at the 77th General Convention of The Episcopal Church. I had a great time. This is not the wrap-up post. Lots of other people have done that and done it well. One of the many things I did while I was at GC was spend time with the loose […]

Proper 12, 2011

July 29, 2012.Reading time less than 1 minute.

The lessons for Sunday can be found at this link. I worked most closely with 2 Samuel 11:1-15. David and Bathsheba have sex. And I preach on it. Because we need to hear this story. We need to hear all of the stories. There will be a few moments of silence before the sermon starts. […]

Millennials: The End isn’t Coming (short of Jesus’s return)

July 25, 2012.Reading time 5 minutes.

First, the Church isn’t about to end, be it with a whimper or a bang. We are the inheritors of a tradition that has survived the Ascension of Jesus, outward persecutions, inward persecutions (those heresy debates with permanent conclusions), the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and more. All of this changed the Church. The 21st century and […]

Proper 11, 2012

July 22, 2012.Reading time less than 1 minute.

The lessons for Sunday can be found at this link: Proper 11. I worked most closely with 2 Samuel 7:1-14. David proposes to build a temple for God that will be bigger and more beautiful than his palace. And God turns him down. Why? (Also I work in some history.) There will be a few […]

David, dancing, and #GC77, a sermon for Proper 10, 2012

July 15, 2012.Reading time less than 1 minute.

The lessons for Proper 10 can be found at this link: Proper 10. I worked most closely with 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 and the experience of having been at General Convention. David danced. And so did we. A sermon playing with the overlay of David’s story (I can’t resist some good Old Testament history) and […]

Millennials: Rumors Abound

July 6, 2012.Reading time 5 minutes.

My parents were part of that pattern where people left the Church for a chunk of their late teens/early twenties and then came back, usually when they wanted the kids to go to Church (link). They may well have been one of the last to leave and return. We should stop accepting this pattern.* For […]

Proper 8, 2012

July 1, 2012.Reading time less than 1 minute.

The lessons for this Sunday can be found at this link: Proper 8. I worked most closely with Mark 5:21-43. Jesus heals. Times 2. But sometimes, most times, that’s not the end of the story. Listen: Proper 8, 2012