I’m halfway through the performance schedule of Dial “M” for Murder at Hanover Tavern, one of the premiere professional theaters in central Virginia. I was a theater major freshman year of college and I’m finally acting in my first professional play. A good show is about both the performers and the audience being present in the moment. My first professional performing job was six days a week, with Monday off. I was 19 and performing a one man show nearly... Read more
Churches today can learn 3 lessons from the early Celtic Church. More than 1,500 years ago the natives of Ireland were polytheist pagans who would consider themselves ‘spiritual;’ much like the growing group of unchurched Americans. Ireland and the other British islands were on the furthest edge of the Roman Empire, and the furthest reach of Christianity. Christian monasteries were established across Ireland under the Bishop Palladius. Palladius and the monks helped Christianity find a place among the Celts, before... Read more
How do Christians respond to Donald Trump and his “Christian” supporters? Here are 6 suggestions: Reclaim the Bible Too many Americans claim to be Christian but then behave contrary to the teachings of Jesus. They support policies and politicians who victimize or exploit the weakest and most vulnerable. Throughout history, powerful Christians have wielded the authority of the Bible as a weapon to divide and hurt and not a blueprint to unite and heal. But the redemptive truth of... Read more
I quit my church because of Donald Trump and stepped down from the pulpit. After four years of being the pastor of a loving and supportive church, I dropped a bombshell. On the last Sunday of 2024, I ended my sermon by saying it was my last, and that I had a replacement lined up for the following week. I told my congregation that I no longer felt called there. Which is true. What I didn’t share was that in... Read more
Republicans aren’t Christian: They’re Christofascists. In a stark example of the extremism of so-call “Christian” Republicans, Oklahoma Rep. Josh Brecheen recently introduced a resolution to condemn a Christian bishop for preaching the word of God in her church. On Jan 22, Bishop Mariann Budde offered A Service of Prayer for the Nation and told truth to power when she quoted the Bible and asked President Trump to show mercy to those that the Bible says deserve mercy – our weakest... Read more
The sermon for Dec. 29, 2024, is from Ecclesiastes 3:1-13, and is entitled, “For Everything There is a Season.” Today’s scripture reminds us that there is a time for everything. A time to ponder the past, and a time to focus on the future. A time and a season for everything. In verse 11, it says, God “has made everything suitable for its time; moreover, he has put a sense of past and future into their minds, yet they cannot... Read more
My new BB gun and the day I nearly shot my eye out. Jan. 6, 1980, dawned covered in snow, just like it did this morning. I turned 13 and was finally receiving the birthday present I’d looked forward to for years: a BB gun. My parents had insisted I wait until i was 13, and allegedly mature enough to handle the responsibility of a BB gun. I never had an interest in killing, so birds were safe around me... Read more
On the eight night of Hanukkah 93 years ago, hate, vitriol and racist lies were reaching a fever pitch, sweeping across Germany. (Follow this link to read more about this historic photo: (http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/menorah-defies-nazi-flag/) On this final night of Hanukkah, the celebration of an eight-night miracle so long ago, let us remember in less than a lifetime, less than a heartbeat, pent up bigotry and hate can be unleashed and focused with deadly consequences. Let us not fool ourselves into believing... Read more
Watch Night. In the African American community, Watch Night services on New Year’s Eve commemorate the evening of Dec. 31, 1862, as enslaved Americans looked to Jan. 1, 1863, and the implementation of the Emancipation Proclamation. The idea of a New Year’s Eve service actually is older than Freedom’s Eve, and in fact finds its roots in the Moravian Church and a 1733 New Year’s Eve service held in Germany. John Wesley incorporated the service into his denomination and some... Read more
James Dean, Roy Schatt, and me — my walk in the footsteps of the icon. On Dec. 29, 1954, photographer Roy Schatt took photos of James Dean – photos he dubbed the “Torn Sweater” series. Nine months later Dean was dead. Schatt met Dean in February, 1954, through mutual friends in New York City’s artistic communities. They hung out with actors Martin Landau and Jim Backus, dancer Eartha Kitt as well as musicians, composers, and many others. “I knew him... Read more
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