2 Timothy 4:6-8; 16-18 I don’t know about you, but I haven’t given much thought to what I’d like printed on my tombstone. I guess I’ve never really thought that choosing what appeared on my tombstone would be my responsibility. Apparently, however, some people do, and they spend considerable time thinking about what their last word to the world will be. I hunted around for some epitaphs of note this week, and here are a few I found: “I... Read more
At the beginning of October, The Riverside Church hosted God and Guns: Faith Leaders Address Gun Violence. Highlights from the day and video of the presentations can be found here. Over 100 faith leaders from across the country gathered in New York because they were tired of seeing on the news story after story of another shooting and feeling like there is nothing they can do. Throughout the day, participants were trained on how to talk to their congregations and... Read more
2 Timothy 2:8-15 With all due respect to all you brilliant academics out there, I have to tell you today the most important lesson I learned when I was finishing the dissertation for my doctoral work: sometimes it’s not exceptional creativity, deep and profound insight, or even all that much intelligence that gets you to the end of a doctoral dissertation. Sometimes it’s just tenacity. I learned this lesson from my doctoral supervisor when, one day as the deadline for... Read more
I think it is an objective fact that this presidential election is a circus, a national embarrassment. Every morning just the practice of reading the headlines takes uncommon fortitude; at this point I’m prepared to say that very little surprises me anymore. To think about what America looks like to the rest of the world is frightening to say the least. Given the reality TV accident scene that is our presidential race this year, it’s almost impossible not to get... Read more
2 Timothy 1:1-14 World Communion Sunday In addition to my well-known aversion to most animals (please do not judge me, and take the opportunity to watch me look extremely uncomfortable by coming to the Blessing of the Animals next Sunday afternoon), it is common knowledge that I am not as interested in sports as, say, some of my dear friends…or even my children. I only attend games of any sort for the purpose of being with people I like. I... Read more
Luke 16:19-31 Thomas Jefferson, as you know, is famous for many things. One thing in particular is currently housed in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. It’s a Bible, sort of. He created it by cutting passages out of a Bible with a razor and pasting them with glue into a collection he titled: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth. He took the parts he liked the best and cut out the rest, making the Bible much... Read more
In April 2015 I gave the closing address at Faith Forward in Chicago. It ended up being some deeply personal reflections on the loss of my brother, John, only one year before. Yesterday would have been John’s 40th birthday, and even with the passing of time occasionally the grief is so sharp it makes you hold your breath. So I’m reposting today in honor and memory of my brother, John. Rest in peace and rise in glory. I’m curious to... Read more
Luke 15:1-10 I don’t quite know why I was so surprised by this. As I prepared for my sermon this week, today—the 15th anniversary of the terrible and terrifying day that airplanes crashed into the World Trade Center towers and hit the Pentagon in Washington, DC—it was not far from my consciousness that so many of you, unlike myself, were actually here, in this city, on September 11, 2001. I knew that, most certainly, there are feelings in our... Read more
I doubt I’m telling you something you don’t know, but just in case you’re wondering, let me say from the start: leading a church is hard work. It’s just perpetually difficult to bring a group of people together, united or at least generally aligned around a shared conviction and mission, and move them toward action. That’s a truth of leading any human community, of course. But when you add God into the mix, human nature combines with religious conviction and... Read more
Luke 14:1; 7-14 When I was in seminary I had a professor who taught us a lesson about hospitality that I will never forget. Some of you may know that I went to seminary in Europe with Baptists from all over the world. Occasionally we would travel for study trips into areas of Eastern Europe that had been cut off from the Western world for generations. In the tiny homes of Eastern European Baptists, homes with no indoor plumbing and... Read more
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