Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7 Some of you may recall back in 2015 when the New York Times ran an obituary of Adele Morales.  Morales was a gifted painter and actress who during her lifetime enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts.  She was also the mother of two daughters and two granddaughters, and she lived to be 90 years old. However, the first line of her obituary read: “[She was the woman] “who made headlines in 1960 when [her husband, novelist Norman... Read more

Matthew 28:16-20 “And some doubted.” This may just be my favorite Bible verse of all time. Recall that as they gathered up on the mountaintop that day, the disciples had been through three years of Jesus’ teaching and leadership, his arrest, the betrayal of some of their closest friends, and Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. The way Matthew tells the resurrection story, the women were at the tomb that morning.  At the direction of an angel they ran to give... Read more

You know the saying that goes, “You can never go home again”? The phrase was running through my mind as I drove the four hours from New York to Washington, DC last weekend to attend the installation of Rev. Maria Swearingen and Rev. Sally Sarratt at Calvary Baptist Church. I’m so delighted for that amazing congregation and their two wonderful new pastors, and I felt excited about being there for such a celebration. As I drove and thought about never... Read more

Our news feeds have been filled with depressing stories lately of leaders who demonstrate marked lack of principle in their quest to keep or regain power or popularity or position. I suppose that’s why I was so shocked to read about a tremendous act of leadership last week by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Facing considerable controversy over the decision to remove four Confederate statues in the city, he said this: “And I knew that taking down the monuments was... Read more

John 14:1-14 While other girls in my elementary school wore their brownie uniforms: jumpers with tall knee socks and a wide sash across the chest with various patches affixed to it, and attended meetings with the older Girls Scouts on Tuesday afternoons, I instead went to AWANA on Thursday nights.  Those of you who grew up with an evangelical childhood similar to mine will know that AWANA stands for “Approved Workers Are Not Ashamed,” and it’s basically a Bible club... Read more

Recently The Riverside Church announced our intention to divest our $140 million endowment over the next five years from the Carbon Underground 200 — the top 200 publicly traded fossil fuel companies. This decision was the culmination of a careful and intentional two-year process of deliberation and communal discernment. This all sounds so virtuous, but believe me, it wasn’t easy. The decision was not made lightly, or even without some disagreement. Everyone involved shared a deep commitment to climate justice... Read more

Luke 24:13-35 Today is the third Sunday of Easter, a whole season celebrating resurrection.  It makes sense that this would require a whole season, not just one day, since getting our minds and our hearts around the reality of new life is rather counter-intuitive for us.  We’re used to endings and decay and death.  Some of us look around at our lives, in fact, and exclaim about the job of being human, “I didn’t know it would be so hard!”... Read more

John 21:1-19 What are you supposed to do after resurrection? I mean, really. What are you supposed to do after everything you know about life changes? We’re one week away from resurrection, so it’s natural to ask the same question the disciples were asking each other. Now what? Well, they didn’t know.  They didn’t know that resurrection was just the start—just the beginning of a whole new way of living.  Their work now was to look for signs of life—resurrection—all... Read more