This is my church newsletter column for this month: While my son was in the hospital this summer, I stumbled across the work of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and founder of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Clinic. Dr. Kabat-Zinn is credited with being the first person to [...]
Archive for September, 2011
Mindfulness Meditation
Posted in Book Review, tagged awareness, jon kabat-zinn, MBSR, meditation, mindfulness, spirituality on September 30, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Prayer In School
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged first amendment, free speech, funny, pagan, prayer in school, religious right on September 28, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Politically correct disclaimer: This is not an endorsement of the dark arts. Neither is it a slight to my Wiccan/Asatruar friends. It is a simultaneously amusing and thought-provoking image I found on Doug Barr’s Facebook page. That being said, I am a also firm believer that advocacy for people of other faiths leads to greater [...]
Stephen Colbert Speaks For Himself
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged christian nation, Jesus, poor, Stephen Colbert on September 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Hard Questions for Easy Answers
Posted in Sermon, tagged cleansing temple, socratic method on September 26, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
This week’s sermon from First Presbyterian, Boonville. The text is Matthew 21:23-32. OK class, it’s time for a pop quiz! That means you have to close your books. All of them. I don’t want to see an open hymnal or Bible in this church for the next few minutes! We’re going to see how much [...]
Thoreau and Pride
Posted in Sermon, tagged education, legislation, lgbt, pride, relationships, thoreau on September 20, 2011 | 2 Comments »
This past Sunday afternoon, I had the honor of preaching at the interfaith worship service for PrideFest in Utica. My chosen text was a passage from Henry David Thoreau’s famous book, Walden: We might try our lives by a thousand simple tests; as, for instance, that the same sun which ripens my beans illumines at [...]
God is Generous to a Fault
Posted in Sermon, tagged agriculture, equality, generosity, God, justice, matthew 20:1-16, picked last, vineyard, workers on September 18, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Here is this morning’s sermon from First Presbyterian, Boonville. The text is Matthew 20:1-16 Do you remember what it feels like to be picked last for a team in school? Most of us do. The excitement of playing a new game quickly gives way to fear as the number of other kids around you starts [...]
My September 11th Sermon
Posted in Sermon, tagged 9-11, 9/11, bailout, cross, debt, forgiveness, matthew 18:21-35, resurrection, september 11th, unmerciful servant on September 11, 2011 | 6 Comments »
I normally wait until after church to post my sermon, but I’m doing it early today, given it’s time-sensitive nature. The recording will be up later. My text is Matthew 18:21-35. To be perfectly honest, I’ve been dreading this sermon all year, ever since I learned that today’s date would fall on a Sunday and [...]
Make A Declaration Of Inter-Dependence
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged humanity, interdependence, labor day, president on September 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Here is my Labor Day article from last Sunday’s Rome Sentinel. One of my favorite growing-up memories is of a time when my father took me to hear the President of the United States speak in my hometown of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Walking away from the event, Dad repeated a single sentence from the [...]
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