The Preacher’s Prayer

A prayer that I wrote for my friend, Rodney Duke, about ten years ago.  Pastors, priests, and ministers: feel free to borrow it for Palm Sunday. God, may your Holy Spirit ride upon my words into the hearts and minds of this congregation, just as Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem; and may that serve [...]

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A Frame of Reference

Here’s an inspiring passage I found in on pages 19-20 in Douglas F. Ottati’s book, Theology for Liberal Presbyterians and Other Endangered Species (Geneva: 2006). Will the mainline churches in America hold together or split apart?  Will liberal Protestants criticize the excesses and the idols of contemporary American culture but also remain open to the [...]

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Gospelling Socially

My thoughts were stirred toward the Social Gospel movement by a fantastic guest lecturer in my Philosophy of Religion class this morning.  So, I thought I might post a little from my old historical friend, Walter Rauschenbusch, an early twentieth century Baptist minister whose work I discovered while living in western North Carolina.  He taught [...]

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Repent! Think Different.

This morning’s sermon from First Pres, Boonville. The text is Mark 1:9-15. Three brothers grow up together in Dublin, Ireland.  When they come of age and go off to make their way in the world, they make a pact: whenever they drink, they’ll always order three pints of Guinness, one for each brother.  One of [...]

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Unrest

A fierce unrest seethes at the core Of all existing things: It was the eager wish to soar That gave the gods their wings. From what flat wastes of cosmic slime, And stung by what quick fire, Sunward the restless races climb!– Men risen out of mire! There throbs through all the worlds that are [...]

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Shall I Ever Get There?

I am being driven forward Into an unknown land. The pass grows steeper The air colder and sharper A wind from my unknown goal Stirs the strings of expectation. Still the question Shall I ever get there? There where life resounds A clear pure note in the silence. -Dag Hammarskjöld

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Evolutionary Thoughts: Life

It is time to outgrow… the fear-filled grip of mechanistic consciousness, rigidly clinging to the notion that creation is little more than dead, inert matter in a hostile, brutal, and flawed universe, where the blind forces of natural selection engage us in a battle for survival, and we end up ignorant of the mysterious life-forces [...]

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40

Here is a breathtaking animated short that Annie Grove found online.  There is so much subtlety to love.  I could go on gushing about it, but I think I’ll let the film speak for itself.  Here’s to Lent!

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Ashes

“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” “Earth is dirt, all dirt, but here we find revealed what dirt can do when it is self-organizing under suitable conditions with water and solar illumination.  This is pretty spectacular dirt.” -Holmes Rolston III

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Who Wants To Be A Jedi?

Star Wars as a Modern Myth Yesterday, I was having a lively after-class discussion with my students in the coffee bar at Utica College.  The topic: Star Wars as a modern myth. While I have nothing but disdain for George Lucas as a megalomaniac and director, I have to tip my hat to him as [...]

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