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I can’t get Isaiah’s prophecy of a peaceable kingdom out of my mind.  Many congregations heard it read out loud on the second Sunday of Advent.  When the Messiah comes, “…the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and… Read more

Every clergy gathering sooner or later turns to the social psychology of parish membership, with special concern for what motivates new comers to attend in the first place, decide to stay or leave, and what works to accommodate them within the existing culture of the place. Academics and church consultants have lectured and written about… Read more

Conspiracy theories with political consequences swirl through the public arena, as they always have.  In decades past they were the fodder of gossipy tabloids sold at super market checkouts, and followed by small posses of the easily deceived who rarely admitted it.  The internet and social media changed all that.  Together with talk radio and… Read more

This is an article about Christian discipleship which came to mind while watching the impeachment hearings. Who knew? Strange things happen. I was struck by the courage of impeachment hearing witnesses from the senior ranks of the civil service who came forward in obedience to subpoenas, and against White House orders. With nothing to gain… Read more

The president’s defenders among members of Congress puzzle me.  Less so his support from among local right wing friends.  But finding ways to put it into words has proven difficult.  Local dedicated Trump supporters are digging in two ways.  One is a visceral reaction to what they see as liberal elitists flaunting their intellectual superiority… Read more

It had to happen.  On the 23rd Sunday after Pentecost, my sermon focussed on Isaiah 65 and Luke 21.  You know them: God promising through Isaiah there would be a new heaven and earth with a new Jerusalem, and all would be in peaceful harmony –– then in Luke the troubling news that it would… Read more