It’s Not About You! | Or Me…

The title of this sermon is: “It’s not about you!”  I suspect that at first hearing this is not exactly the tone you expect.  These words may sound harsh; they may sound dismissively impersonal.  As a result, they may even be off-putting to some of you.  Yet, on this Memorial Day weekend, I will take the risk of all of this in the hopes of conveying something I believe is fundamental for each of us to remember, something that our individualistic culture seems regularly to forget…

Not a Matter of Math | Trinity Sunday

 I remember well, sitting in my “History of Christianity” class in seminary, taking furious notes as the professor lectured on the “Doctrine of the Trinity.”  It was my first year as a divinity student, and it was very clear to me that I had a lot to learn.  I was especially keen on getting this Trinity-thing down…

Beyond Graduation Day | Pentecost

This is the time of year, when graduations are held and all kinds of “commencements” occur.  Today, the Christian community marks the 50^th day after Easter Sunday.  It is the Day of Pentecost, whereupon followers of the Risen Jesus received the promised gift of the Holy Spirit so that the life that Jesus possessed and the work that Jesus began might be shared with all the world.  And in this sense, the Day of Pentecost is graduation day for all who honor Jesus and seek to follow him.  As with all graduations, something ends, and something begins…

The Triple Crown | Easter.2: Ascension

In the past I have come up with the image of Jesus’ resurrection, his Ascension, and the occasion of Pentecost to be the Christian equivalent of racing’s Triple Crown.  In thoroughbred racing, the ultimate experience comes in three races: the Kentucky Derby (which was yesterday); the Preakness; and the Belmont Stakes…

Three Easter Promises

With frost on the morning ground and reports of snow in northern New England, it is hard to realize that today is the first day of May!  It’s “tricky,” as my granddaughter, Una, would say.

It’s tricky, too, for folks like us who strive to be faithful, keeping Easter in mind as we read the news or go about our work or just putting one foot in front of the other.  It’s tricky to keep Easter’s reality in mind, when so much of the world’s life ignores resurrection.  It’s kind of like these sunny mornings, with warm sun and green grass and blooming trees that also contains the reality of frost and in some cases the threat of snow.  It’s tricky.  It’s tricky to live in this in-between time…