Here's a sermon. I hope it sustains.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Gospel of John features many priivate encounters. They also press upon us a  public-facing faith.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Sometimes you can't tell.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Paul chose foolishness, even among busy Corinth. That's a risky choice, but it's the only good one when it comes to the gospel. 

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Truth is what continues to prove true. The hope is this sermon, nearly a decade old, consinutes to prove true.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Jesus fled and considered one final temptation: a home by the sea.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

We might well understand a sacrficial lamb for God, but what does it mean, a Lamb of God?

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The world horrifies. Here's someone familiar whose company we might enjoy.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The incarnation of God in Christ defies a lot of things so-called Christian Nationalists would like to deify. They're wrong.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The story that so closely follows Christmas might unsettle us as much as it the baby Jesus and his parents, all in flight. But Christmas doens't amke way for the world, it makes its way in the world. So unsettled is just the right feeling.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Here's a homily for Christmas Eve.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The birth of Jesus calls us into the real in away that the world these days would take issue with.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

John's expectations were a little off. As it happens, so are ours more often than not.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Hope is tinged with anger and polished with defiant joy. 

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Here's a final word for this passing church year, offered with the hope that it shall unleash you into eternity if still also bound by time.

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

This is a long sermon, likely because it's my last in Monterey, and you never want the end to come too soon.

Montery Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

As the church year nears its close, our stories for Sunday morning become more and more challenging. The press is on. 

We'll make it through.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Today we remember those regular people in our live whom prior times would have easily forgotten but whom the God of the Bible would have us lift up in remembrance as embodying God's glory.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

We imitate one another, which is good for us until it's bad. And then it can be very bad.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

When you're most annoying dog becomes the model for how to do this.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

When a whole sermon can be summed up in Janis Joplin's voicing, you gotta wonder if the 24 minutes are worth spent in listening. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

A heavy dose if what we need.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

A useless field, but worth every penny.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The mouth-house is a tradition we gratefully stand in and we loudly mouth off from. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Charlie Kirk's muderer is one of "ours." And there are many others like him. We must welcome them in, welcome them home.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

We are called each and all. The ancient got the "all" of it, the Modern West gets the "each" of it. Jesus calls us to both/and, but today does in terms of "either/or."

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The Lord intends liberty. We might not be ready for that.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Does God's care wear out? 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Modest aims result in glorious ends. Don't believe me?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Teach us to pray.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

All is lost. The word has fallen silent.

Hear now the word speak.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The job of the apostles sent out is blindly obvious, yet we often miss it: Be as lambs amidst worlves. Would that the church managed that more consistently.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

All who wander are not lost--but some are, or so it seems. Here's how to be found in your wandering.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Who's feasting at the table with you in glory? 

Think bigger.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Tabitha spent her time making tunics for widows, not the sort of thing that will make you great in the eyes of the world. But often a life that touches deeply a few lives amounts to something greater still.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

This one puzzles over the cross, which is itself the puzzle of human existence and the Christian faith.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Thomas gets a bad name.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Happy Easter, everyone. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

We have a standard of measuring those who would rule us, a ruler beyond the ruler. The ones these days aren't measuring up.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

It could be that to claim citizenship in the Kingdom of God we put at risk out citizenship in the kingdoms of this world. 

Rest assured, this is to trade up.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Everything happens for a reason?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hil, Lenox (UCC)

With heroes like the ones our popular culture has imagned, who needs villains?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

You have heard it said the gospel isn't political, is but a personal matter. But I say unto you, can't it be both?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The Transfiguraton is a vision of the end broken into time, enered into the  middle that might encourage is our living--and Lord knows we need encouragement, and moreover courage, these days. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Reasons for fretting are rife. Reasons for faith?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The Holy Spirit is with the people.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Take a minunte. Consider yourself. Then do the works of love.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Good news to the poor? Check.

Recovery  of sight to the blind? Check.

Day of vengeance for our God? Not so much.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

This is a talk I prepared for a 2024 honoring of MLK Day, which I reworked for a gathering in 2025.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Those empty cisterns need to be filled.

Montery Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Fire isn't settled as to its meaning in scripture. So be not afraid.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Some get, some don't. Is that okay with you?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Christmas harks us to a gauzy past. It should rather poress us into an imperitive future.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Wrong again! What a gift!

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

And all flesh shall see it together!

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Melodious Accord came to Church on the Hill to sing in Advent. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenonx (UCC)

"What is truth?" Pilate asks, not recognizing that truth is there in the room with him.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill Lenox (UCC)

Jesus' counsel was clear: resist, don't revolt. Time for rebuilding for the sake of better justice is coming.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The poor widow wasn't to be praised. Rather, the Tample was to be shamed. We're not morally upright when we cooperate with power structures that exploit. Jesus meant something else altogether.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

We will be forgotten. We are remembered. 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

This last encounter of Jesus' ministry wastes no time. Bartimeaus is ready to go.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

You say you want a revolution? Well, we all want to change the world. But is revolution our best option?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox

Possessing instread of allowing yourself to be possessed: you might lack this one thing too.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

There can be joy in being wrong.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

This one goes out to Thomas Hobbes, Mark Lilla, Jeffery Goldberg, and my next door neighbor from long ago whose name I can't remember but whose question to me I do.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

You catch more flies with honey than vwith vinegar. So why does Jesus front with vinegar?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Can indeed the Lord dwell on earth?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Jesus can take it. He seems actually to really want to take it.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

People love their gardens--and some are even willing to work for them. Others just want a hammock to swing in.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

An ironic podcast, offered in the hope that in its mechanical reproduction it doesn't too much decay.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

John understands the power of the people to be the source of temptation, doing  the devil's work, as it were.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

What are we supposed to do?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Take your rest. God's purpose is being accomplished.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

When your power to act is frustrated by liomitation, consider if God's love rather than some terrible offense.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

What a wild idea.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

It's happening. Do you not perceive it? Do you not want to join in on it?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

We're back in Ordinary Time, the steady of walk of faith through the many weeks of the season after Pentecost. With this, we take a breather following many litugical high points. Just in time for some summer rest.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Trinity Sunday: the annual reminder that this isn't a doctine, it's a dynamic.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Happy birthday, church.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Who loses when we bring such calous disregard to our institutions? 

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

For those who are cut off or isolatyed or cast out of all generation, the Church is a body for new possiblity.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Taking up the cross isn't to hammer others with it but to excercise a willingness to be the one hanging from it.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Requesting to see the wounds isn't doubt, and isn't morbiod fascination. It's Thomas leading us away from his own nationalism into real faith.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Happy Easter!

Now, let's get going.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The day is surely coming, but until it's here this will do.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The church gathers for what may be, and by this we give occasion for it to be. Impossible love! Imperitive love.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Time offers a different sort of temple in which the church can gather. It requires a lot less maintanance.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Who requires the suffering of Christ? We've often gotten that important quesiton wrong.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Maybe it's time to changeg our minds about God, that God isn't about ruin but about repair.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Sometimes what's shiny objects to our refusal to allow it to be more than that.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

We all want to change the world. The question is what end we'd hope such change will bring about.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

We're not usually this sick, but sometimes we do really need strong mediine.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Your attention is your most precious resource. Pay it to something worthy.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The call is coming from inside the house--or not.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

This is a special edition of the podcast, a talk I will give at a concert in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. near his birthday..

The Magi should frighten us--for how do they know what they know, and how do we know what this new revelation makes known and how do we know we can trust it? When orthodoxy falls by the wayside, how do you find a new--and true--way?

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Here's a homily to follow the gospel readings of the nativity.

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

The Virgin Birth: maybe the queston shouldn't be whether it's true but should be, "If it's true, what does it mean?"

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)

Advent is so short; Advent is so long!

Monterey Church, UCC

Church on the Hill, Lenox (UCC)