It’s Jazz Sunday at Westminster. It didn’t dawn on me until after I’d entitled my sermon “Hosea Sings the Blues.” A quick check with Jeff Lewis assured me that jazz’s roots are in the blues, so we’re good to go. Wanting a sermonic riff on that title, I thought about using jazz tunes as sermon … read
All this week I have wondered why in the world the Book of Jonah is in the Bible. If you took it out, you really wouldn’t miss it, though Sunday School programs would need to find a new use for all their whale flannel graphs. We might say that Biblical scholars are a bit like … read
When l was a student, I had the opportunity to spend a semester in Sweden. It began in the dark, cold month of January and ended in late May, with melted snow and long, beautiful, spring days. But at the end of my trip, I contracted a virus that went into bronchitis. This was extremely … read
What does it mean to be God’s people? Our Southern kin, upon meeting someone new, will ask, “Who are your people?” My people are the Merrills of Gray’s Corner, Maine; my people are the Henslers of Einsiedeln, Switzerland. My people are the Presbyterians. My people are Gregg and Sarah. My people are you. If God … read
(Prayer for illumination, by Walter Brueggemann in Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000) “No wonder the prophet weeps yet – We begin again, but not innocent… As we begin, the powers of globalization surge; There are victims, but we are mostly beneficiaries. There are wars and rumors of wars, there are … read
In a book published in 1962, Rabbi Abraham Heschel made this comment: “Why are so few voices raised in the ancient world in protest against the recklessness of man? Why are human beings so ready to kill and ready to die at the call of rulers…? Perhaps it is easy because they worship might, venerate … read