Today we’ll have our third quarterly luncheon and meeting, even though we’re now almost a month into the fourth quarter of 2017. Hard to believe. It always seems to me that we start moving more and more quickly toward the next year by the time we get to the fourth quarter. As we have gone on together, I have realized that no one predicts the future very well. What will 2018 bring? How will we, as a community of faith, meet the new year with a vision of mission to our communities? I hope that some things will stay the… Continue reading →

One of the things we hear about quite frequently in the news now is the tax reform the congress is preparing to take up. There is no question that it has been a long time since the tax-code has been worked through and brought up to date. I am old fashioned enough to believe that it would be much better with free debate and bipartisan cooperation, but I am not naïve enough to think that it will probably go that way. As far as taxes go, most of us think that we pay too much and everyone else pays too… Continue reading →

In the last two weeks, we have listened to Jesus take on some very religious people who thought they had God’s ways all figured out. They came from families that had been “good” for a long time, and had a good deal of community prestige. Their local communities of faith trusted them to be leaders. It’s possible that if many of them were alive today, they’d be among the 1% who would benefit from the repeal of the estate tax. They were everything most congregations want lots of. Matthew tells three of Jesus’ parables in a particular way, not really… Continue reading →

As many of you who listen week by week will know, I struggle with the view that God is an angry, vengeful deity who demands as many good things as we can do in order to win our way to glory, and if we don’t is anxious to punish us either immediately or eternally. It won’t surprise you, perhaps, to know that I have struggled against that view all my adult life. I am happy to tell you, yet again, that the bedrock of my faith in God is that God loves each one on earth and is not angry… Continue reading →

Do you remember the old line: “Your actions speak so loudly, I can’t hear a word you say”? It’s designed, of course, to point to the truth that our words certainly need to be consistent with our actions. This ought to be true of everyone. Even politicians. But it ought to be especially true of those who are disciples of Jesus. Today’s scriptures emphasize how important what we do is to our witness. Sometimes religious people seem to think their first duty is to confess what is orthodox (which means what is “straight, right, or correct), and so some affirm… Continue reading →