This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to be here. This wasn’t part of the plan… if there was even any plan at all. When I was a kid, I was an acolyte, just like all of the other kids in my church. We would wear albs that were a lot like the one

In the beginning, God planted a garden. That’s not a scientific statement, it’s a theological one. It’s not about the material origins of the cosmos. It’s about the relationship between God and the world. And I understand that it might seem like a delicate distinction, but it’s an important one. And if you want to

Sunday sermon preview: In the beginning, God planted a garden.

I have been told that you can’t pick and choose what parts of the Bible you believe. It’s all or nothing. And that if I want to be a real Christian—a real follower of Jesus—I have to believe every chapter and every verse: the easy parts about love and grace; and the hard parts about

Sunday sermon preview: “We have everything we need to start an orphanage. We have an orphan.”

I am incredibly lucky. There’s a quote from the writer and theologian Frederick Buechner: “The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger coincide.” It’s a quote that I heard a lot in seminary and continuing ed. Someone would bring it up almost any time

Sunday sermon preview: Paul worked so that he could serve. He received so that he could give. He got stuff so that he could share. He lived out a little piece of the Kingdom of God.

A few years ago, when I worked for Back Bay Mission, we got a new executive director. She wasn’t a member of the United Church of Christ, and I needed to introduce her to the denomination and to a whole bunch of people. So I took her to Cleveland. I took her to the annual

Sunday sermon preview: I learned how to do that little by little. One terrifying step at a time.