Heaven isn’t about escape. It’s about hope. — A few weeks ago, I did something that was rather risky, at least for a pastor. I preached about heaven. It seems rather radical these days in Mainline Protestant churches to preach about heaven. It can seem rather escapist and a way to not focus on the problems here on…

Donald Trump is a loser for the GOP, but that might not stop Republicans from making him the nominee or from becoming President again. — Conventional wisdom suggests that if Republicans continue to lose with Trump as they have in 2018, 2020 and 2022 then the GOP will dump him. This belief is based on the belief that political parties want to win and govern. All of this makes sense, of course, because in the…

Church matters because it is the only way we can understand this crazy thing called faith. — Note: The following is adapted from a sermon I wrote back in 2014. Why does church matter? Why is it that we come to this building every Sunday morning and spend a few hours there? Why do people not only give their money but also give their time to this…

What the Woman at the Well Has to Say About LGBTQ Inclusion. — Note: This is kind of a short follow-up to a blog post I wrote several years ago. I also did a video version of this essay which is below. Please consider watching it, liking it and sharing it with others. Back in 2015, First Christian Church voted to become an…

Do we become meaner people without free will? — I recall there being a debate on now Senator JD Vance’s motivations when he switched from being a Trump skeptic to supporting MAGA. One of the responses was that he had always held that belief and had never changed it. I’ve heard this again and again about people who might…

Prayer in the face of horror might seem useless, but it’s not. — There are times in your life when it can seem that faith or religion can seem hopeless. Monday, March 27 was one of those times. By now, we all know what happened: another mass shooting at a school. A shooter came into Covenant Presbyterian School in Nashville and started shooting…

Why Are We So Uncomfortable with Foot washing? — For the last decade or so, I’ve been obsessed with my feet. Lest you think that this is some odd essay on fetishes, I’m talking about having neuropathy. For several years, I’ve dealt with nerve pain in my feet. I’ve done a number of things to relieve the pain, from…

Why we should mourn the passing of this once ubiquitous retail category. — There’s a picture of my Dad from the mid-1970s where he is standing at the counter of a store. I don’t know who took it, but since it was a Polaroid and those were the going camera at the time, my guess it was a store clerk. …

The conservative cable news channel was tested and found wanting. What about us? — I’ve really enjoyed the third season of Star Trek: Picard, a series that is a sequel to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Set 30 years after the original series, Jean Luc Picard, the captain of the USS Enterprise in the Next Generation. The first two seasons included few characters from…