John 18:12-27 In January of Nineteen Ninety-Eight, I came upon an article in Parade Magazine that changed my life. (I actually still have it —all marked up with pink highlighter, and I’m not normally a saver of articles!) This was an interview with Archbishop Desmond...

Introduction: Outsiders Come In Imagine the disciples sitting around the table. They’re still shaken! They’re not quite sure what just happened. You see, they’re all having dinner at the home of Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus. It’s a post-resurrection celebration —an...

John 11:25-44 In the beginning, when darkness covered the face of the deep, the Holy Spirit took a breath and began to sing, and the world came into being. It’s like life itself heard the word of God and got up from the dead! Life coming back to life. Love coming back...

John 9:13-41 I first learned about Ruby Bridges when Sue S told her story in the Adult Forum. You might know about Ruby. You might have seen the famous photograph of her on the school steps or the painting of her by Norman Rockwell. In nineteen sixty, Ruby Bridges was...

John 8:2-11 The Gospel of John is a collection of stories that tell a larger story of Jesus. Most of the events in John did not actually happen historically, but just because the stories are made up, that doesn’t mean they’re not true. The episode that we hear today...

John 6:1-21 When they woke up this morning, they had no idea their day was going to turn out like this! The disciples are holding on as best they can, but they’re getting soaked from the spray washing over the side and the wind is raging. They had been waiting for...

John 3:1-21 A flash of panic flooded the back of his mind. There’s something strange about this rabbi! It’s like he’s harboring mystery. It’s like he sees some part of ourselves that we don’t even see. Here Nicodemus was lying awake in bed, trying to sort this out so...

John 2:1-11 I have been a pastor for not-quite-four-years—and two of those not-quite-four-years have been, y’know, the last two years—so I haven’t officiated that many weddings. But I still have this little piece that I have always included in the handful of weddings...

Psalm 65 In the beginning, when darkness covered the face of the deep, the LORD our God took a breath and began to sing, and God sung all of life into being. In the beginning, when God was working in the dark, fearfully and wonderfully knitting together our inward...

John 1:35-51 You might remember how it all went down. Jacob was trying to get to Haran where he would begin a new life, but right now Esau is hot on his trail ready to kill him, and right now the sun is setting, and Jacob is exhausted. He took a stone, laid his head...