February 3, 2019

It was my first funeral as a Student Pastor, serving with Pastor Beth in South Brunswick, New Jersey. As was her practice, we gathered that cold morning to go over the order of service in her office. Soon, it was time to put on our stoles. Pastoral Stoles are an interesting wardrobe accessory; they come […]

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January 20, 2019

  In college, I served as an intern for a High School youth group at Valley Community Presbyterian Church in Beaverton, just outside of Portland.  I loved the young people I got to meet, and I appreciated the opportunity to be a safe adult they could be honest with as they faced a world that […]

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January 6, 2019

The Magi, a caravan of foreign travelers, are a group of scholars and astrologers who have left their studies to journey west to Ancient Palestine.  There are enough PHD’s, teachers, and librarians in this room for us as a community to know that scholarly types, they don’t leave their scrolls and laboratories easily.  It takes […]

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December 24, 2018

My first Christmas Eve as a Pastor was a disaster.  I was serving as a pastoral fellow in Philadelphia, with a congregation that was known for its love for the city, especially those experiencing poverty, homelessness, and hunger.  We crafted worship with and for folks who didn’t find a spiritual home anywhere else; people with […]

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December 16, 2018

I’ve started taking Tuesdays as my Sabbath, and while there’s lots of reasons why I’ve made this shift, one of the biggest is so that I can spend more time hiking.  It’s my time to check-in with God.  I realized recently that my prayer life has been centering a lot on important things; each of […]

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December 9, 2018

“Don’t worry; God’s got your back.” Mary knows, this greeting can’t be a good sign. Gabriel could use some help on how to break difficult news.  Starting with the Ancient Near East version of “now, don’t freak out,” isn’t a good look. To be fair, Gabriel has an unenviable task, inviting Mary into a new […]

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November 25, 2018

  I spent my summers during college working at Suttle Lake United Methodists Camp in Sisters, Oregon.  It’s in the cascade mountains, right off the Pacific Crest Trail.  Suttle lake is a beautiful Moraine Lake.  It was formed when a glacier, flowing off hthe nearby Mount Washington, gouged out a shockingly deep valley, three miles […]

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November 18, 2018

  Sometimes it is surprisingly simple to be the Church.  It’ doesn’t cost a lot some days; a few hours, some hot cocoa mix, folks bring a few freshly picked apples, a bag of oranges, and we reuse our coloring tablecloths, a few favorite games, and a kickball.  I’ve got a whole room full of […]

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November 11, 2018

Maryland Presbyterian Church, it is a joy to be with you this morning. I have known a few of you from the very first day I moved to Baltimore a year and a half ago. My first official day on the job ended with a McCabe camp partners meeting. Whether it’s in a park off […]

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November 4, 2018

Each Week at the Camas Outdoor Center, I thought about the legacy of our ancestors.  Each week, we remembered the legacy of those long past, and dreamed about the community that might be formed and reformed in the week ahead.  In the spring and summer of 2009, I was on staff at the Camas Outdoor […]

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