Grace That Saves a Kvetch Like Me

Readings for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost Exodus 16:2-15 Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 Philippians 1:21-30 Matthew 20:1-16 This sermon was preached at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church in Berkeley CA on Sunday September 18, 2011 Over the last few years, I have grown in appreciation of all things Yiddish, especially the language. Not only do I love […]

Ember Letter: Holy Cross Day 2011

Dear Right Reverend J. Jon Bruno, I hope this Ember letter finds you well and that you are enjoying “the mystery of our redemption” on this Holy Cross Day. As I reflect on Christ’s power to draw all people to himself when lifted up from the earth, I recall the various gatherings that I have […]

Walter Wink and War and Peace

In exploring the ethical dimensions of war and peace, biblical scholar and theologian Walter Wink offers an approach that provides a helpful “grammar” for understanding the complexity and opacity of human violence. As an alternative to the Ancient Worldview (in which all things in earth are mirrored in heaven), the Spiritualist Worldview (in which […]

Sin is behovely, but…

As a freshman at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, I sat in a classroom that usually pulsated with nervous excitement and energy due to weekly quizzes and a desire to impress fellow classmates with profound comments and questions. However, on this particular day, the class sat hushed under a dark cloud of somber uncertainty. The […]

A Poem for Labor Day

You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. […]