Galatians 3:27-29 “There is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” These are familiar words; we often use them at baptisms. They offer a beautiful, though unclear, vision of unity. Was Paul saying that once a slave became part of the Christian […]
Sermons
Gardening in the Alley
Matthew 25:34-40; Luke 15:3-6; Matthew 11:28-30 They took us to the alley–and the doorways and the park bench and the late-night restrooms. Garrett and Leigh–one homeless, one recently housed, both on the staff of common cathedral’s City Reach youth weekend. I have attended the overnight twice, each time with a confirmation class. Garrett took Jacob […]
Tender Hearts for Tough Times
Ephesians 4:25-5:2 I was drawn in by the headline, “The Gift of Anger and Broken-heartedness.” I was intrigued by the author, Greg Epstein, humanist chaplain at Harvard and MIT. What really captured my attention was a single paragraph in this Boston Globe op-ed I read last week, in which Epstein referred to his friend Rod […]
A Parade Reimagined
Genesis 18:1-15 “Rolling Pride Parade.” The email caught my eye. The 50th Anniversary Boston Pride Parade had been cancelled due to COVID-19. A group of parents of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender youth in our area felt strongly that their kids needed and deserved a celebration. They connected with Out Metrowest, an organization our church […]
“Stethoscopes, Journals, and a Sensory Path”
John 13:12-15 It was only back in February, but it feels like a lifetime ago. After enjoying our Shrove Tuesday pancakes, Danny Garrigan-Byerly and I chatted in Edwards Hall. He told me about his work as a Science and Engineering Instructional Coach for elementary schools in Sudbury. That day, for a lesson, he had partnered […]
“Abiding”
John 14:15-21 “Now we are doing Mindfulness Mondays and Fearless Fridays,” Shelly explained. She laughed. “Although Watercolor Wednesdays turned out to be a huge flop.” “Trauma is something that happens,” Danielle told me, “but it doesn’t define us. The trauma response is innate and biologically protective. It can get out of balance, though.” Ronda’s words: […]
A Spiritual House
I Peter 2:4-10 One morning, in the midst of this COVID-19 shut-down, Daniel Stewart-Morales woke up with an earache. It happens fairly often, but this time around, for his dads, it was frightening. “What if we have to take him to the Emergency Department?” they worried. The potential for COVID infection changed a typical childhood […]
Breaking Zoom
Luke 24:13-35 No one has found the village of Emmaus. The scripture suggests it is about 7 miles from Jerusalem; other historical documents make no mention of a place with that name at that distance from the city. Archeologists have dug up evidence of several small communities within that radius, but they are all known […]
A Story for our Times
John 20:1-18 “The surge is coming. Be prepared–it’s going to get worse before it gets better. This is the week to not leave your home.” The warnings have been dire. For the last few weeks, we have been told to expect a surge in diagnoses of COVID-19, a surge in people needing machines to breathe […]
Leaves of Healing
Jeremiah 8:21-22; Revelation 22:1-2 John was in isolation, cut off from his community. It was not a self-imposed quarantine to protect him from a deadly virus. It was exile, imposed by the Roman empire because John, as a first-century Christian, was considered a threat. The book of Revelation reflects a time of persecution–for the early […]