Sermons for April 2013
New Heaven, Renewed Earth
What makes us who we are? What identifies us as this or that? Christian or Muslim, progressive or conservative? How do people know we are followers of Jesus? This week I’ve been working on visioning around the ministry I’ll be engaged with at the U next year. I have many hopes and dreams for this… Read More
Greening our Pastures
In Christ of the Celts, J. Philip Newell tells the story of a shepherd: a border collie named Jo, who lived with the Iona Community, in Scotland. Newell writes: “[Jo’s] favorite day of the week on Iona was Wednesday, pilgrimage day, when sometimes with up to a hundred people we would walk the seven-mile route… Read More
The other side of the boat
When I ask people how they encounter God, more often than not, they describe an experience in nature. I don’t believe it’s an accident that we are drawn to the sacred in creation. The love, peace, awe and respect that fills human beings when we look out over the ocean or study a constellation or… Read More
Beyond Doubt and Belief
Tim Flannery, a leading environmental scientist and writer, reflects on the significance of breath in his book, Weathermakers. “It is in our lungs that we connect to our Earth’s great aerial bloodstream, and in this way the atmosphere inspires us from our first breath to our last… And it is the atmosphere’s oxygen that sparks… Read More