faith
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Devouring Delight
“When I found your words, I devoured them, and they became to me a joy and my heart’s delight” (Jer. 15:16a). How do you find God’s words? How do you approach the Bible? Some read it like a legal document, full of rules for behavior and threats of punishment for misbehavior. When W.C. Fields, who… Continue reading
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The best part of us
What is the best part of you—the part that feels most like who you really are? What is the truest, strongest, most alive part of you? When life falls apart, what is the part of you that keeps going—the part you and others can count on? Eugene Peterson paraphrased one of today’s readings this way:… Continue reading
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God in New Jersey
Three months after the Holland Tunnel was completed and opened for traffic, E.B. White wrote that it seemed to be working just fine. It was tight enough to keep water out, deep enough so ships had not foundered on it, and you could dive into it in New Jersey and emerge, predictably and safely, on… Continue reading
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Letter to Thomas
Almost every year since I finished seminary, on the first Sunday after Easter, I’ve written a letter to the disciple we know as “doubting Thomas.” This is another of them. Dear Thomas: Last week we heard the familiar story again, how some women went to Jesus’ tomb following his crucifixion. They went to complete his… Continue reading
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Wrestling toward a new life
Every year on the Sunday following Easter we read again about the experience of the disciple we call “Doubting Thomas” and his first and life-transforming encounter with the risen Christ (John 20:19-29). And almost every year since I finished seminary I’ve written a letter to Thomas to reconnect with him and his experience (which resonates… Continue reading
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On why we are here at Holy Trinity
What would you say if you were asked why you are here at Holy Trinity this morning? For the last six months, several groups of congregation leaders and members have been asking why any of us are here. We’ve been developing a Why Statement to say as realistically and clearly as possible why we are… Continue reading
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Letter to Thomas, 27 April 2025
For several years, for the Sunday after Easter Day, I’ve written a letter to the disciple Thomas. Some of them I’ve made public. This is one of them. Dear Thomas: The theme song from Cheers has been coming to mind a lot recently. It begins, “Making your way in the world today / Takes everything… Continue reading
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Remember who you are
“How often I have desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing” (Luke 13:34)! Traditionally during Lent, we share vicariously in Jesus’ forty days of being tested in the wilderness to see what he was made of and who he would be. But… Continue reading
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Sent
The question seemed simple enough, but simple questions can quickly turn out to be not so simple. “Whom shall I send,” God asked, “and who will go for us?” The question that came to Isaiah in the temple was his call to carry God’s message to his people. I wonder what he might have felt… Continue reading
1 Corinthians 13, bible, call of the disciples, calling of Simon, christianity, faith, God is love, Here am I, How beautiful upon the mountains, Isaiah’s call, Martin Luther, Oscar Romero, questions of faith, reformation, send me, simple questions, speaking truth to power, the love chapter, Whom shall I send?
The Sauntering Pilgrim 