As we processed into the ordination service, I learned my name was not printed in the bulletin, and someone pointed out that the new robe my church purchased for me was gray which is not an approved liturgical color. It all felt pretty ordinary until 90 minutes into the service when I knelt at the […]

Jesus came preaching, “Change your hearts and lives! Here comes the kingdom of heaven!”  Most of us first heard this message as, “Repent. Here comes the kingdom of God.” In January, as we celebrated the Baptism of our Lord, I shared how back in 1930, the Southern Baptist professor and New Testament Greek scholar AT […]

Have you ever sat down on the top of a high mountain, maybe out on a rocky outcrop or up above the tree-line, maybe sharing some trail food with good friends?  Up there atop the mountain the view can feel like you see forever.  The “six days” wording surely links Jesus with Moses and Exodus […]

Some of my seminary professors reminded me of Jesus. Other students may have seen Jesus in a professor’s scholarly insights or deep Biblical expertise, I did not.  Quoting Scripture does not make a person Christlike, the Temptation story reminds us that the Devil is pretty good at quoting the Bible. (Matthew 4) No, I caught […]

At my first solo church, New Chapel UMC, we began ESL and after school mentoring. When Vacation Bible School rolled around one of our Spanish speaking leaders, Claudia, borrowed a bus from Greenbriar UMC to bring children.  Like a good pastor, I stood out in the parking lot greeting the children with one of a […]

The Lectionary Committee skipped most of Matthew 23 in its 3 year Scripture cycle, perhaps because Jesus bites us. Jesus irritates by warning that we who put up statues to the prophets and plaques for visionaries are the very same people who vilify and crush today’s prophets: “How terrible it will be for you church […]

My Brother John is much quieter than I am. John has been known to “that growing up with me it was hard to get in a word edgewise”. John is thinner,  rides his bicycle religiously (one year over 5000 miles), played the bassoon in college, and earned a doctorate in Multi-ethnic Ministry from Wesley. I […]

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree (to) all the world…” With regal themes Luke timestamps Jesus’ birth year. In four verses, Luke will reference a king, emperor, or empire seven times. Luke did not reference the High Priest in Jerusalem or the local governor, but Caesar in Italy and Quirinius in Syria. The […]

Luke tells us how an angel appeared to Mary saying, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you”.  Like any of us who might see an angel, Mary was greatly perplexed and wondered what that meant.  The angel -proclaimed, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God,”  and how Mary would […]

I don’t remember if  I was 5, 7, or 9,  as our children’s choir was rehearsing to sing in worship with little blue smocks with a big white English bow. Our choir leader smiled at me and softly said, “Paul, you do not need to sing so loudly…  you don’t have the nicest voice.”  I […]