Anabaptist and Quaker essays, sermons, and other writings
4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give […]
What do I mean by “that old-time religion?” I mean dethroning self so that God can be God. The self is not competent to rule creation or any part of it. God is. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says He came not to do His own will, “but the […]
I want you to think back to a time when you felt really, really loved. Maybe a good friend, a brother or sister, a family member, or your spouse, child, or parent, did something unexpected that made you feel truly known, truly loved and cared for. Maybe on your birthday […]
Luke 14: 1, 7-14 (dressed shabbily and barefoot coming from the back of the sanctuary during monologue) I’m on my way to a banquet. I think it’s at the end of this street. I’ve never been to a banquet before—I hear there’s lots of food. I can’t imagine. My friend […]
The four Gospels tell us relatively little about what Jesus did and said between His resurrection and His ascension, and I think that’s a good thing, because it focuses our attention on each item of information we are given, making us study them like detectives if we’re serious followers […]
When I was eight years old, Bantam Books came out with a new kind of children’s book: Choose Your Own Adventure. Over the next ten years, Bantam published a total of 184 of these books. Are any of you familiar with Choose Your Own Adventure? A person reading one of […]
The following sermon was originally published online by The Patchwork Pietist and is featured here, unedited, with permission. A sermon for the second Sunday of Advent Preached at Timbercrest Retirement Community (Luke 1 : 5-25, 57-80) Zechariah could not remember clearly the first day he held these objects, the first […]
Preached at Highland Avenue CoB, May 27, 2018 Isaiah 6:1-8 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six […]
Preached at Goshen City CoB, April 29, 2018 John 15:1-8 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more […]
Preached at Old South Church Boston June 2014 John 20:14-29 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to […]