This Sunday is World Communion Sunday.  Instituted in the mid-1930s at Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA, it was designed to open their congregation’s awareness of the peoples of the world.  The service was to challenge them to envision a table big enough to receive all who would participate in the bread and wine… Read More »

            14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket,… Read More »

            As I write this the commemorations of September 11 are in progress.  Twenty-two years ago the skies were a particular brilliant blue before the first plane crash.  This morning the skies over New York and Washington and probably Shanksville happen to have clouds which give an eerie memory of smoke clouds that were also… Read More »

            There are a few events that are a part of our vivid memory for our entire life.   We know where we were.  We remember how we felt.  They shaped us.  Mine include the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Jr., the planes crashing into the Twin Towers on September 11th and sadly, the events at… Read More »

            As Labor Day approaches, I often think of the legacy of Francis Perkins.  If that name is not familiar to you, I highly recommend going to https://francesperkinscenter.org/learn/her-life/,  There you will find a biographical sketch of this woman who served our country during the time of the New Deal as the first woman Secretary of Labor. … Read More »

            “What if for one day, everything stopped…and we all just listened to the music?”  That is the question that shapes a worldwide celebration of “Play Music on the Porch Day”.  This is a real event that happens on the last Saturday in August in 70 countries and nearly 700 cities.  And it is going… Read More »

     Friendship has been on my mind recently.      One of my oldest friends (we have shared Thanksgivings together for the past 30+ years) let us know that, yes, they were getting a Borzoi puppy.  Trooper will join their home this month.  Can’t wait to meet him.  Ann shows Borzois and they have… Read More »

            I’m feeling a sense of gratitude today – gratitude for those who provide all the various kinds of medical service – gratitude that I am able to access quality medical service.  I’m also feeling a sense of sadness that all are not so fortunate to be able to access the kind of medical care… Read More »

            Have you thought about friendships lately?  Some of you have a cadre of friends that live near you and with whom you interact regularly.  Others have friends spread across the United States and globe.  Some friendships have lasted a lifetime, others are new acquaintances.             Nina Totenberg wrote of her friendship with Ruth Bader… Read More »

          This past Sunday I changed the direction for my sermon when the news came out that the Florida State Board of Education had issued guidelines for teaching social studies.  It included such nonsensical and egregious ideas as talking about slavery with ideas that included slaves learned skills that could help them later in life.  Also,… Read More »