Sermon: "The Cost of Compassion", Jonah 3-4 (June 21, 2026)

This second half of the book of Jonah may not be a proper dispute with God, as there’s not much direct back and forth between Jonah and God, but there’s certainly a struggle of wills on display here. Many people in Scripture push back when God calls them to prophecy or leadership, but Jonah elevates resistance to an art form. At first, he attempts to literally run away from God’s instructions, which famously lands him inside the belly of an enormous fish. Only then, after God delivers Jonah from his predicament by way of fish vomit, does Jonah begrudgingly make his way to Nineveh to proclaim the message that God had given him. 

Sermon: "Gentle Sibling-ing", Exodus 32:7-14, 30-35 (May 31, 2026)

For the next seven weeks, we’re going to be digging into some scriptural examples of people disputing with God. From Abraham to Moses to David to Jonah to an unnamed Canaanite woman to Jesus himself, it turns out that we come from a long line of believers who were willing to question and even criticize God. Sometimes, these skeptics are swiftly put in their place (the book of Job comes to mind), but more often, the Lord just…lets it happen. On some occasions, God actually engages in the debate, and there are even times when God winds up changing God’s mind because of it. Plenty of modern Church leaders would be horrified at the thought of questioning religious authority, but the fact is that there’s a whole lot of scriptural precedent for it. So let’s see what we can learn from the complaints of our forebears.

My Favorite Moment of Easter Worship

When I used to serve an Episcopal Church, one of the liturgical differences that stood out to me the most was the fact that we didn't have a prayer of confession during Easter. Don't get me wrong; I totally appreciate the theology behind this, but as a cradle Presbyterian, it just feels wrong not to confess our total depravity every week, even on the day that we celebrate the divine act that ensured our salvation. So I always include it in every liturgy that I write.

Sermon: "Shoot for the Moon", Deuteronomy 15:1-11 (September 3, 2023)

About a month ago, NPR’s Scott Detrow interviewed Russell Moore on the radio show “All Things Considered”. Russell Moore serves as editor-in-chief of the magazine Christianity Today, is the author of a new book about Evangelicalism in America, and USED to be a high-ranking official in the Southern Baptist Convention. I say “used to be” because he resigned from his position and left the denomination in 2021. He was gravely concerned about how the Southern Baptist Convention had handled allegations of sexual abuse as well as what he perceived as its tolerance for white nationalism within the church.[1] In his interview with NPR, he shared his thoughts about the crisis that Christianity is facing in America today.

Sermon: “It’s Not (Supposed to Be) Fair”, Matthew 20:1-15 (September 20, 2020)

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Are you ever surprised by how many scripture passages remind you of parental lessons from your childhood, or is it just me? It’s almost as if…our parents knew what they were talking about. Weird, huh? When I read this week’s passage, all I could hear was my mom’s voice saying, “You and your sister have different needs, so you get treated differently. It’s not about being fair; it’s about doing what’s best for each of you.” Interestingly, I remember being most incensed about this argument when my sister was allowed to get her ears pierced much earlier than I’d been allowed to, but I digress. The point is that, regardless of what my childish sense of justice perceived as fair, it was my parents’ job and prerogative to distribute resources (and ear piercings) based on what they determined each of us needed to survive and thrive. If that meant that one of us got a better “deal” than the other, well, that was their call. I think that most of us adults would agree that this is the right and proper way for such decisions to be made: not based on what’s objectively “fair”, but what the guardian believes is best.

Sermon: “Rock of Ages: God’s Mercy”, John 8:3-11/Jonah 3:10-4:11 (March 31, 2019)

(This sermon is the third in our Lenten Series, "Rock of Ages", in which we're exploring how rocks can symbolize different characteristics of God and of ourselves.)

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Today’s scripture readings come from two stories that we’ve all heard countless times before. Those of us who grew up in the church have been hearing the story of Jonah since our earliest days of Sunday School, and while children’s Bible storybooks don’t usually cover “The Woman Caught in Adultery” for some reason, it’s still one of those stories that most of us know by heart. They’re so familiar, in fact, that if we’re not careful, we might miss what they’re really trying to tell us, because they’ve turned into the mundane background noise of our faith. We assume we’ve already learned their lessons because we’ve heard them so many times before. But what if I were to reframe them, maybe give them a different ending? What might we learn from a story told in a way that isn’t familiar to us? Let’s find out…