There’s something about the way you use the bible, something about the way you use it as a tool, as a weapon, as a fulcrum, as a means, as an end, as a trump card. There’s something about your intensity and your urgency and the way you have your eyes locked on some distant prize.…
So I’m reading The Book of Enoch. Why I’m doing that is complicated and I don’t want to go down that rabbit hole, so let’s just say it’s part of some, whatever, shit I’m doing right now. Anyway, so I’ve been reading this Enoch book and wow. It is a trip. There’s this favorite part…
I mean I’m used to Reggie “Freakin” Regan showing up and saving the day. That’s just the way it is with him. If you’re going to be friends with Reggie, you have to be prepared for him to be really good at all kinds of things. He can’t help it. Like the other night. We…
A Dramatized Version of a Bible Story No one hated rich people more than Judas. Seriously, he hated them. Judas said the problems our people were having could be traced back to all sorts of abuses by the establishment and the powerful people who were in charge of things. He hated the professional priests and…
It’s as if P.T. Barnum had run for president years ago. Everyone knew P.T. Barnum and knew what kind of a man he was and knew how he operated, but a segment of society became convinced that P.T. Barnum was no longer P.T. Barnum but had changed into a trustworthy politician with an astonishing vision…
I went to Covenant Baptist Church on a recent Sunday morning. I stop in now and then. Their pastor just left for another church, so Covenant will have a series of guest preachers over the next few months. It’s been nine years since I left Covenant, the ministry, and subsequently the Church, if you count membership in a…
I have a preacher friend who lives in an old farmhouse that he is restoring himself. He’s one of those “do everything” guys. Gardening, carpentry, repair work, he does it all. Robert is not a bullshit, pantywaist, white-collar preacher with soft theology and a degree in marketing. His faith and knowledge are deep and wide.…
It happened in one of those quiet moments when nothing much was going on. Peter whistled while he mended a net. Bartholomew picked at his sandal. The other guys were talking in small groups. Jesus was sitting apart, looking north up the Jordan River. He was wondering about the man who used to live in…
Delivered as a sermon at Sage Chapel, Cornell University, April 9th, 2006 Jesus of Nazareth was in town, and the word spread quickly. Whispers moved through the marketplace and were carried on the winds of gossip and rumor. The exciting young rabbi from Galilee was in Judea, and not only in Judea but in their…
When I first came to know Jonah and Robert, I was very eager to please. They were my first real wheelchair friends. When I was with them my personality took on a quality not unlike that of the Crocodile Hunter on TV. Every request was met with a boisterous “Absolutely.” I hovered over them with…