Articles
Aside from my first article (in 1984) on medical mistakes, I have had more response from When Mental Illness Blocks the Spirit than any other article I've written. I've suffered from clinical depression all of my adult life, and I've found it very difficult to experience the "joy in the Spirit" that is supposedly a hallmark of the Christian life. I've known others with similar problems. We have no difficulty recognizing that a person's physical ailments are not a sign of alienation from God, yet we still tend to think of mental illness that way. The article first appeared in The Other Side in the spring of 2002.
Repentance appeared in The Living Pulpit, a journal for preachers in the summer of 2004. In it, I look at the question at what repentance might look like for a middle-class American like myself who benefits from so much injustice.
Sermons
The Coming Simplicity is an attempt to look honestly at one of the the moral problems of our consumerism -- namely global warming-- and our spiritual responsibility to respond as individuals but more importantly as a community. I gave this as a teaching (sermon) at our Eighth Day Faith Community on April 20, 2008.
I offered Shearing God of Violence to my own Eighth Day Faith Community on July 4, 2006. It tackles the complex Christian doctrine of atonement and suggests that we need to take a look at that concept in such a way that we are consistent with the actively non-violent God of the Gospels. (This is, in part, a look at one of René Girard's conceptualizations of the nonviolent God.)
Apocalyptic Hope is a sermon I offered to my own Eighth Day Faith Community in August of 2006, looking at the possibility of hope in the face of the coming crisis.
I preached Sin and Salvation in February 2005 looking at the nature of sin, confession and forgiveness as I understand it as a Christian.
What I Believe is a two-part sermon that Carol Marsh and I offered together to our Eighth Day Faith Community in September 2004 as part of our church community's exploration of the role of religious belief in our lives. The ongoing conversation within our community has been revealing and rewarding.
Speeches