July 16, 2017
In 2005, Kate and I moved to Germantown, Maryland. We still attended our UCC church in Vienna, Virginia which was a 40-minute drive by car. We wanted to get to know people and help out our immediate community so we joined the Jaycees in our town. Each time we would gather we would recited the… Read More »
July 9, 2017
Matthew 10:16-19, 25-30 I loved being Catholic. I went to Catholic school and mass at least twice a week during the school year. In First Grade, the priest at the time, Father Bird, passed out these stickers that said “God is love.” It was a red heart with white writing. This sticker is burned into… Read More »
July 2, 2017
I’ve hated hospitals most of my life. Growing up, we rarely went to them unless something was seriously wrong. Our family health code was, “keep your guts on the inside and walk it off.” Partly due to lack of medical coverage and partly due to old fashioned Slovakian/Irish pride and stubbornness. That changed when I was in… Read More »
June 26, 2017
Matthew 10:24-33 “Have any of you seen the glowing cloud that has been moving in from the west? Well, John Peters – you know, the farmer? He saw it over the western ridge this morning. Said he would have thought it was the setting sun if it wasn’t for the time of day. Apparently, the… Read More »
June 19, 2017
Once, you weren’t you. A long time ago, there was one thing. That one thing that became many. The one thing was still one, but it became complex and differentiated in an explosion of creativity. Through this, stars were born, galaxies started to swirl, and planets were formed. On one particular planet, this stardust started… Read More »
June 11, 2017
Someone once asked me, “What’s it like to be a pastor?” “It’s a mess,” I said. I didn’t think about my reply, it came out before I could think. The other person was shocked into silence. I tend to do these things, shock people with honesty. I gathered my wits and said, “It’s a beautiful… Read More »
June 4, 2017
The Reverend Quinn Caldwell shares the story of one of our spiritual ancestors, Samuel Sewall, in his 2014 UCC Lent devotional. Samuel Sewall was one of the judges who condemned so-called witches to death in Salem in the 1700s. Eventually, he became convinced he’d made a terrible mistake, so he later wrote a public confession… Read More »
May 28, 2017
When I studied abroad in Leipzig, Germany one summer in college, we took several trips to cities around the country. On one particular trip we toured the city of Weimar with a group of German students. We had a great time joking around as we toured the Bauhaus museum that morning. The Bauhaus was a… Read More »
May 21, 2017
Max Lucado tells a wonderful parable in his book “Outlive Your Life.” Once upon a time, unfavorable winds blow a ship of course. The ship is in uncharted waters of the South Seas. The captain steers the ship toward six islands. The captain orders the men to drop anchor, and then goes ashore. He is… Read More »
