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  The following prayer was written by Rev. Timothy Whitaker (1948-2024), who served as bishop of The Florida Area of The United Methodist Church. In 2001, Bishop Whitaker published this prayer in The District Beam (newsletter, January/February) while he was the Norfolk (VA)... Read More →

  No one really believes in utterly free, unfettered choice. There are good choices and bad choices, and an enduring challenge in life is to know the difference. There are choices that we forbid ourselves and others to make. For instance, I have a legal right to drive my car... Read More →

      It was in a short piece posted by a cranky young blogger a little over a decade ago that I first read about dogs replacing children in the lives of young adults. This correlates to cohabitation replacing marriage in this cohort, but it reflects a cultural change... Read More →

      Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)   This sentence from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians contains an insight into what sin is, specifically for Christians. Sin is a “grieving” of the... Read More →

    “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade!” This advice, which has a happy resonance during the dog days of summer, is meant to encourage anyone who is going through a rough spot. Sour things can, and should, be turned into something sweet. What this adage leaves... Read More →

    All too often, prolifers have reason to feel as if our efforts have been futile. With Dobbs v. Jackson, we took one step out of the pro-choice hole our country has dug for itself, but since then it seems we’ve slipped three steps back. We’re barely two years past... Read More →

    Most pastors and most priests seldom speak about abortion from the pulpit during the weekly worship service.  Why are pastors and priests so reluctant to talk about this matter in the sanctuary?  Fear.  We are afraid that if we address abortion a woman of whatever age... Read More →

  [The following is based on a sermon preached at Trinity Anglican Seminary, 5 June 2024.]    Lectionary : Deut 5:6-21 Ps 81:1-10(11-16) 2 Cor 4:1-12 Mark 2:23-28    There is a FoxTrot comic from 1988 in which Peter, the athletic older brother, asks his nerdy younger brother... Read More →

    Perhaps you know this Old Testament story (2 Samuel 11). King David, on his roof after a nap, spied a married woman, Bathsheba, bathing on her own roof below. Admiring her beauty, he sent for her and lay with her. Shortly afterward, Bathsheba sent the king word that... Read More →

  As Moses spoke face to face with God his own face was being transformed into a glowing brightness that would be too much for the Israelites to look upon; for their sake, he covered his face when he went out to speak to them. Moses’ transfiguration is a type or anticipation... Read More →