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Living Peaceably With Creation
A sermon about living gently with Creation. 25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither…
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Universal Communion
In Marilynne Robinson’s novel, Gilead, an elderly clergyman writes to his much younger son, “This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it.” I was reminded of these two short sentences yesterday, on Earth Day. As mentioned in a recent newsletter, I’ve been rereading Pope Francis’ encyclical letter, Laudato Si’…
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Accepting Our Creatureliness
Is watching, scrolling, and sharing the best we can do in response to yet another televised war? I want the act of watching a war unfold on the other side of the world to feel stranger than it does. It should feel stranger than it does. But I was thirteen when the first Gulf War…
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Cynicism is not Inevitable
A sermon about the truth which abides, even in our cynical age. To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he…
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Wait for It
A reflection for our church’s brief, online Watchnight Service. Imagine a gathering of enslaved women and men, collecting in secret on any given December 31st. New Year’s Day was often when enslavers settled their accounts; should they find themselves in debt, it was likely they would sell some of those they had bought and abused…
David W. Swanson
Pastor and Author
David W. Swanson 