A sermon preached January 11, 2026, at Tapestry Unitarian-Universalist Church in Houston, TX. One of our family Christmas traditions for over thirty-five years has been watching the movie, “A Christmas Story.” It is set in Indiana in the 1940s, which was not much different than the Indiana I knew as a kid in Terre Haute…
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sinsand I look forward to the resurrection of the deadand the life of the world to come. Amen. So ends the Nicene Creed, a confession meant to profess a faith shared universally, a faith that made the church one,…
Tulsi Gabbard spoke to a TurningPointUSA gathering this week about the need for American unity—and then she attacked American Muslims. This is how right wing governments work: they seek to unite their own base by stirring up fear and hatred of a minority. Orwell’s 1984 depicted a daily “two minute hate” against the scapegoat Goldstein.…
Pete Hegseth, the current Secretary of Defense (styling himself “Secretary of War”) recently issued a video saying it was time to “Make the Chaplaincy Great Again.” He attacked the Chaplain Corps in toto, and a new US Army Spiritual Fitness Guide in particular. I was able to review that guide before it was purged from…
The Wedding. Joy and I met at the beginning of my freshman year of college. I was a freshman, she was a senior. We married at the end of my sophomore year, forty-three years ago. Our wedding took place at the Village Church of Seventh-day Adventists in South Lancaster, Massachusetts. Our music professor played the…
This morning, I was ordained as a minister of the Western District Conference of the Mennonite Church USA. It’s been a long and deliberate process. I first visited Houston Mennonite Church six years ago. I was beginning to study peace churches, and how they taught the principles of peace and nonresistance (or non-violent resistance) to…
A group of septuagenarian Seventh-day Adventist scholars recently wrote a book, Reclaiming the Prophet: An Honest Defense of Ellen White’s Gift. It was published by Pacific Press, the Adventist publishing house. Despite the fact that they intended to “defend” Ellen White, the book was quickly withdrawn from Adventist Book Centers (I got a copy while…
A sermon preached at Tapestry Unitarian-Universalist Church, Spring, Texas, October 19, 2025 Opening Words: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (NRSVUE). Call to Reflection: “The kind of hope I often think about (especially in situations that are particularly hopeless, such as prison) I understand…
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said, “As history teaches us, the only people who actually deserve peace are those who are willing to wage war to defend it. That’s why pacifism is so naive and dangerous.” I wore an Army uniform for twenty years, though as a Chaplain I was a non-combatant. I’m now a…
A friend posted a meme from an atheist group on Facebook. It said, “When you leave religion, morality stops being a contract. You choose to build a life where compassion isn’t a rule–it’s a value. Where kindness isn’t a command–it’s a choice. Where justice isn’t handed down from a mountain–it’s fought for by people who…
John Henry Newman once wrote, “A University is a place of concourse, whither students come from every quarter for every kind of knowledge.… It is a seat of wisdom, a light of the world, a minister of the faith, an Alma Mater of the rising generation.” “A university … is not a convent, it is…
As an Adventist, I was often told I had to read a book by Ellen White, The Great Controversy, that told the history of the church seeking the power of the state, and using that to punish religious enemies. We were told it would happen in the future. Now that we see it daily in…
I’ve been enjoying “The Leader’s Way” podcast, produced by Berkeley Divinity School of Yale University. The latest episode, “We Have to Talk About Suicide,” features Michelle Snyder of Soul Shop, which offers faith based suicide prevention trainings (I attended one a decade ago, when leaders of LivingWorks were thinking of ways to collaborate with them).…
Twenty-four years ago a group of terrorists, mostly Saudis (15 of 19) and guided by a Saudi millionaire, destroyed two buildings, damaged others, and brought down four aircraft, killing 2,977 people. The government of the United States, led by George W. Bush, responded in fear, anger, and a desire for vengeance. They set in motion…
Today’s World Suicide Prevention Day brings many thoughts and memories. During my second period of military service (2009-2019) suicide prevention became one of the most important issues I dealt with. I did countless suicide interventions and too many post-ventions. I became an ASIST master trainer. I saw that we were only seeing our National Guard…
One of today’s news headlines was Trump has renamed the Department of Defense as the “War Department” (something the US hasn’t had since shortly after the last declared war). His “War Secretary” pushed for this–Pete Hegseth speaks constantly about the need to emphasize “lethality” and a “warrior ethos,” as if these are new concepts. In…
Roger Williams, the Baptist founder of Rhode Island, was the first person to speak of a wall of separation between the church and the world. Thomas Jefferson revived the image when writing to the Danbury Baptists, assuring them of his support in opposing established religion. Some folks in Texas today disagree, wanting to turn us…
Non-profits, faith-based organizations, and other providers of disaster response services are now being threatened with prosecution if they do anything that benefits any “illegal.” This is a direct threat against any Christians who do what Jesus commanded in Matthew 24:31 ff. This made me think of the response of Unitarian pastor Theodore Parker when he…
My friend Kristy Hodson was a pastor in the Southern New England Conference, a Chaplain Candidate in the Navy Reserve, a CPE resident in Florida, and a healthcare Chaplain in Florida and (now) Massachusetts. She’s been interviewed on a podcast, “Soul Bruises,” about her experiences (see the links below). I know her. I know her…
Using the National Guard against Americans exercising their Consitutional rights always ends up badly; e.g., deaths of students at Kent State in 1970, and the Arkansas governor’s use of the National Guard to prevent Black students from attending Little Rock High School in 1957. When I was a Chaplain in the Army Reserve and National…
(A poem about how quickly Veterans are forgotten. Still true 135 years later). I went into a public ‘ouse to get a pint o’ beer, The publican ‘e up an’ sez, “We serve no red-coats here.” The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die, I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez…
In today’s session of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist, archivist David Trim spoke about surveys they did as part of the denomination’s strategic planning process. The same questions were asked at least five years apart (some questions have been asked several times over two decades), which provided for analysis of trends. The results should…
(The Seventh-day Adventist General Conference Session has been meeting this week in St. Louis. Over half my life was spent in this denomination, including sixteen years of ministry (nine of which were at the North American Division headquarters), so I’ve been reflecting on that experience this week. This article reflects on the emphasis on baptisms,…
(The Seventh-day Adventist General Conference Session has been meeting this week in St. Louis. Over half my life was spent in this denomination, including sixteen years of ministry (nine of which were at the North American Division headquarters), so I’ve been reflecting on that experience this week. This article reflects on membership, the practice of…
Jesus said some radical things about eating and drinking. Matthew 11:18-19, “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’” Mark 7:18-19, “‘Do you not see that…
Almighty God, compassionate and merciful, as we reflect this week on our nation’s birth, help us recall and treasure our heritage of separation of church and state and the religious liberty which it makes possible. May we remember the compassionate words inscribed upon the statue of Liberty, the mother of exiles, which welcomed so many…
(I thought of this while watching a video of a conference sponsored by an organization I used to work for. I saw many friends, and am hopeful of some continuing friendships). Should auld acquaintance be forgot,And never brought to mind?Should auld acquaintance be forgot,And auld lang syne! Chorus: For auld lang syne, my dear, …
I’m told that at a “world congress” today Adventist chaplains were offered a special abbreviated edition of Ellen White’s book, The Great Controversy, to hand out to those they meet in their work. The one who told me was troubled by this, and wondered what chapters in this very sectarian book would be appropriate for…
These are some thoughts based on nearly 40 years of chaplaincy experience in the Army, campus ministry, and hospitals (I speak as a Christian knowing those of other faiths will phrase things differently, but they may agree with the spirit of my observations). 1. You only have rank so that people will listen when you…
Like most kids, I loved dinosaurs. Back in the 1960s, toy dinosaurs came with Frito-Lay and Nabisco products. For Christmas 1968 I got Kenner’s “Rex: The Tyrannosaurus;” made of molded styrofoam blocks held together by a large wooden dowel, it stood 4 1/2 feet tall and was 6 feet from nose to the tip of…
Pax et bonum 
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