My old college buddy Bob Cornwall is one of the smartest guys I know.  He’s written a study guide on the book of Ephesians that would be an excellent small group resource. Bob combines the mind of a scholar and the heart of a pastor in this participatory study guide on Ephesians. Read More...

Have you ever noticed that some of the most popular Christmas carols deal with very serious issues? We sang the hauntingly beautiful Advent carol, O Come, O Come Emmanuel, on the first Sunday of Advent. It calls on God to put to flight “death’s deep shadows.” I suppose the somber tone of Read More...

Several years ago I participated in a ministers’ study group. We met once a month to hear one another’s sermons. We scheduled our presentations a month ahead of the church’s calendar. That meant November was the month to hear sermons on Advent and Christmas. I remember one particularly grey, bleak November afternoon Read More...

Last December I mentioned in a sermon that I was hoping for a White Christmas. I had never experienced one before. Gary Lezak, my favorite TV meteorologist, had been hinting that the possibility of significant snow on Christmas Day was beginning to look good. On Christmas Eve I saw Gary in line Read More...

Someone asked me the other day, “What is the purpose of life?” I said, “The purpose of life is love. Period.” Being a preacher I can’t really stop at two short sentences so allow me to elaborate: Read More…

I was born in 1958, the same year that the San Francisco Giants began playing baseball in the city by the Bay.  My birthplace was Los Angeles but my dad, a long time New York Giants baseball fan, never gave a single thought about pulling for the Dodgers.   I cannot prove it Read More...

Sunday afternoon is usually a time for me to decompress. Julie and I like to go to lunch on The Plaza or sometimes we pick up a light lunch, grab our tennis rackets and head out to the courts for a few games. There are other times when we head straight home Read More...

This Sunday I begin a four part sermon series titled, “Imitatio Dei: Imitating the Compassion of God.”  Robin Myers, in his book, Saving Jesus From The Church, negatively critiques the church saying that “we have lost the essential quality of Christianity as a way of life.”  I agree. Read More...

A report came out today from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life noting that atheists and agnostics are better educated about religion than Christians (Protestant and Catholic) in America.  I’d like to say I was surprised by this conclusion but I was not.  I am continually amazed at the lack Read More...