[Updated 2021] Thirty-five years ago I raised my hand, took the oath of office, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, Chaplain Candidate, in the US Army Reserve. That summer, as a student in the Chaplain Officer Basic Course at Fort Monmouth, NJ, I first heard the story of the Four Chaplains: George Fox, Alexander Goode,…
One of my biggest frustrations listening to lots of Zoom sermons is that too many preachers today have no sense of place or time. Their sermons could be preached anywhere at anytime. They never listened to Barth’s exhortation to preach “with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.” They never learned…
[DRAFT] “Social determinants of health” is a public health construct of “conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play that affect a wide range of health risks and outcomes.” They include health access and quality, education access and quality, social and community context, economic stability, and neighborhood and built environment (CDC). Most…
One of our Seventh-day Adventist Chaplains, Barry Black, has been in the news much recently. He had his work cut out for him on January 6, a dark day that witnessed the unthinkable, an insurrection that culminated in what he referred to as “the desecration of the United States Capitol Building,” where he has served…
[Remarks given October 2019 to campus ministry leaders] My theme today is a theology of place. I hear some clues to where you all are from in your stories and in your accents, and I see some clues in the things you are wearing—New England. California. Walla Walla. A Maryland flag. I have lived in…
[Advent 2009] We are Seventh-day Adventists. Seventh-day tells the world that we observe the Biblical Sabbath. Adventist says our lives our oriented by our hope in Christ’s advent, a word that means “coming.” We await his second coming in the clouds of glory at the end of time. And we believe that day to be…
[Advent 2009] This morning, I’d like to look at the preaching of John the Baptist. I think he was probably an uncomfortable person to be around, dressed in strange clothes and eating strange foods. And he had an uncomfortable message. But he didn’t care—he had only one thing to do—prepare the way of the Lord…
[Jan. 2, 2010] Today’s the 9h day of Christmas. Like in the song …. “On the ninth day of Christmas my true love sent to me: nine ladies dancing, eight maids a milking, seven swans a swimming, six geese a laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves, and a…
[Christmas 2011] In the year 1223, a year before he died, Francis of Assisi visited the town of Greccio, Italy. According to his first biographer, Thomas of Celano, “The humility of the incarnation and the love of the passion so occupied his memory that he scarcely wished to think of anything else.” It was Christmas,…
Appreciating Anabaptism. A video presentation reflecting on Anabaptist history and theology from an Adventist perspective.
Devotion for North American Division staff, September 16, 2020 This past Friday was the 19th anniversary of an event that is for most of us what the Kennedy assassination was for our parents—one of those days where you know exactly where you were and what you were doing. I was in campus ministry then. I…
Since I haven’t been able to be on the speaking circuit, I’ve recorded and uploaded to YouTube some of my “stump speeches.”
A Sermon for July 4, 2020 My title comes Leviticus 25:10 “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” That text is inscribed on a large cast bronze bell in Philadelphia known as the Liberty Bell. In 1751, the Colony of Pennsylvania was building a new state house, and wanted an appropriate…
I remember when the main religious liberty concern of Adventists was the fear of what Christians do when they have political power. That’s the thread throughout Ellen G. White’s book, “The Great Controversy.” It’s about how Christianity turned to the state for protection and patronage, and was corrupted, and how it became a persecutor. It’s…
(This is an article I wrote in the year 2000, after attending the 3rd Internet and Society Conference at Harvard. Think of it as a time capsule. I was Director of Young Adult and Campus Ministry for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston at the time, so it has a Catholic focus. Still, it raised some interesting…
There was a photo today of German Chancellor Angela Merkel grocery shopping in Berlin. We have few politicians who would be seen at a grocery store. Trump once said you need an ID to use one. Or, if you were not working, the grocery store would “work with you” so you could have food. Dick…
Hospitals, spiritual care is not a luxury you can eliminate in a crisis. Now is the time you need it more than ever. And realize, too, that your chaplains are likely overwhelmed along with the rest of your staff, and they will suffer burnout, compassion fatigue, moral injury, and PTS along with them. What are…
The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists has announced that its quinquennial session will be postponed a year due to COVID-19. It will be a session reduced in size in days and participants, to focus on just getting the business done. And this, they say, will be a model for the future. It makes sense, from…
Some practical wisdom from the distinguished theologian of Wittenberg. …Use medicine; take potions which can help you; fumigate house, yard, and street; shun persons and places wherever your neighbor does not need your presence or has recovered, and act like a man who wants to help put out the burning city. What else is the…
“And there was war in heaven” (Revelation 12:7-9). What an image! In the heavenly kingdom, the kingdom of peace, there was war! A war that spread to this earth, and engulfed it in conflict, misery, and death. We refer to this war as “The Great Controversy.” That isn’t merely the title of a book by a…
What is a college chaplain? A chaplain is the senior advisor to a president on the spiritual life of a campus–a critical position for the Christian college or university. This needs to be the starting point in your search. If you think a chaplain is merely a coordinator of religious activities for students then you…
Daniel chapter 3 tells a familiar story. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, erected a golden statue on the plain of Dura and commanded all people to bow before it. Those who refused would be cast into a fiery furnace. In verse 8, the start of our reading, his advisors told Nebuchadnezzar three men he had appointed…
John 1:5–“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.” Shortly after I arrived here yesterday afternoon, I went over to the Wal-Mart to join with those reflecting and praying at the memorial which was set up to honor the 22 victims who died last Sabbath morning. I went again this morning…
The Department of Defense recently issued a new document on nuclear war, JP 3-72, Nuclear Operations. It was quickly taken offline, but not before being snagged and posted by the Federation of American Scientists. This is all it says of ethics: The law of war governs the use of nuclear weapons, just as it governs…
The year was 1569. The place, Holland, which was then under Spanish rule. That meant Catholic rule, and Protestants were treated harshly, especially those known as Anabaptists. Dirk Willems was an Anabaptist. When they came to arrest him for preaching the Gospel, he took off running, with an officer known as a “thief catcher” in…
