I wrote this back when “The Passion of the Christ” debuted; it was the basis for a presentation I gave at a number of churches and synagogues to help bridge different perspectives on the film. Introduction Mel Gibson’s depiction of the Passion has generated more discussion and criticism than any other movie in recent memory.…
I offered these prayers during a service of lament that took place at two locations this day — First Unitarian-Universalist Church of Houston and the Rothko Chapel. Prayer #1 We cry out to you from the depths, O Lord—Hear our prayer. Let your ears listen to our pleas for mercy! If you kept a record…
The Book of Worship for U.S. Forces (1974) includes a prayer service that begins: “In every prayer for peace there is a touch of blasphemy.It is as though war were inevitable and only God could extricate us. But we are the warriors, the makers and wagers of destruction.(Not God. Not even “they.”) Perhaps our prayers…
As a minister of the Mennonite Church USA, I believe 1) diversity is a beautiful thing, reflective of God’s creative intent, 2) the church is called to proclaim God’s kingdom, which stands against all systems of injustice and oppression, and calls us to work for equity and justice, and 3) the Gospel breaks down walls…
Some recent memoranda from federal agencies warn against “gender-ideology” and “gender-identity” and say these ideas will not be tolerated. They don’t define what they mean by these terms in scare quotes. In fact, these government officials are guilty of doing what they forbid. Their “gender ideology,” based solely on fundamentalist religious belief, insists that the diversity of human…
Sermon preached at Tapestry Unitarian-Universalist Church on May 24, 2026 Opening Words: “In Flanders Fields,” poem by John McCrae In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie, In Flanders…
(Sermon preached at Houston Mennonite Church, May 17, 2026. I have plagiarized myself throughout–much of this is taken verbatim from my paper, The Evangelization of the Americas: St. Francis as Conquistador, presented at the Central Vermont Ecumenical Forum, Montpelier, VT, October 13, 1992. There you will find footnotes and sources. And here’s another piece I…
Pete Hegseth, the current Secretary of Defense (styling himself “Secretary of War”) has declared war on the Chaplain Corps. He issued a video on December 16, 2025, 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. On…
Sermon preached at Tapestry Unitarian-Universalist Church, Spring, TX. Palm Sunday, March 29, 2026 Mark 11:1-11, New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition It is a familiar story, this account of the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem accompanied by waving of palms. With this we enter Holy Week, the last week of Jesus’ life. In churches of…
When I went to the Army chaplain school for the first time 40 years ago, we were taught that chaplains had an ethical obligation to speak up when the law or moral standards were violated. We were taught about some chaplains who had remained silent, choosing career over conscience. We weren’t told about CH (MG)…
I am chaplain for the Emergency Room of a VA Medical Center. (And so I have to say that the views shared in this presentation do not represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.) I provide spiritual care for Veterans and I am a Veteran myself. I served…
Empathy is not a sin (contrary to some)—it is a virtue. Empathy is foundational to being able to live with others in a civil society. I’m shocked, therefore, at recent comments from supposed Christians reacting to the murder by ICE agents of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti. Pretti’s death hit me especially hard because…
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.…
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. Video of sermon as preached at Unitarian Fellowship of Houston on May 3, 2026 may be seen here. 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…
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).…
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…
Pax et bonum 
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