July 21, 2024: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen. “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” This is what we just heard Jesus say in our gospel reading from Mark. “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” Now, Sabbath rest is important – so much so that God decreed it one of…

July 14, 2024: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen. I don’t know how many of you got a chance to watch the movie Barbie when it was out, or streamed it online, but if you did, then you know it wasn’t about a doll – not really. It was a fabulous critique of patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism – all in the hilarious context of Barb…

July 7, 2024: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen. Well, it is really good to be back from General Convention and here in this pulpit again. I missed you’all! Gee – did I miss anything? Did anything happen these past few weeks– you know, in the country, in our church? Maybe just a few things, right? But before we go there, I w…

June 16, 2024 – LGBTQ+ Sunday: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen. For the past three weeks, I have been trying to live into our State nickname – you know, The Garden State. As you know, I live up in Sussex County, where there are farms, cows, sheep, and horses. So, I figured I better do my part. However, the area is filled w…

June 9, 2024: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen. I love our Mass on the Grass…With Brass! Of course this year, we are missing “the grass.” Still, we do this each year, not only because we can be surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation, but because when we move outside our doors into our community – together – to offer our…

June 2, 2024: May God’s words be spoken. May God’s words be heard. Amen. Like many of you, I was glued to the television taking in the monumental news this week of a former President of the United States being convicted of 34 felony crimes by the people of the State of New York. Of course, this is new to us here, but many other countries, including…

May God’s words be spoken. May God’s words be heard. Amen. The Feast of Pentecost doesn’t get the same attention as Easter or Christmas. We don’t hold big family gatherings (though for some, that may be a good thing). It isn’t a typical day for exchanging gifts or sending Pentecost cards proclaiming a windy day of fire and speaking in tongues. Whic…

May 5, 2024: Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen. Some of you know that I received my Master of Divinity from the seminary of Drew University, a Methodist institution. I am very proud of that, as the classes were filled with people from many denominations, cultures, languages, races, and theological points of view. S…

April 28, 2024: Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen. While it happens more often than we realize, how strange it is to hear two places in one of our scripture readings that feature so heavily in our news cycle today: Jerusalem and Gaza. Stranger still is what takes place. In the reading from the Acts of the Apostles,…

PHOTO: Diana Wilcox April 21, 2024: Alleluia, Christ is Risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia! Amen. It is Good Shepherd Sunday, which always is the fourth Sunday of Easter. Of course, the obvious clues to this are Psalm 23 and the passage from the Gospel of John. Many, even those who have never been to church, know the words of the Psalm – we …