Rudyard Kipling died a month after I was born, so he represents to me the world that was passing away. I was in the eighth grade when I read The Jungle Book, and this is how my love of pristine nature began to dominate my imagination, leading me to my college major in the biological […]

Sometimes you hear about a Red Letter Day. That’s usually a reference to a special moment that should be remembered: a birthday or wedding anniversary, a graduation, a nation’s victory in battle. The use of this phrase goes way back to Roman Republican times, 500 years before Christ, when red numbers began being used for […]

When I came out of our house this morning to face another hot Southern California July day, I found myself singing the 1963 Nat King Cole song: Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer Those days of soda and pretzels and beer Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer You’ll wish […]

Our last two Sunday sermons have been about The Hole in Your Soul.  In the first, I used Psalm 42 to talk about the fact that all of us seem to have some feeling of emptiness inside that we aren’t able to fill. In the second, Pastor Connie used Psalm 63 to remind us that […]

“I’m everybody’s mother. Women are more reassuring after an event.” This is how Dr. Lucy Jones explains why people in Southern California look for her face on TV after they feel an earthquake. Of course, she’s underselling herself when she says this. We listen to her because she really knows stuff and can explain it […]

Some of the most popular Christian preachers proclaim loudly that the Bible is the Word of God as they use it as a club to attack people who don’t agree with them. For them, the Bible is a weapon in a war against evil. Others treat the Bible as a rule book that contains clear […]

The man is on an elevated platform, behind a pulpit; he’s wearing a suit, and everything about him indicates authority and truth. You can draw a straight line from the light of God’s presence, through the open Bible, through his open mouth, through his pointing finger, through the pulpit of proclamation, to a weary, struggling seeker […]

My good friend Norm Rhinehart has finally come to the end of his earthly journey, after 97 years of living a positive, meaningful life. He died peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones — the way we all hope to go. We will memorialize his life on Saturday, and we will share stories about him to […]

In considering what I might write about for this week’s Messenger, I let my mind float over the ABC congregation, thinking about various families and individuals, asking about each, “What are they experiencing right now that brings them anxiety or concern?” I came up with answers like health issues, financial challenges and big decisions they […]

So we have decided to see the BIG ONE as our friend, sent to us by God, rather than fearing it as a terrible wave that will overwhelm and destroy us. With his help, we intend to ride it, as a surfer would. My boyhood fear of the big wave that had the power to […]