Author: Pastor Nick
Forty-seven years of ordained ministry, beginning for twelve years as a Jesuit priest, thirty-two as a United Methodist Pastor.
The Power of Gentleness
A bell calls us to the present moment. Distractions flee as we listen to its call and its fading into the silence that invites us to connect with the Spirit. Sharing some famous bells, and a tiny one ... Read More
Egypt Getaway
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, some forty artists in Europe were so captivated by the Flight of the Holy Family to Egypt, that they painted fifty masterpieces of a time of rest in the... Read More
Down Payment on Heaven
The opening verses of Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians are filled with a breathless intensity. We explore the meaning of earnest money, or down payment on Heaven. The words of the spiritual writer... Read More
Carol of the Cosmos
The original title of Charles Wesley’s “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing” was “Hark, How All the Welkin Rings.” Listen to “Agapito” and pastor converse about how ... Read More
The First-Ever Carol
Magnificat anima mea Dominum! Studies have shown that a child in the womb can hear the sounds of the mother and is sensitive to the lullabies that mom sings. These become preferred songs after birth. ... Read More
Dead Wood Sings
When hope seems hopeless, and your soul seems dead, that’s when the grace of true hope appears. Dead wood comes to life in chainsaw art. Dead wood sings in a guitar, violin or other stringed ins... Read More
“Stay Awake”—Really?!
We live in a culture that is sleep-deprived. So how can Jesus urge us to stay awake more? Some humorous examples from Pastor when he fell asleep at inappropriate times… However, there’s a ... Read More
Down Is Up
This last Sunday of the church year is Christ the King Sunday. The Gospel is the wondrous story of “The Good Thief” in Luke 23:33-43. A Christian spiritual teacher once said that “Th... Read More
Hurry Up and Wait!
The folks in the ancient city of Thessalonica became lazy: nothing more to do or not to do, because the Second Coming of Jesus was thought to be happening very soon. All they had to do was to si... Read More
Hang On and Let Go!
This first of our Family Sundays had us have lots of fun with a mock tug of war in the sanctuary. Standing firm in the Lord, yet letting go so that God can work. Paul’s letter from prison has so... Read More
A Gallery of Saints
A service of remembrance of nineteen saints in heaven from various members of the church. Two verses from the twelfth chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews remind us of the gallery of saints in heaven ... Read More
My Bad—God Good
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector offers many avenues of spiritual exploration: judgment and forgiveness, mercy and grace. Mercy is God not punishing us as our sins deserve; grace is G... Read More
From Hard Clay to Soft Hearts
We began having the children and the whole congregation feel the pulses of our hearts. Then we passed from what is a pinky promise with the children, to the main part of the sermon, beginning with the... Read More
A Lane to God
Each of us has a lane to God. We need to focus on our call and response to the Lord, and not concern about the lanes of others. The tenth leper did a u-turn and went back to Jesus to give him thanks. ... Read More
Seed-Sized Faith
“The seed of God is in us.” So expressed the 13th century monk and mystic, Meister Eckart. Deepak Chopra, a modern leader in mind-body medicine writes: “…Nurture the seeds of d... Read More
Music Sunday
Whenever there are five Sundays in a month, we widen our voices, our talents and our joy, just to sing, to listen and be grateful for the gift of music. This is the Fifth Sunday in Kingdomtide. There ... Read More
Passing or Lasting
The crafty manager who cheated the rich landowner offers an example of what it means to settle for the passing instead of what is lasting. I share examples from my early assignments as a Campus Minist... Read More
From Bad to Best
From Saul to Paul…We’re so used to focusing on Paul, that with Augustine, Bishop of Hippo in North Africa, we forget about Saul. “You are thinking of the shepherd, you have forgotten... Read More
Use It or Lose It!
We began by asking some little ones what it was like to feel salt on their tongue. One youngster wanted to come back for more! What makes salt lose its strength? Recounting how salt was processed from... Read More
Soul Transparency
Many folks find themselves wanting more and more “likes” on their Facebook or Instagram posts. Photos of one’s face or what a person had for breakfast find clicks of likes. Facial an... Read More
Eyes on the Goal
“The eye with which I see God is the same with which God sees me. My eye and God’s eye is one eye, and one sight and one knowledge and one love.” Meister Eckhardt. It may seem hard to wr... Read More
A Hero of Faith
It was very exciting today to welcome the family and friends of Nicole and Nicholas Jones for the baptism of Bailey Raines. Abraham, the father of the three major spiritual traditions in Judaism, Chri... Read More
The Shelf-Life of Humans
The tragic death of 29 persons in one day of two massacres changed the manner in which I thought I would begin the sermon: no jokes, just pure seriousness. However welcoming two former members o... Read More