Sitting up in the choir loft, I often jotted down notes from his sermons, and finally I brought a small notebook with me to record his beautiful ideas. Here are some of the sketches and notes I recorded from his one year with us:

Magic is conveyed in special moments.This is the way God chooses.

We will never know when God will be born in the events of our lives.

We are called to be vehicles of Grace in the world. We are agents.



"The Lord called me before I was born." —the ironies of God's providence move toward the future. "While I was in my mother's womb He named me."

When the time is right, the servant of the Lord will do God's work. God is not limited by time as we are. All that is our lives is now to God, Who is in Eternal Present.

God does not give us our lives as riddles. Instead, He gives us every moment to be formed, to be now. We are formed in the womb to serve, and we are called as who we are now, in every moment.

We are called to transform ourselves, the be open to God. We are more powerful when we respond to God that we can ever imagine. Come, and see.



Belonging to a church can be hazardous: God knows Israel as a lover; God has become one with her, and she is chosen. We also are chosen. We are the new Israel. Therefore, we are accountable, a hazard.

When we treat each other badly, we miss the point: We are one, the Body, and founded on unconditional Love. We are called unconditionally to God. We are called: Follow Me. When we respond, remarkable events occur: healing, teaching, orating—the Kingdom of Heaven comes. Therefore, first, respond. Then: God does this Work: We, not I.

O my people! Remember!

With what shall I come before the Lord on High? Consider your call: God chose what is lowly.

If I have no place, where is my responsibility? And what is my worth? Our worth is, in our world, what we have. But God requires justice, kindness, and mercy—Love God and your neighbor as yourself—that is our responsibility. But first be in a covenant with God. Be walking carefully (This means: live in the presence of God, and be always aware of His care).

Blessed is being blessed continually: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Even when God asks it, we fear to let go. This is about our need for control. When we give up control, we fall into God.

Our business is visible joy.

God lives in us. Who else?

"The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai." ("Lord, it is good to be here." Joy, founded on resurrection, includes crucifixions: pain, without power.

Transfiguration events take place on mountain tops. But after these events, life takes place below.

God reveals power, Grace, and great glory.

What is our response to Grace on the mountain top?

We begin now in the world below.

To celebrate: "I will tell you a great and wonderful Mystery: that Christ is alive, risen from the dead."

Be lifted, transfigured, and be a witness to the extraordinary. Even in the midst of cataclysm we can be transformed and brought into joy.

Ash Wednesday is a day of tension: "Blow the trumpet in Zion."

The next forty days need the support of others who are also keeping a holy Lent.

Temptations are presented to us at beginnings.

Once you allow God to get hold of you, you cannot know where it will end.

Response in Abraham was immediate, without debate. More often, we look back and see how we were called, and how we responded.

Failure can teach you. You don't die from it.

Sometimes what we do wrong opens us to the power of God.

We are called, and more than once.

Response does not guarantee happiness, but growth and meaning.

When you are called, go, without argument, and say your prayers.

When we have encounters with God, we can share them. Do not keep God's voice a secret. (a children's sermon)

Wonder is the beginning of worship.

Lent is about waiting as in the spring what has been dormant returns.

Lent is about God's patience.

We must trust in the process.