Text: Micah 6:6-8; Mark 10:13-16 A Sermon by Louise Westfall The post Mixing Politics and Religion: Towards a New Moral Vision appeared first on Central Presbyterian Church Denver ..read more

Text: Revelation 1:1-8, 21:1-6 A Sermon by Louise Westfall The post High Anxiety: Mixing Politics and Religion (3): The End…or a New Beginning? appeared first on Central Presbyterian Church Denver ..read more

Text: Mark 12:13-17, 28-34 A Sermon by Louise Westfall The post High Anxiety: Mixing Politics and Religion (2): Is America a Christian Nation? appeared first on Central Presbyterian Church Denver ..read more

Text: John 18:33-38 A Sermon by Louise Westfall The post High Anxiety: Mixing Politics and Religion (1): Christian Nationalism appeared first on Central Presbyterian Church Denver ..read more

Legacies.   I’ve been thinking about them lately.   What you leave behind that captures your essence and is remembered and even cherished by others.  Oh, not my own—I entrust that to the five congregations I have served as pastor over forty years, and hey! I still have time here, so don’t go writing it just yet. Preparing the memorial service for 98-year-old member Edna Sheldon got me thinking about her legacy of love and caring, a shining witness to her enduring faith through sorrow as well as joy. This spiritual legacy is reflected through a tangible symbol, the stun ..read more

We celebrate our country’s independence this year with no small amount of ambivalence. A recent cartoon captured it this way: A woman is asking a wine store clerk for a recommendation. What do you have, she asks, for when you’re watching the death of democracy? Another showed a shredded Constitution turned into a paper crown, presumably for a king above the law. For many of us, the dark humor of these cartoons depicts despairing times for which it is difficult to find a promising outcome. But my friends, we gather here as people of Christian faith who see history not as a series of consequence ..read more

Music mystified Charles Darwin.  In 1874 the brilliant biologist wrote that humankind’s ability to produce and enjoy melodies was among our most baffling characteristic.  All human societies made music, and yet, for Darwin, it seemed to offer no advantage to our survival [Delving into the Archaeology of Music, New York Times, May 21, 2024, D8].     Contemporary research suggests something different.  A comprehensive new study in which a team of musicologists, psychologists, linguists, evolutionary biologists, and professional musicians recorded songs in 55 languag ..read more

Come and fill our hearts with your peace.  You alone, O Lord, are holy.  Come and fill our hearts with your peace.  Al-le-lu—ia!  Come and fill our hearts with your peace.  You alone, O Lord, are holy.  Come and fill our hearts with your peace.  Al-le-lu—-ia! Prayer is . . . . a song, a conversation, fresh-baked bread, a fountain bubbling in the distance. . . . prayer is deep listening, honest talk, vulnerability, union, communion. . . . prayer is the touch of a friend, the sound of a symphony, the serenity of a pure blue mountain lake. Prayer is . . . . a st ..read more

Happy birthday, Church! In my family, birthdays were a big deal. You got to choose your favorite meal and type of cake for our mother to prepare. You could expect presents, cards with cash, and the whole family singing Happy Birthday before you made a wish and blew out the candles. There was one other requirement. After the singing, everyone clapped and cried “Speech! Speech!” And you had to make a speech (though I’ll admit the bar was pretty low). Some words of gratitude, something you were looking forward to doing in your new exalted age, and of course how much you loved each family member ..read more

Good Morning, my siblings in Christ! I’m indebted to Leilani Henry, a transformational business leader based in Boulder, from whom I adapted this sermon. I find inspiration for sermons in a lot of places, and last night I had what I thought would be a providential experience. I was in a thrift store, I’m a big thrifter, browsing the cookbook section. A couple of teenage boys behind me suddenly said, with a hearty laugh, “Look at this . . . Bad Girls of the Bible.” I silently said “Yes!” and sent up a quick prayer that the $3.99 cost for that book would come from my wallet . . . not theirs. My ..read more