Why I do what I do
|
Music has brought much joy in my life. I have been blessed to be in many singing groups through the years, and was a founding member of the Yale Camerata, sponsored by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. I'm also proficient in piano, playing for high school musicals (e.g. - Cole Porter's "Anything Goes"), and enjoying the greats from Chopin to Fats Waller. Alternative worship bands, a Gospel choir, and ancient-contemporary worship ensembles are some examples of the groups I've led. In 2012 I was the lead musician for the MACUCC Annual Meeting, teaming with musicians from Iglesia Hispana UCC from Lowell.
Blessed & Honored I've been blessed and honored to serve as minister in both UCC -United Church of Christ and ELCA - Lutheran congregations.
In my writing sabbatical between congregations, I've been blessed with the time to complete my book,
The Valley of the Shadow of Death is in New Jersey, reflections on life and faith.
Joel Martin, international jazz pianist, composer and arranger, was touched by my sermons and storytelling.
Recently Joel has completed concerts of Spirituals with Kathleen Battle in NYC and Nigeria, has arranged music for an upcoming Broadway musical, and has led Footsteps of Mandela at Riverside in NYC.
Together Joel and I are publishing my book, along with a music CD of Joel's songs inspired by my stories, and a songbook of new spirituals for the church.
With these projects coming to completion, and upon deep prayer and discernment, I feel God is calling me to further service of Word and Sacrament in a congregation. Currently I live outside of Boston with my wife Patricia, a nurse practitioner. Together we enjoy bicycling, cross country skiing, and curling up in front of a fire with a good book or movie.
In my writing sabbatical between congregations, I've been blessed with the time to complete my book,
The Valley of the Shadow of Death is in New Jersey, reflections on life and faith.
Joel Martin, international jazz pianist, composer and arranger, was touched by my sermons and storytelling.
Recently Joel has completed concerts of Spirituals with Kathleen Battle in NYC and Nigeria, has arranged music for an upcoming Broadway musical, and has led Footsteps of Mandela at Riverside in NYC.
Together Joel and I are publishing my book, along with a music CD of Joel's songs inspired by my stories, and a songbook of new spirituals for the church.
With these projects coming to completion, and upon deep prayer and discernment, I feel God is calling me to further service of Word and Sacrament in a congregation. Currently I live outside of Boston with my wife Patricia, a nurse practitioner. Together we enjoy bicycling, cross country skiing, and curling up in front of a fire with a good book or movie.
The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly.
Soren Kierkegaard, Provocations: Spiritual Writings
I close this page with a Kierkegaard quote to let you know that in many ways I am a Kierkegaardian. Objectivity is ultimately unattainable, only a weapon we use to exalt ourselves over enemies. Truth is subjectivity, truth is relationship, truth is God's love catching and reclaiming us through Jesus. Like Kierkegaard, I use indirect communication to share with people the truth, to come at people slant-wise. My indirect communication uses much humor and stories. While humor and sometimes being a fool for Christ may seem shallow to some, I have witnessed again and again how my humor and story-telling reaches people in profound life-changing ways and touches them deeper than any lecture clothed with elite theological language and adorned with intellectual buzzwords.