Rev. Joseph Boyd Bootleggers, speakeasies, Al Capone, Walgreens, dry rural counties, wet cities, the jazz age – all unintended consequences of prohibition. The idea for prohibition began in the church. This was before the days of Alcoholics Anonymous, before there was any sense that alcoholism could be helped by therapeutic or spiritual means. Alcoholism was … Continue reading Sermon – Mar 11, 2018 – “Legislating Morality”

Rev. Joseph Boyd As the end approaches, I think things have a chance to become clearer. I’m talking about both the small and big endings – the end of a day, the end of a season – winter becoming spring, the end of a relationship, the end of a life, the end of an era, … Continue reading Sermon – Mar 4, 2018 – “Save or Savor?”

Rev, Joseph Boyd The last couple weeks have brought us flooding. We have witnessed a torrent of rain, flooding streets in various parts of Ohio. Cars were stuck and needed to be evacuated and abandoned, and later towed. Some people felt like they were taking their life in their hands trying to drive on their … Continue reading Sermon – Feb 25, 2018 – “A Flood is Coming”

Rev.Joseph Boyd Black lives matter. I can’t breathe. These two statements have been connected in my mind since 2014. I was a new seminary student then. A month before I arrived in New York a man named Eric Garner was stopped by police officers on a street corner in Staten Island. He was suspected of … Continue reading Sermon – Feb 11, 2018 – “Black Lives Matter”

Rev. Joseph Boyd The Monarch butterfly is given a remarkable destiny. Many Monarch butterflies must travel over a thousand miles to get to their destination oasis. Due to the short life span of monarchs, it will take them four generations to get there. Adult monarch butterflies fly one leg of the journey, and lay eggs … Continue reading Sermon – Feb 4, 2018 – “Growing Pains”

Rev. Joseph Boyd Growing up as a Jehovah’s Witness, I visited a lot of people door to door. It was odd to live in such an insular culture with the expectation that we would intentionally go door to door to visit our neighbors. The hardest moments for me were when I would knock on a … Continue reading Sermon – Jan 21, 2018 – “Did You Visit Me?”

Rev. Joseph Boyd April 4, 1968 was the day King was shot. He went outside to have a cigarette on his balcony outside his hotel room in Memphis. Most people didn’t know that King smoked, especially when he was under stress or facing indecision. Many people felt like they knew Martin King and then were … Continue reading Sermon – Jan 14, 2018 – “The Plan for You’

Rev. Joseph Boyd This is the day. A day in our life. It’s been cold outside – chilly. We’re getting the deep freeze the earth has been craving. This day is not like yesterday, though it may look and feel very similar. I was in New York City when the New Year was ushered in, … Continue reading Sermon – Jan 7, 2018 – “This is the Day”

Rev. Joseph Boyd This is the day we get the sense for what it might mean to be a child again – fresh, alive, unclouded by despair and worry, no real sense of anything other than the fact we are alive. I was born 7:28 am in a hospital in Oregon City, Oregon, a place … Continue reading Sermon – Dec 24, 2017 – “A Child is Born”

Rev. Joseph Boyd There’s a knock at the door…and we wonder who it could be. Is it the ghost of Christmas past, coming to haunt us with deeds we’ve done or left undone, loose ends, and people we have yet to fully reconcile with? Or is it a sign that perhaps something we’ve done, some … Continue reading Sermon – Dec 10, 2017 – “Two Little Words”