A Lantern in Her Hand by Bess Streeter Aldrich My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the third novel of hers I've read, and I continue to be surprised by how much I enjoy them, even if their old fashioned storytelling and sentimentality. They always move me deeply. View all my reviews Continue reading

A Beautiful Ending Isaiah 65:17-25 by the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Jones First Central Congregational Church 22 December 2024 We humans long for a beautiful ending. Not just the fairy tale happily ever after, but in the biggest and grandest sense of the idea. We dream and long for history to arrive at a beautiful ending, whether that’s the communist utopia or the kingdom of God or a scientific techno culture that has expanded human habitation into the stars. The historian John Jeffries Martin has revealed the ways in which this vision of a beautiful ending not only animates our... Continue reading

The Spirit of Hope by Byung-Chul Han My rating: 3 of 5 stars He was recently listed by El Pais as one of the top ten intellectuals in the world. And, he was the only one on the list I had not read. But, ironically, the day before I had put this book on my to read list after seeing it in an end-of-year best-of list. I really enjoyed the beginning and the idea of hope as "searching movement." There are definitely sentences I'll be quoting in sermons in years ahead. View all my reviews Continue reading

Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie My rating: 5 of 5 stars Yeah, this is a great read. Don't miss it. View all my reviews Continue reading

Beyond God the Father: Toward a Philosophy of Women's Liberation by Mary Daly My rating: 4 of 5 stars Finally read this classic, having only read excerpts before. And it is still a great read. So many of her insights still sound groundbreaking and radical all these decades later. View all my reviews Continue reading

At That Time Jeremiah 31:1-14 by the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Jones First Central Congregational Church 15 December 2024 Earlier this week, the Rev. Becky McNeil, who used to attend our church here but now lives happily in retirement in Trinidad, Colorado, posted to Facebook a column John Pavlovitz had written for his blog on the negative mental health impacts of staying up with the news these days. Pavlovitz begins: Growing up, I was taught that knowledge was power. I used to agree. Now, I'm beginning to believe differently. Now, I think it's a pain in the ass. Right now,... Continue reading

Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison My rating: 4 of 5 stars Wow. This is more horrifying than anything Stephen King ever wrote. View all my reviews Continue reading

Left Is Not Woke by Susan Neiman My rating: 4 of 5 stars I've often returned to Neiman's Evil in Modern Philosophy and so was intrigued when I saw this new publication. In it Neiman stands up for four values of the left--universalism, justice, progress, and doubt--against their critics, especially those on the left itself who critique these values. It's a good read to help us philosophically understand our moment. View all my reviews Continue reading

I really enjoyed the writing of today's sermon "Awe's Purpose." We were completing an autumn sermon series on Awe using Dacher Keltner's book. In it he discusses eight "wonders of life," and today was the final one--epiphanies. He emphasizes the power of awe to reveal to us knowledge of fundamental truths about the interconnectedness of the world. With that buzzing in my mind, I read two columns this week that ended up framing my sermon. The first was last week's piece by Ross Douthat on how the election reveals ways in which the world has changed, particularly that there is... Continue reading

Awe’s Purpose Isaiah 60:1-5a by the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Jones First Central Congregational Church 24 November 2024 So, many of you have probably been reading articles, columns, and essays analyzing the recent election and what it means. Everything from analyses of the polls to much deeper pieces claiming things like the end of the neo-liberal era have been all over the place. The conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat had a piece last weekend in which he claimed that the election was the clearest sign that the era we had been living in is over and a new... Continue reading

Self-Transcendence Isaiah 6:1-9 by the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Jones First Central Congregational Church 17 November 2024 In their book The Varieties of Spiritual Experience, the scientists David Yaden and Andrew Newberg describe the Awe Experience Scale which is used to measure spiritual experiences. These experiences are measured according to these six different aspects: Vastness—the feeling that we are in the presence of something grand Accommodation—we struggle to take it all in Time—which feels like it is slowing down A feeling that the sense of self has diminished Feeling connected to everything, and finally The physiological responses like goosebumps and... Continue reading

Sacred Geometries Proverbs 8:22-9:6 by the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Jones First Central Congregational Church 10 November 2024 In the mountains of southeastern Turkey lies the archaeological site Göbekli Tepe. A Neolithic site around 11,000 years old and maybe the oldest example of monumental human architecture that’s been discovered. UNESCO describes it as follows: “this property presents monumental round-oval and rectangular megalithic structures erected by hunter-gatherers . . . . These monuments were probably used in connection with rituals, most likely of a funerary nature.” The first excavator of Göbekli Tepe, Klaus Schmidt, called it “the world’s first temple,” an... Continue reading

For young people, particularly young LGBTQ+ people. I know that the election results have left you confused, sad, afraid, heartbroken, and angry. These are proper emotions for what has happened. Now is a time for lament and grief. And in this time of deep emotions, I offer these pastoral thoughts. First, politics can and will be heartbreaking, more than once in your life. Your side will lose vital elections. Bills you work hard to pass, will fail, and vice versa. Your hopes and dreams will only sometimes be realized. And those times when you are triumphant will feel glorious. So... Continue reading

My Inward Journey: A Story of Spiritual Transformation by Sheila Mee My rating: 4 of 5 stars A brave memoir of spiritual transformation. Mee not only deconstructs her fundamentalist faith but reconstructs a whole and healthy wisdom spirituality. Her journey includes honest, open, and raw discussions of marital conflict, childhood abuse, and toxic families. Plus, because of the decades she spent as a missionary in Latin America, her personal story often plays out during major geo-political events like the 1980's civil war in El Salvador. This is a rich, compelling exploration of healing, wholeness, and faith. View all my reviews Continue reading

Our Next Reality: How the AI-powered Metaverse Will Reshape the World by Alvin W. Graylin My rating: 3 of 5 stars Picked this book up at our denomination's statewide meeting, being sold by one of our seminary's booksellers. Felt like I needed to better understand what might be coming in the next few years. Surely, I pondered, they must be overstating the case and being overly optimistic. But still good to be informed on what the techies are imagining and planning for and how that will impact the rest of us. View all my reviews Continue reading

Adam Gopnik's book on liberalism, A Thousand Small Sanities, was one of the better political reads of the last decade. I encourage you to read it if you haven't. This spring he wrote an essay for the New Yorker (I'm often months behind in reading my New Yorkers, plus they end up in various spots around the house to be picked up again long after they were set down) that defends liberalism from some of the recent projections of its doom. This essay is also a worthy read. A good paragraph: Between authority and anarchy lies argument. The trick is... Continue reading

Welcome this afternoon to First Central Congregational Church. I am the Rev. Dr. Scott Jones, Senior Minister of this congregation. We are one of the oldest Protestant congregations in this city, and have resided in this spot in the Blackstone neighborhood for 101 years. Today we religious and faith leaders are here to support ballot measure 439 and oppose ballot measure 434. We do so as people of faith, because we are people of faith. My own tradition, the United Church of Christ, is descended from the Pilgrims and the Puritans who came to this continent seeking freedom and autonomy,... Continue reading

Theology of Hope: On the Ground and the Implications of a Christian Eschatology by Jürgen Moltmann My rating: 2 of 5 stars I've read a few Moltmann books and been deeply influenced by him, but I had never read this early, seminal text. And, despite some gems, it just didn't resonate with me as much as other works. I think many of the ideas he pioneered here he developed more fully and eloquently later. View all my reviews Continue reading

The Wonder of Communion Proverbs 9:1-6 by the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Jones First Central Congregational Church 6 October 2024 Often when I’ve been in a group of clergy persons who are relaxing and enjoying each other’s company, we’ll get to laughing about our experiences in church and sooner or later we’ll get around to the genre of the funny communion stories. Because for every minister something funny has happened to them during the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. One of my staple stories in this genre comes from a youth Sunday in the first church I served. Four middle... Continue reading

Wild Awe Psalm 104 by the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Jones First Central Congregational Church 29 September 2024 Once again, I asked on Facebook about where and when you have experienced awe in nature, and the list included hiking in the mountains, Niagara Falls, Denali, the Grand Canyon, the turquoise blue of the Aegean Sea, or closer to home like the Nebraska Sandhills or the Ponca Hills north of Omaha. Rick Brenneman, still a church member, though he lives in Texas, wrote about two trips to Africa as a zoologist: I think my moments of greatest awe were on my... Continue reading

A Beautiful Life Matthew 5:1-16 by the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Jones First Central Congregational Church 22 September 2024 This week on Facebook I asked, “What is a movie or story that because of something good that happens makes you cry or get the chills?” The answers were quite varied: Old Yeller, wrote Jim Harmon Jennifer Forbes-Baily offered The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Teague Stanley said A Man Called Otto Places in the Heart wrote Becky McNeil Krissy wrote of Homeward Bound “I cried as a child and I cried again as an adult showing the movie to Wyatt.... Continue reading

Sharing in God’s Life 1 Samuel 25:14-19, 23-25, 32-34, 42-43 by the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Jones First Central Congregational Church 1 September 2024 As I said, Wilda Gafney hopscotches through this story, only highlighting some of the details. So, let me fill in the blanks a little. At this point in the larger story of David’s rise to power, he has fled from the court of King Saul after Saul threatened his life, because David had become too popular and powerful. David then operates as the leader of a band of warriors, living in the wilderness, and occasionally hiring... Continue reading

What a Covenant 1 Samuel 17:55-18:9; Hosea 11:1-4, 8 by the Rev. Dr. E. Scott Jones First Central Congregational Church 18 August 2024 David is fresh from his victory over the giant Goliath. King Saul wants him for his armor bearer. The women of the land sing victory songs celebrating David. And Prince Jonathan falls in love with him. If he looked anything like Michelangelo imagined him, then it’s easy to understand why everyone wanted David. The love between Jonathan and David has long inspired the imagination. It begins in this scene but continues through quite a few others, until... Continue reading

Frontier by Can Xue My rating: 1 of 5 stars I just didn't care for this book. It had some magical moments, but overall it seemed a lot of nothing. Not sure on what her reputation rests? I wanted to read her since she is often predicted to win a Nobel. View all my reviews Continue reading

Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson My rating: 2 of 5 stars Eh. There are some good books on Genesis written by non-specialists, particularly Karen Armstrong's and Harold Bloom's. But I didn't get much from this one. But upon finishing I do appreciate the general point she seems to be making, that in scholarly discussions of the book what is often missed is the note of grace that permeates story after story. Even if often that note of grace is only relative to the context. View all my reviews Continue reading