Yes, I'm a minister. No, I don't have a church.

This was first spoken in chapel at the Presbyterian Center on May 11, 2016. Just because most of us speak English doesn’t mean we speak the same language. Studies show we are, in our political landscape, increasingly polarized in our beliefs. A cursory review of social media reveals many of us are speaking different languages, listening to argue, speaking past each other. Just because most of us speak English doesn’t mean we speak the same language. We have regional dialects, turns of phrase that not everyone understands. “Might could” is a southern-ism that wouldn’t pass muster in the Pacific Northwest. There, it would make no grammatical sense whatsoever. In the south, it makes perfect sense. Just because most of us speak English doesn’t mean we speak the same language. We have a few dominant narratives in the wind of mainline Protestantism these days. One narrative claims the reign of God is inbreaking, increased diversity of worship and worshiping communities, a shift f...