PlainSpeech Messages | Find YOUR way to GRACE.
I recently read a message I’d given in 1984 and felt a mixture of embarrassment and surprise. Embarrassed because it seems inadequate now, and surprised by how much my worldview has changed. Twenty-five years from now, I might read these messages and have a similar reaction. I offer no guarantee that my work or words will endure the eroding effects of time. I can only assure you these thoughts have been helpful to me, and perhaps a few others, today. With that qualification, I offer them to you.
~ Philip
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Finding our Way (2)
VIEW VIDEO I was chatting with a fellow pastor this week who recently experienced a great tragedy in his work as a minister. He had phoned wanting to talk and I could tell by the tone of his voice that something had gone dramatically wrong. “You don’t sound good,” I...
Finding Our Way
VIEW VIDEO Mike Goss and I rode our motorcycles up north to Quaker Haven Camp last week, nestled on the shores of Dewart Lake in Kosciusko County, which is itself named for the Polish general Tadeusz Kościuszko, who came to the aid of our nation during the...
Why I Am Woke
VIEW VIDEO I was in Florida recently, speaking to elected officials. I went with some trepidation, fearing my speech would betray my progressive tendencies and I would be tarred and feathered, rode out of town on a rail, sent packing, choose your metaphor. Instead,...
Every Child in Every Picture
After my parents passed away, my brother David gathered all the family pictures together, divvied them up into five separate piles, based on the sibling featured in the photograph. My sister received the biggest stack of pictures, being the first child, and my brother...
What’s Next?
VIEW VIDEO We had high school graduation last weekend in our town, outside on the football field. A tradition we began during Covid, when we were social distancing, and it turned out to be more pleasant than cramming hundreds of people in a stifling hot gymnasium, so...
Christianity 101: The End Times
VIEW VIDEO Well, I was in Dallas this past week to speak to a pastor’s conference and according to a sign I saw on the way from the airport to the event, the world is ending any day now. The sign said Jesus is coming back. The sign didn’t say where he had been, but...
Christianity 101: The True Woman
VIEW VIDEO I remember, this was 30 some years ago when I was pastoring up in the city, we were approaching Mother’s Day and a woman approached me and said, “I hope on Mother’s Day, you don’t talk about how wonderful mothers are, because mine wasn’t. My mother was...
Christianity 101: The Challenge of Suffering and Evil
VIEW VIDEO It is good to be back. I was at a Quaker pastor’s retreat this week, then last weekend Joan and I went to the farmhouse to work outside, cleaning away the dross of winter, picking up fallen sticks, raking the flower beds, mowing and weed-whipping, sweeping...
Christianity 101: Who Are We?
VIEW VIDEO I was up in Carmel last week giving a speech to a literary society for their spring banquet. It was a gorgeous spring day, so I drove there on the back roads, past farmers working their fields, with the redbuds and dogwoods in bloom and peonies popping up...
Christianity 101: The Holy Spirit
VIEW VIDEO I was at a weeklong conference up north about fifteen or so years ago. One morning after I spoke, I was chatting with folks, shaking hands, that kind of thing, when I was approached by three women, who asked if I would meet with them privately that...