Paul, Peter, and Agape: A Sermon for Easter 3C on John 21 and Acts 9
Jesus is still with us asking, “Do you agape me?” The church has yet to say, “Yes, Lord, I agape you and will nurture all that is yours without condition.”
Faith
Thomas, No Doubt: A Sermon for Easter 2C on John 20:19-31
Vulnerability and woundedness opens us to the power of resurrection. We don’t have to be flawless. We have to be authentic and whole, even in our suffering.
For the Common Good: Thoughts on 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 and John 2:1-11
we are meant to sing the song of Creation
join our voices with the river, the soil, the trees
Birthpangs or False Labor: A Prophetic Sermon on Mark 13:1-8
If we watch the news, it’s easy to conclude that we are on the brink of a biblical apocalypse. There is war and always rumors of more. Then there are fires, floods, earthquakes, famine, and more. Add in pandemic and those who look to the Bible to predict the way of things will tell us … Read More
A Place for All: Thoughts on James 3 and Mark 9
Every single one of us has value as God’s beloved. It does not matter who we are, what we do, what we have, what we don’t do, the good we’ve done, the harm we’ve wrought. God loves and claims us all as beloved. We all have value right now, as we are – broken or whole or somewhere in between. Queer, straight, cis, Trans*, rich, poor, healthy, sick, black, white, brown, red, yellow, educated, uneducated, smart, intellectually impaired, wise, foolish, temporarily able-bodied, disabled, mentally healthy, mentally ill, and all the other unique and wonderful combination of things that make us human. We have a place in the Kingdom. We are called to be Kingdom-builders, all of us – each doing their individual part connected to the whole.
Break the Silence; Shatter the Stigma – Talk about Suicide Now
Suicide is one of the most important topics we should be discussing in faith communities and it is the one topic most readily avoided. We believe a lot of misinformation about suicide. We think adolescents have the highest risk, and as a whole they do. However, did you know that middle-aged white men now have the highest rates of suicide? Suicide remains the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S. with a growing number of older adults dying by suicide. Churches really need to have this difficult conversation because we have the capacity and the resources to save lives.
A Change of Clothing
I’m taking a class on discernment this fall as part of a graduate certificate program in spiritual direction. Up until now I had always considered discernment as the process of making big life decisions and was startled to discover that discernment is best when it is an intentional part of daily life. I say “intentional” … Read More
The Fallacy of a Christian Nation
At this moment the U.S. leads the world in the number of new COVID-19 cases. We can add this to the list that includes the highest rate of mass shootings and mass incarceration. None of these things are brag-worthy. In fact, they are shameful, as is every act of the current Administration that removes protections … Read More
Faithful in the Time of COVID-19
On a Thursday afternoon in March I am sitting in my recliner with the dog on my lap. It is not vacation. It is not my day off. It’s weird and unsettling. I’m home like many others because we are in the middle of a pandemic. In the U.S. we are watching as some other … Read More
Faith and Politics: A Matter of Vocabulary
My first awareness of politics was in the late 1970s when Ford was President of the U.S. I didn’t understand anything about Watergate but for some unidentifiable reason I recognized that Ford had not been president for a full four-year term. I, as a child of nine or ten, noticed. I did a bit more … Read More