Fear and Its Friends: A Poem for Lent 1
Fear has a lot of friends and doesn’t hesitate to bring them along.
Fear has a lot of friends and doesn’t hesitate to bring them along.
How do we as followers of Jesus reclaim this command to love our enemies and treat others as we wish to be treated?
The problem is that most of us do not alter our roads home after we encounter Empire; we just continue on as if nothing happened.
Living Table UCC, the congregation I serve as pastor, is on the brink of doing a whole new thing. We spent years in conversation with other congregations to discern the shape of our future. This summer, we sold our building. Soon we will move into a newly remodeled church building with two other congregations. We … Read More
Healing stories are fascinating, let alone the raising from the dead stories. Our 21st Century minds try to rationalize and minimize the power of such accounts. I know I spent years wishing I could touch Jesus garment and be healed from sickness.
The failure to recognize the obvious
always catches me by surprise.
Long, long ago Samuel told the people of God
that no good could come from the rule of kings.
They insisted on being like all other nations.
And along came the kings
who took their children for soldiers and servants,
their goods and grains for self-serving purposes.
Still, they did not learn.
Sometimes I feel like I keep saying the same things and the echoes go on and on with no one listening. It’s how I’m feeling now as I contemplate the familiar words of 1 John 4:7-8: 4:7
A sense of Resurrection hit me early this year. Yesterday I was able to get a vaccine sooner than I had anticipated. I needed to be in a hospital setting because of my medical conditions and the possibility of an allergic reaction.
Palm Sunday. During pandemic. Again. I’ve heard too many clergy colleagues asking how to preach this Holy Week during pandemic. Sure, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are comparatively easy. How to preach good news on Palm Sunday and even more so on Easter is the repeated question.
Transfiguration Sunday is one of the most unappreciated holy days of the Christian year. In fact, some clergy avoid preaching on this passage because it is a mystery, and a confusing one at that. Yet, the message in the metaphor is one we desperately need on so many levels. This year, especially. Some say that … Read More