How many of you ate too much this holiday season? How many of you ate just enough? You know, the thing about family gatherings, celebrations, and joyous events is that they are feast times in our lives. We gather around tables. We break bread. We share stories. And we experience life to its fullest. …
Kenotic Words
worship, sermons, lectionary
Can’t Keep Silent!
While the Advent journey takes us through an emotional rollercoaster of joy, fear, humility, and anticipation, there is no other emotion to guide the days after Christmas than pure celebration. Each of the readings for this time of Christmas call us to take a deep breath of relief, to look around at the beauty of…
Winter is Over!
Before our Christmas traditions took hold, there were other festivals in the northern hemisphere among folks who were tucked in for winter. The crops had been harvested and stored, the work was done, and they celebrated… But in one of the pieces I read this advent from a writer named Gayle Boss, I was a…
Sons of Adam and Daughters of Eve
In the beginning… Most years when we get to the season of Advent, we dive deep into the gospel texts. We want to hear about the shepherds and angels, about Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth and Zechariah, the magi and the star. Yet, as Heidi Haverkamp will share with us in this week’s reflections in…
Livin’ on the Edge
This morning, we are hanging out in liminal space… That’s a funny word isn’t it… liminal…. Say it with me… liminal. It comes from Latin and means “threshold.” It is the space in between. It is transitional. Our country is in that liminal space between an election and the swearing in of a new…
Never Go Hungry
We are gathered here tonight, as one community of faith, to give thanks. Throughout this month, I’ve been preaching about gratitude and giving thanks and one of the things that we have highlighted is that God wants us to give thanks for the differences among us. It is only by being grateful for someone you…
Practice These Things…
Last week, we broke bread in spite of our differences. We shared at the table of the Lord with people who would vote differently than us and with some who would not or could not vote at all. And we touched [will touch] the waters of baptism and remember our baptism in Christ and that…
From Everywhere to Everywhere
My sermon from the Thanksgiving Ingathering on November 5 This quadrennium, I have the honor of serving on our General Board of Global Ministries: Tell about opening worship – reading the names of the missionaries who have died. Very white, anglo sounding names. But that evening, I met missionaries who reminded me that the focus…