Text: Mark 1:4-11 Last week, we invited you to follow the star of the Magi… Not the one in the sky, but the one in the manger. The one who drew them over mountains and deserts and seas. I love how the Message translation makes clear that the object we are seeking and following is…
Kenotic Words
worship, sermons, lectionary
Follow the Star : Epiphany
Has God ever spoken to you? Have you ever seen a sign? Heard a voice? Met God in a dream? As I was finishing up my senior year of high school, I was kind of a mess. I could not figure out where I wanted to go to college, and my indecision was creating a…
No Christmas without Consent and Commitment
One Christmas, when my niece was about six years old, I carefully wrapped up a gently loved American Girls doll and accessories that had belonged to a dear friend of mine. When Cami unwrapped that gift, she literally burst into tears. “I’ve wanted one of these for my whole life!” she cried out between sobs!…
No Christmas Without Joy and Acceptance
All through this Advent season we are exploring the complicated family tree of Jesus of Nazareth Matthew shares with us. Their stories are a legacy of courage and faith, justice and peace, that shape how we understand our Savior in the manger of Bethlehem. Today, we remember that there would be no Christmas, no Jesus,…
No Christmas without Justice and Hope
Text: Genesis 38: 1-30 In Diana Butler Bass’s book, Grounded, she reminds us that our roots are far deeper than our memories. We are shaped and influenced by generations that have come and gone, whether or not we remember their stories. In one of my pastoral care classes in seminary we studied family systems and…
The Wise and the Lazy
Text: Matthew 25 This morning in worship, we are actually covering the three discussions of the Kingdom of Heaven we find in Matthew chapter 25. The ten bridesmaids. The valuable coins. And the sheep and the goats. So often when we look at these stories, we examine them in isolation. We look at them one…
A Feast of Terror and Abundance
Text: Matthew 22:1-14; Isaiah 25:1-10 So, all month long in our daily devotions we are focusing on where the Kingdom of Heaven shows up in the gospel of Matthew. What we discover is an awful lot about how we should live right here and right now. The Sermon on the Mount is filled with ethical…
To Whom does the Kingdom Belong?
Text: Matthew 5:1-12 A month or so, one of you asked me a pretty simple and yet very difficult question: Why don’t we talk more about heaven? One reason is there is simply a lot we don’t know about the life that awaits us. We have a lot of metaphor and imagery in our scripture…