The confirmation project for our last year confirmation student(s) is to work with a mentor to answer and present their own personal answer to one of several proposed questions as they and the mentor talk about life and faith and being church together. In a series of newsletter articles, I’m inviting the congregation to alsoContinueContinue reading “Looking for God”
Tag Archives: incarnation
Death becomes Birth
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was muchContinueContinue reading “Death becomes Birth”
God Tearing Open the Heavens
The texts for Sunday, November 30, 2014 (Advent 1B): Isaiah 64:1–9; Psalm 80:1–7, 17–19; 1 Corinthians 1:3–9; and Mark 13:24–37 Audio of sermon: Sermon Advent 1B … In the demonstrations and riots and commentaries in the articles about systemic racism and the militarization of the police Even in the heart-touching stories of those who do care and rise up toContinueContinue reading “God Tearing Open the Heavens”
The homeless King
The texts for Sunday, November 23, 2014 (Christ the King): Ezekiel 34:11–16, 20–24; Psalm 95:1–7a; Ephesians 1:15–23; and Matthew 25:31–46. The audio of the sermon: Sermon for Christ the King … when we separate ourselves from others when we refuse to acknowledge, as Dorothy Day said, our own soul’s hunger and our own homelessness, we separate ourselves from a GodContinueContinue reading “The homeless King”
Why Christianity? And Why Lutheranism in Particular?
The confirmation project for our last year confirmation student(s) is to work with a mentor to answer and present their own personal answer to one of several proposed questions as they and the mentor talk about life and faith and being church together. In a series of newsletter articles, I’m inviting the congregation toContinueContinue reading “Why Christianity? And Why Lutheranism in Particular?”
Wait … what?
I kind of missed Advent this year. There was no Advent wreath at my house, no Advent calendar to mark the days. I did not even get to center my days around the Sundays of Advent: watching the acolyte struggle to light the next candle and sing all the beautiful hymns of longing for light,ContinueContinue reading “Wait … what?”
Every Common Bush
Text for this reflection (second in an Advent series called “Revive”): Exodus 3:1-12 “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God, But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.” – Elizabeth Barrett Browning What does it take to see the presence of God inContinueContinue reading “Every Common Bush”
The Fullness of God
The texts for Sunday, November 24, 2013 (Christ the King Sunday or the Reign of Christ): Jeremiah 23:1–6; Psalm 46 (though, we’re using the semi-continuous option for the psalm: Luke 1:68–79); Colossians 1:11–20; and Luke 23:33–43.”For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell” – Colossians 1:19I think I’ve probably written and preached about this before,ContinueContinue reading “The Fullness of God”
“Failing” Lent: Day 9
For months now, I have been struggling with being tired. Really tired. The kind of tiredness that seems to have seeped into my bones. Of course, I’m incredibly stubborn, so I have mostly just pushed through it. I’m pretty good at not letting how I feel stop me from doing what I feel I needContinueContinue reading ““Failing” Lent: Day 9″
The Vulnerability of Incarnation
The text for this reflection/sermon for the first Wednesday service in Advent (December 5, 2012): Luke 22: 14-19 One of the things that may become obvious, or maybe not, looking at Mary’s swelling belly or the infant Jesus lying in a manger is that Christians aren’t much into the “omni-god.” The “omni-god” is what IContinueContinue reading “The Vulnerability of Incarnation”
The Sacred Body
The texts for Sunday, July 15,2012 (Lectionary 15): Amos 7:7–15; Psalm 85:8–13; Ephesians 1:3–14; and Mark 6:14–29 … I think that sometimes we spend too much time in our heads. We forget that faith that hope that new life is embodied: is felt is experienced in our bodies in movement, in smells, in sights, inContinueContinue reading “The Sacred Body”
God’s “Answer”
The texts for Good Friday, April 6, 2012: Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22; Hebrews 10:16-25; Mark 14-15:47 … Why doesn’t God just come and make everything right? It’s a question that we sometimes ask when things are going horribly wrong in our lives or when we hear about terrible things going on in the world aroundContinueContinue reading “God’s “Answer””
Earthy Spirituality
The texts for Maundy Thursday, April 5, 2012: Exodus 12:1-14, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, John 13:1-17, 31b-35 …Our faith is earthy. Here we have the heart of our Christian practice together— meal sharing and serving one another by washing each other’s feet. You can’t get more earthy than that. You can’t get more connected to theContinueContinue reading “Earthy Spirituality”
Glory Ungraspable
The texts for Sunday, February 19, 2012: 2 Kings 2:1–12, Psalm 50:1–6, 2 Corinthians 4:3–6, Mark 9:2–9 … There is a certain tragic edge to glory it seems. As though, we can only seek after it, but in the end we are destroyed in the attempt to attain it. Either that, or only a very few are everContinueContinue reading “Glory Ungraspable”
Reflections of the Manger
The texts for Christmas Day, 2011: Isaiah 52:7–10, Psalm 98, Hebrews 1:1–12, and John 1:1–14 Christmas morning—thanks to inspiration from Nadia Bolz-Weber, the House For All Sinners and Saints, and Clayfire, as well as the texts themselves: “The Word became flesh…”—I didn’t preach a traditional sermon. Instead, I introduced the Gospel by restating exactly thatContinueContinue reading “Reflections of the Manger”
Here is God
The texts for Christmas Eve, 2011: Isaiah 9:2–7, Psalm 96, Titus 2:11–14, and Luke 2:1–20 … But Here is God: showing up in the middle of our messiest in the middle of taxes and homelessness and abandonment and the cold and the poor and the bloody unpredictable uncontrollable messiness of birth. Here is God: showingContinueContinue reading “Here is God”
God in-fleshed
The texts for Sunday, December 18, 2011: 2 Samuel 7:1–11, 16; Psalm 89:1–4, 19–26; Romans 16:25–27; and Luke 1:26–38. “The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called SonContinueContinue reading “God in-fleshed”
Jabbok Dawn 