It’s Christmas week, and you know what that means–re-runs! I wrote this piece last year, but as our staff puts final touches on the Christmas Eve services for tomorrow, I am reminded, all over again, that the sacred community bears gifts of miraculous proportions. I’m sharing this again today, with great thanksgiving for all the people who ‘do’ church, and who make Christmas happen for others. Blessings… The phone is ringing off the hook, The sanctuary’s hard to book. It’s... Read more
I wish these public media storms would hold off until after Christmas. It’s really messing with my Advent 4 mojo. However—the Duck Debacle has crept into my head space, and I’m pretty sure the Spirit will not be able to show up with a sermon until I’ve got this out of my system. As you have probably heard, Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame said some off-putting things about LGBT folks in a magazine interview. What he said should not have surprised... Read more
I rarely finish a non-fiction book, except under duress of the grading system (and in that regard, I’ve been a free woman for more than a decade!) So the fact that I willingly read through David Lose’s Preaching at the Crossroads is its own kind of recommendation. But it recommends itself in other ways, too. In short, this is the preaching book you WISH someone had written when you were in seminary (under duress of the grading system, as it... Read more
It’s the week before Christmas. You haven’t been to church in a year. Maybe in lots of years. Maybe you’ve only ever been to church for weddings and funerals, but this year, something compels you to seek a sacred connection in community. So you scan the newspaper ‘seasonal worship’ ads. You scour the internet. You maybe ask around the neighborhood. Having found a place that might be the place, you set out on Christmas Eve. Maybe you had to feed,... Read more
If you are following along with the “Partners in Prayer” Advent devotion guide, you’ll see that today’s reflection is about the litany of ‘I’m not ready’ that we’re all supposed to be sharing right about now. That piece was extracted from a longer blog post that I wrote two advents ago. Here’s the whole thing. I’m reading it today, in the middle of moving and chaos, and thinking how much it still applies. I’m also thinking, hey…a self care day sounds... Read more
I’ve got another great guest post for you today. Rev. Isaac Varner is one of my Arizona clergy friends (I sure do miss those guys!) and he just returned from a trip to Indonesia with Church World Service. I asked him to share a reflection on that experience, and here’s what he delivered. 3A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be lifted... Read more
Today we have a guest post from Rev. Elizabeth Myer Boulton. She is, among other things, creative director of the SALT Project, “a not-for-profit project dedicated to reclaiming and sharing the beauty of Christian life through film, photography, music, poetry, and ideas.” And y’all…this little “Hamlet” video is the cutest ever. But it’s not JUST cute. It is a powerful witness to the beauty of the gospel through the eyes (and voice!) of a child. Take a minute to watch, and... Read more
Holy smokes, where did this week go?? I cannot identify one thing on my calendar that took up a huge chunk of my time this week; and yet, here it is, Friday, my sermon’s not done (as if it ever is), and I’ve only written one blog post this week. We will call it the black hole of Advent…when no matter how big a game you talk about living simply, moving slowly, and breathing peacefully, you somehow wind up out of... Read more
After church yesterday, a small miracle occurred: I got a good family photo. I mean, everybody was looking at the camera, everybody was smiling, everybody was wearing pants…this almost never happens. I have two small squirmy kids; a husband who is 17 inches (seriously) taller than me, so it is awkward getting us to fit in the same frame; and one or more of us is usually a hot mess in the clothing, hair and/or cleanliness department. Last year, we... Read more
Thanks to Rev. Rachel Frey for this special Thanksgiving guest post. She is a minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) serving as a health care chaplain in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. A native Texan, Rachel has acclimated to the cold of the Great White North, but not to celebrating Thanksgiving in October, as Canadians do. She and her family will be celebrating US Thanksgiving this coming Saturday, giving thanks for the abundant life they share, even for jobs that... Read more
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