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Amy Schumer and the Church: Reflections

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 9:03 pm By Amy Butler

This week has been another week of heart-wrenching news headlines, enough to make any thinking person despair for the state of the world. While Americans are preoccupied with misguided public servants tenaciously distorting the average American’s understanding of freedom of religion, refugees are desperately fleeing homes and even dying just for an opportunity to find lives of dignity. (If you haven’t read this poem, by the way, you must.) Is the state of the world suddenly more dire than usual?... Read more

Poetry Corner

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 7:59 pm By Amy Butler

From the Kenyan-born, Somali poet, Warsan Shire. no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark you only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well your neighbors running faster than you breath bloody in their throats the boy you went to school with who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory is holding a gun bigger than his body you only leave home when home won’t let you stay. no... Read more

Midwifing the Future

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 7:59 pm By Amy Butler

After taking one look at my face last week, a friend patted me on the arm and said comfortingly: “You know what they say. Getting back to work after vacation is like sitting on the couch for months and getting up one day to run a marathon.” While I can guarantee you that I will never run a marathon—ever, I have been in the process of getting back to work after a desperately needed vacation this summer. I spent most... Read more

A Case for the Revised Common Lectionary

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 7:59 pm By Amy Butler

I recently returned from a week at Preacher Camp. There are many things to recommend about the experience of retreating with excellent colleagues to plan preaching, and I’ve often written about the gift of this kind of collaboration and support. But the growing interest and questions related to Preacher Camp have invited me to revisit another part of my preaching practice: preaching from the lectionary. Why do you preach from the lectionary? Have you always preached from the lectionary? What... Read more

Poetry Corner

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 7:59 pm By Amy Butler

God speaks to each of us as he makes us, then walks with us silently out of the night. These are the words we dimly hear: You, sent out beyond your recall, go to the limits of your longing. Embody me. Flare up like a flame and make big shadows I can move in. Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final. Don’t let yourself lose me. Nearby is the country they call... Read more

Grace is a Choice

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 7:59 pm By Amy Butler

It occurs to me that each of us has an opportunity, at every moment and in every interaction with another, to choose behavior that reflects grace and selfless love, to live out the undeniable truth that we belong to each other. Read more

Because Life is a Gift

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 7:59 pm By Amy Butler

Yesterday my phone rang and my brother’s name showed up on the screen. My brother died last year, but I can’t bear to delete his phone number from my list of contacts. This was the first time in these months that, for whatever reason, there he was, on my iPhone screen. In that very instant, the strange collection of feelings that is grief tumbled over each other all over again, flashing in front of my eyes like the pages in one... Read more

You Can’t Be Serious

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 7:59 pm By Amy Butler

You Can’t Be Serious Disciples of Christ National Convention July 20, 2015 Isaiah 40:6-8 Good evening, Disciples! It’s wonderful to be here with you all, to catch up with so many dear friends, and to feel the movement of God’s Spirit in this place, among all of us, God’s people. I feel like it must be among the principle obligations of the church to remember that we need each other, and I can feel the strength of that truth here... Read more

A Lavish Welcome to the Table

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 7:59 pm By Amy Butler

There are many, many places in this world designed to exclude people. The one place that should never, ever be on that list is the church. Read more

Poetry Corner

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 7:59 pm By Amy Butler

Let America Be America Again Langston Hughes Let America be America again. Let it be the dream it used to be. Let it be the pioneer on the plain Seeking a home where he himself is free. (America never was America to me.) Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed— Let it be that great strong land of love Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme That any man be crushed by one above. (It never was America to... Read more

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