I’m wondering this week if we’re having enough difficult conversations. Horrible images on the news, protests in the streets, a growing awareness — if we didn’t know it before — that all is certainly not right with the world. All of this should be sparking some very difficult conversations. I don’t care who you are or where you fall in the landscape of our society, there are people on your Facebook page who are shocking you with what they’re posting.... Read more
Illumine Joy Luke 1: 39-56 In and among this reality of human life we come today to the third Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of joy, when we read the words of Luke’s gospel, a song attributed to Mary, the mother of Jesus. You may know it as The Magnificat, Mary’s treatise about the state of the world and her stubborn insistence that it doesn’t have to stay that way. You’ll recall, as the story goes, an angel came to... Read more
As the days have passed since the verdicts in the Eric Garner and Michael Brown cases and, as Charles Blow so eloquently describes, “the jagged slope of truth replaces the soft slope of fantasy,” all of us have watched the protests all around the country, wondered about the ways in which our own hearts and minds need to change, and pondered the challenge and opportunity of a thoughtful response. I’m deeply grateful for the ways in which you have shown... Read more
Last Sunday we began a three week series of conversations about race and reconciliation called: Advent of Hope. Together we talked about our feelings of lament, learned about the Psalms of lament, and then teamed up to write our own laments. I’ll be sharing them on the blog; here’s the second: Oh God hear us now at this time of unrest People do not understand that we need each other I believe that with your guidance everyone will be enlightened... Read more
Last Sunday we began a three week series of conversations about race and reconciliation called: Advent of Hope. Together we talked about our feelings of lament, learned about the Psalms of lament, and then teamed up to write our own laments. I’ll be sharing them on the blog; here’s the first: Dear God, see us, hear us, feel us, Be amongst us. We are in distress! We are beyond rage, sorrow, and despair. Your people are being cut down, savaged,... Read more
Illumine Peace Isaiah 40:1-11 December 7, 2014 Seventy three years ago today, the worst happened. They had gone to mass the evening before. They preferred that to getting up too early on Sunday morning and fighting the traditional church crowd. Anyway, it was always nice to start out on Sunday with the morning free to get some of the housework done at a more leisurely pace. It was almost a social event for them. They ate breakfast together on the... Read more
Tonight I had the opportunity to share my experience of traveling to Ferguson, MO yesterday. And as our church community made its way to worship tonight, our city was, and is, erupting in protest over the decision in Staten Island not to indict the officer who killed Eric Garner. The hopelessness we felt hung heavy in the room. And, the tears and stories and music and candles and hands clasped reminded us: we’re not alone. And so, we will... Read more
If your family is anything like mine, you probably recently engaged in the annual Thanksgiving tradition of sharing some things for which we are each thankful. It can be a tradition that lessens in meaning with its repetition every year. Even with the Pinterest flourishes engaged by those in charge of decorating this year at my house, there were some who sighed with resignation: “Here we go again!” It seems silly that we’d ever find the tradition tiresome, as every... Read more
Illumine Hope Isaiah 64:1-12 November 29, 2014 I used to work right in the very middle of Washington, DC’s Chinatown. Every year, toward the end of January on a Sunday, then, there was a huge Chinese New Year celebration. Perhaps you’ve attended one: streets closed down for parades, food stands crowd the sidewalks, fireworks and drumming punctuate the air, children sitting on their parents’ shoulders struggle to get a glimpse of the dragon parading through the streets. It’s quite a... Read more
November 25, 2014 Dear Church Family, The judgment is in, there will be no trial for the officer who shot and killed unarmed eighteen-year-old Michael Brown. The streets of Ferguson erupted with the flames of anger moments after the news broke. This is a recurring nightmare of violence from which our nation cannot seem to awaken. Our hearts are broken and we are filled with anger at a system that is profoundly broken. Perhaps you share my sense of despair... Read more
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