A Mustard Seed Many Voices, One Story Luke 15:5-10 This morning we begin the first of four weeks in worship with the October emphasis of stewardship.  In other words, this is the month we designate every year to focus in worship and in other places in our life together on our individual practices of discipleship. I can sort of hear you groaning inside a bit: oh no, here we go, talking about money.  And yes, we’ll talk about money some. ... Read more

Yesterday the federal government shut down.  While this is a national crisis, it’s also really personal here in D.C.  So many deeply gifted and hardworking government employees live and work in this city, and they depend on their paychecks just like everybody else.  This is hard and scary; many of us feel angry and powerless.  As we work to live with an eye toward a hope-filled future, the meantime can be hard.  Yesterday I invited the whole Calvary community–near and... Read more

A Ridiculous Message The Cost: What it Takes to Tell the Truth Jeremiah 32:1-3a; 6-15 I want to share a text message conversation I had this week with Jason Smith.  He was texting me to ask if he could give out my cell phone number to a colleague who was trying to reach me. Jason: Can I give *** your cell phone number? Me: Okay. Me: Wait. Me: Never mind.  Okay. Jason: Okay, I’ll tell him no. Me: No, it’s... Read more

I’ve been thinking this week about moving forward, about looking to the future. That seems to be what the prophet Jeremiah was doing in today’s lectionary reading from the Book of Jeremiah.  Thinking about the future–how hard it is to imagine, much less embrace in the middle of the pain of the present–made me think about the country of South Africa.  In that deeply divided country a painful process of embracing the future was lived out through the Truth and... Read more

A Broken Heart The Cost: What it Takes to Tell the Truth Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 This week I was trying to imagine how one might write a job description for a prophet and post it on, say, Idealist.  (I checked on Idealist, but currently there are no listings for prophet jobs.)  I’m guessing it might read a bit like this: The prophet of Israel works as an independent contractor/representative of God to impact persons, impinge upon perception and awareness, intrude upon... Read more

I’m All Alone The Cost: What it Takes to Tell the Truth Jeremiah 4:11-12; 22-28 I’m going to swear in this sermon.  I mean, I’ll be quoting Tom Hanks when I do, but still. I don’t want you all to be shocked, given the fact that I’m pretty sure none of you have ever heard me use colorful language.  And, we are in church.  But, honestly, I can’t really think of another topic on which using bad language might be... Read more

Well darkness has a hunger that’s insatiable, And lightness has a call that’s hard to hear. I wrap my fear around me like a blanket. I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it. I’m crawling on your shores.   The word of the Indigo Girls. Thanks be to God. I wonder, God, if you ever look down from way up there and notice me, what you see.  Do your eyes (metaphorically, of course) dart after this harried, frantic,... Read more

An introduction to Jeremiah, modified from The Message: Imagine there was one guy on board the Titanic with sonar equipment trying to get the captain and crew to believe there was an iceberg ahead.  They’d never heard of sonar and thought he was nuts.  That guy was Jeremiah, and the Titanic was his country. Jeremiah’s troubled life spanned one of the most troublesome periods in Hebrew history, the decades leading up to the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, followed... Read more

A Note from Pastor Amy: This is the last entry in a summer-long series of guest blog posts here at Talk With the Preacher.  I tried it this year because I think we’re better when we listen to each other, and there are so many amazing voices in this community.  Thanks to all who participated!  Want to write?  Be in touch! Michelle Harris-Love is Assistant Professor at Georgetown University and Director of the MOTR Laboratory at MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital. ... Read more

The photo, from DCBC archives, shows Rev. Dr. Clarence W. Cranford (R), then-pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and other American Baptists at the March on Washington in 1963. Their posters read: “We march for an end to police brutality” and “We march for Civil Rights + Full Employment = Freedom.”  Clarence Cranford was pastor of Calvary Baptist Church for a total of 29 years.  His was a voice that pushed the church (local and national) to ever-radical expressions... Read more