This morning I spent a chilly hour and a half in a line that wound all the way around a local elementary school building.  While the wind was bracing, the sun was shining and the spirit in the crowd was high.  People carried their bundled-up toddlers and hung on tightly to their dogs’ leashes.  Conversations between strangers sprouted up all along the line.  We were all waiting to vote. In my particular jurisdiction there are no races really up for... Read more

I’ve never been one to dream while I sleep…or at least dream in such a way that I remember what I dreamt.  Lately, though, that seems to have changed.  I have been dreaming, and remembering my dreams.  Last week I remembered two dreams, both of them about church. In the first dream I was preaching from the pulpit, looking out over a sanctuary in which there were 5 people.  It was our Calvary sanctuary, which seats 700 or so, so... Read more

Jesus Changes How I Love Mark 12: 28-34 After two full days of sitting glued to the television watching news of the weather this week, I have called a personal moratorium on television viewing, at least until after the election.  The weather news was pretty bad, but the political advertisements were terrible…are terrible.  I am so very tired of hearing them run over and over again.  I guess there’s no avoiding political ads these days, especially since the election is... Read more

Jesus Changes How I Give Mark 12: 38-44 It’s funny the things that stick with you.  I have a very clear memory of a science project from first grade, where each of us was given a white carnation and some food coloring.  I think we were supposed to learn about plants and water or something.  We put the food coloring (mine was blue, I think) into some water and then left our white carnations in the colored water overnight.  The... Read more

Re-Imagine: A Straight Path Jeremiah 31:7-14   The last few weeks we’ve been reading the prophetic lectionary texts, passages from the great prophets of the Hebrew people.  We know from our study that prophets were an important part of the life of the Israelites after the monarchy began.  Prophets were usually ordinary people who were given the task by God of pointing out injustice and wrongdoing.  Basically, they were the burr under the saddle of the people and the monarchy,... Read more

Everybody’s talking about Clergy Appreciation Month this October. Okay, well, maybe not everybody.  Mostly my preacher friends are talking about Clergy Appreciation Month this October, as most people I know would (rightly) make fun of such a Hallmark-generated occasion.  Let’s be honest…it’s not like Clergy Appreciation Month is a major liturgical season like, say, Advent; it’s not even a semi-sacred occasion like the also Hallmark created Mother’s Day. But since Hallmark invented it (as we all are well aware), it’s... Read more

A two-part homily on the occasion of Rachel Johnson’s ordination to the Gospel ministry. Re-Imagine: Good and Just Amos 5:6-7; 10-15 AMY BUTLER: What a day of worship we have had already this morning!  We give thanks to God for the many, many blessings we see, lived out in so many ways in this community of faith.  We are grateful.  In a few moments we come again to do the work of the church, to ordain Rachel Johnson to the... Read more

Re-Imagine Affiliations Psalm 26 When I was growing up we had an illustrated copy of Aesop’s Fables for children at my house.  I read it many times, and those fables made their way into my memory.  Specifically, I remember the Rabbit and the Hare—slow and steady wins the race; the Ant and the Grasshopper—you pay in the end for idle time and laziness; The Boy Who Cried Wolf…you know, all of that.  There’s a whole lot of Aesop’s Fables, some... Read more

Re-Imagine Structure Psalm 126 Have you ever had a moment when you heard a song on the radio and a memory came rushing back?  This week I asked Carol Blythe if she had a memory of a moment marked by the singing of a particular song…of course she told me a story about one time that she and Rick and their girls were down at the Lincoln Memorial protesting one of the Iraq wars.  She can’t remember which one, exactly,... Read more

Re-Imagine Mission Psalm 86 I wonder if any of you have ever heard the story about the young woman who, upon cooking her first ever baked ham cut the entire end off the ham before putting it in the pan to cook.  When she was asked why she cut off the end of the ham before cooking it she looked puzzled and said she didn’t know why, but that that was the way her Mom always made ham, so that’s... Read more