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A Family Like Mine: Biblical Stories of Love, Loss, and Longing
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Category Archives: sermon
Not all at once
A sermon for Trinity Sunday “Jesus said to the disciples, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.” (John 16:12) Jesus knew that we cannot handle everything at once. Jesus, in his mercy, … Continue reading
Posted in sermon
Tagged #GunstoGardens, gun violence, Holy Spirit, Jesus, overwhelm, Trinity
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Pentecost: fear and tailfeathers
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” (John 14:27) “I do not … Continue reading
Posted in current events, holy days, sermon
Tagged baptism, gun violence, Holy Spirit, Jeremiah 6:14, John 14, LGBTQ, mass shootings, Ohio, Pentecost
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Do not leave us comfortless
“Do not leave us comfortless.” What if our prayer was not for ourselves, for our own comfort, but that we might not be without comfort to offer to those who are beyond consolation? Continue reading
Tabitha’s companions struggle “to assert her dignity and worth as a human being”
The women had come together to wash Tabitha’s body and commiserate, because there are always those spaces in time and culture where those who bear the title or burdens of womanhood need to come together for mutual support, encouragement, wisdom, laughter, and tears.
This may be one of those spaces in our time and culture. Continue reading
No exceptions
What are we afraid of? Expanding our understanding of what it is to be human? Jesus has already stretched it beyond our imagining, being both human and divine, mortal and resurrected, all at once. Continue reading
An Easter message: we are changed
What joy it is to return to Easter services together, to be able to gather with loved ones and beloved strangers alike to rejoice that: Alleluia! Christ is Risen! We have missed this, these past two years, huddled around our … Continue reading
Good Friday
The cross does not narrow down God’s love for the world. It raises up God’s love so that all might see the compassion, the deep and abiding compassion, of God for God’s people, that God would even suffer with us in order to redeem us from our suffering and sin. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged Good Friday, Passion Gospel, solemn collects
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Peter said no
How hard it is to let Jesus serve us, save us, and know that there is no repayment necessary nor sufficient, that Jesus does not need us to defend him or protect him. Continue reading
Posted in holy days, homily, sermon
Tagged footwashing, Jesus, Maundy Thursday, Simon Peter
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Sleep, prayer, grief, and Jesus
Jesus knew that he would conquer death and sin – he had told them over and again that he would rise – but he was grieved and frightened and anguished at the capacity of his human captors for violence. There is no contradiction here: it was from ourselves that he came to save us. That is why he advises his disciples, “Pray that you may not be tested.” Continue reading
Posted in holy days, lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged gethsemane, Holy Week, Jesus, Palm Sunday, Passion Gospel, prayer, Ukraine
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Here is love
Here is love that doesn’t bury grief, but anoints it, attends to it. Here is love that doesn’t count the cost, but pours itself out so that it is felt, sensed, perceived far beyond the feet that receive it: “the house was filled with the fragrance of it.” Here is love that inspires others to love. Continue reading
Posted in lectionary reflection, sermon
Tagged anointing, Holy Week, John 12:1-8, Judas Iscariot, Lent, love, Mary of Bethany, Year C Lent 5
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over the water 